What if you open your work email and a million dollar question awaits- “How well do YOU know your partner?” Wait a minute! We are not talking about your spouse. In this case, we are referring to the Department for International Development (DFID) who has been working with BRAC under a Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) since 2012. “How well do YOU know your partner?” was the title of the Social Innovation Lab June Innovation Forum where we invited DFID Bangladesh for an hour long interactive Q&A session with BRAC staff.
Each month Social Innovation Lab holds an Innovation Forum on a cross-cutting topic to give staff a chance to learn about something new. In the June forum, Simon Barns (Partnership advisor, DFID Bangladesh) and his team represented DFID and around 50 BRAC staff from the Head Office represented their respective programmes. Are you wondering why we are so excited about this? There are three reasons:
- The Q&A session was the first of its kind at BRAC and took an inclusive approach towards employee engagement.
We launched an open call for questions to DFID within BRAC Centre one week before the event. Employees submitted their questions and we selected 6 of the best to be asked at the forum. DFID did the same internally and came up with 6 questions for BRAC. Once the 12 questions were finished, people couldn’t wait to ask more! One BRAC employee aptly put it, “I’ve never seen so many staff actively participating in a discussion.”
- Rather than bringing up the same old “Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)” like how much funding is available, this time we explored “Never Asked Questions (NAQ)” on critical and sensitive areas (i.e strategy, priorities, risk management and failure).
We encouraged tough questions that people can’t raise when the donor and grantee sit at the opposite sides of the table; but also maintained an informal environment which allowed everyone to be open and candid. For example, DFID asked if BRAC’s high involvement with development is a disincentive for the government to be involved and if BRAC and the government work in a parallel manner.Several programme staff clarified the issue immediately and gave examples of how BRAC works to complement the government’s activities, but never tries to replace them.
- After an hour of Q&A and sharing experiences from both sides, everyone realized that both the implementer and donor belong to the same team and share the same vision, at least in case of BRAC and DFID.
The questions discussed were important, but equally important was the informal and open atmosphere of the forum where no one hesitated to ask “Why?” and go beyond his programme specific interest to get a holistic understanding of BRAC and DFID. This is the culture of openness and innovation Social Innovation Lab is trying to foster at BRAC, where “no question is a silly question.” Fostering innovation within an organization that spans across continents and boosts a 200,000+ employee base is hard. Though the innovation forum reaches only BRAC staff working at the Head Office, we consider it an important step on a long journey. Do you have an idea for the next innovation forum? Write to us at innovation@brac.net or comment below.
