CO-Harare goes on retreat
After more than two and half years of being compelled to working from home, due to COVID-19, CO-Harare staff fully returned to the office on 4 August 2022. The uneasiness and distance that WfH created among staff was undeniable and necessitated an Office-wide staff retreat. CO-Harare staff based in Namibia, both recruited during the COVID-19 pandemic, had their first opportunity to meet face-to-face with colleagues in Zimbabwe.
14 December 2022
(ILO NEWS, Hwange) It was an opportunity to re-assess the office’s collective motivation and fitness for purpose in the wake of an extended absence of face-to-face interactions. It was also a moment to re-think and re-imagine who we are as an Office, how new ideas and methods could be more useful and impactful. It was a time to re-orient how-we-do business and how we relate with the tripartite partners in the face of a static budget and diminished funding, with development partners re-directing their attention to new areas of national and international concern.
This retreat also served as an occasion to re-focus on how to engage development partners and explore innovative ways of partnering at intra-office level, at local UN level, at regional level and how to tap into the RECs. The lingering question was how to make ourselves more visible, more effective and the partner of choice regarding social justice in the face of formidable competition within the UN itself and from CSOs.
All these discussions within a space of two-days!
CO-Harare is a diverse Office with a few colleagues ripe for retirement, a number approaching retirement and quite a number still in the running. It therefore made sense to have presentations on pre-retirement, the pension scheme and SHIF - from within the Office and relevant HQ departments.
As the retreat was held ahead of the 16 days of activism in Zimbabwe, which focused on gender- based violence, a presentation on the same was also delivered, based mainly on C190.
This retreat also served as an occasion to re-focus on how to engage development partners and explore innovative ways of partnering at intra-office level, at local UN level, at regional level and how to tap into the RECs. The lingering question was how to make ourselves more visible, more effective and the partner of choice regarding social justice in the face of formidable competition within the UN itself and from CSOs.
All these discussions within a space of two-days!
CO-Harare is a diverse Office with a few colleagues ripe for retirement, a number approaching retirement and quite a number still in the running. It therefore made sense to have presentations on pre-retirement, the pension scheme and SHIF - from within the Office and relevant HQ departments.
As the retreat was held ahead of the 16 days of activism in Zimbabwe, which focused on gender- based violence, a presentation on the same was also delivered, based mainly on C190.