Tuesday to Friday, we have a writeshop to improve our case studies. Many SNV advisors take part because every team has to produce at least one case study. A SNV woman from Kenya, Suzan, is the facilitator. She is an energetic woman, full of words and positiveness. We start with a game to get to know each other. Everyone has to introduce him- or herself with his or her name and a colour, explaining why he or she picked that colour. Most of us pick blue, as a colour representing life, but also freedom. The rest of the day, we learn about the purpose of case studies, the structure and writing style. It is not too demanding and not everything is new to me, but it is still good to hear. I contribute with an answer when nobody else is answering Suzan’s question and give the presentation after a short group work.
The next two days, we all work on our respective case studies. On Wednesday, our team, consisting of Antoinette, Egidia, Fernanda and me, works collectively to refine the text. We make slow but steady progress, but in the end we are all getting tired and Antoinette and Egidia give their okay to what Fernanda and I have written much more easily than at the beginning. The key feedback to our case is, that it is too general. Of course, that was to be expected as we are presenting a big project, JADF, with key words as transparency, accountability and participation. This is just not a very good topic for a case study. We need to explain a whole complex process to give readers the chance to understand the outcomes and that makes the story quite long. Suzan is not happy with it and on Thursday, Antoinette is working on cutting the story short. Now, there is not much Fernanda and I can do. Antoinette is working on her own. We work on our own things and spend the time waiting for the next round of food. It really feels as if we eat the whole day. There is tea break at 10.30 am, lunch at 12.30 pm and another tea break at 3.30 pm.
It gets better on Friday, when each group presents their work on the case study. Today, I feel really interested in these stories and I don’t mind that it takes longer than expected. We even vote for the best presentation which turns out to be much more complicated than they thought. How should we vote, how many votes for each, by hand sign or anonymous? Eventually, we get there and surprisingly, our JADF story is voted on first place.
