Growing a Sustainable Live & Learn Regional Organisation

Live & Learn is a regional organisation but has local non-government registration and autonomy in the countries where we work. This includes a local board and members and, where appropriate, a partnership agreement with the government.

Localisation is key to how we operate as it increases local ownership and commitment. As part of a regional structure, Live and Learn offices share:

• A common vision and strong commitment to participatory, people-focused development.
• A common Constitution.
• Commitment to our Live & Learn Best Practice Manual.
• Commitment to our Financial Procedures Manual.

Live & Learn is governed by a Board of Trustees that consists of representatives from each local organisation. The purpose of the trustees is to ensure our Constitution is upheld and the annual audit is in order. The day-to-day management of Live & Learn takes place in country, mostly by local management teams consisting of a team leader, finance manager, and two technical staff.

To achieve the outcomes in the eight Program Areas we need to prepare for growth through:

• A resource of strong managers and leaders.
• Cohesive regional and international co-operation across our programs and offices.
• Continued improvement and strengthening of our processes and systems for financial management and for the management of our human resources.
• Continued capacity building and strengthening of our management structure that underpins our growth.

Due to the growth of Live & Learn in the past five years, we recognize the importance of strengthening the regional management structure. In the long term, we will see that each region where we have established long- term programs should have a Regional Management Team .

Each Regional Management Team would be responsible for:

• Networking across the region
• Supporting managers and contributing to institutional strengthening in each of our country offices
• Assisting in program development across the region and providing a focus for the
• generation of funds both at a project level and in the longer term through a supporter base
• Facilitating the exchange of ideas and resources across the regional countries and ensuring we gain a multiplier effect through translating successful project strategies and products across the region
• Ensuring a consistently high standard of financial management, administration and reporting across the region.
• Troubleshooting where organisational and project problems occur in the region.
• Contributing to the development of the global Live & Learn organisation.

Our long-term goal is that each region would be self-sustaining with a strong management team at a regional level, as well as in the country offices in the region. Regional management teams would work within the broad parameters set by the Regional Director and the Board of Trustees and would contribute to the overall development of the organisation. This would support the Regional Director and the Board of Trustees to deal with overall directions, high-level management, and especially to drive the growth of the organisation and the continuing integration of new areas into Live & Learn.