Fond Farewell to David Lukwesa

1. What did you hope to accomplish while here in the United States and were you successful?

During my Practice in the US, I was expected to accomplish three deliverables: Practicum Work Plan, Personal Leadership Plan, and Community Action Project, and some others that my host organization was supposed to determine. Through these deliverables, I have managed to acquire skills in stakeholder engagement, networking, community mobilization, policy advocacy, team building, and networking including partnership strengthening, smart work and so much more. My point of reference is the weekly Intermediary and lead agency meetings and events at the Greater Cleveland City Club.

Secondly, I have successfully been acquainted with strategic planning processes, developing SMART Goals, employing action planning for projects, and following through with monitoring.

Furthermore, I would testify that I have acquired best practices on leveraging technology for quality Program design, accurate data collection, analysis, and interpretation, as well as enhanced my capacity for monitoring and evaluation. My point of reference is the use of Monday.com, quarterly reports, and inquiries with the monitoring and evaluation team.

2. What surprised you about the work you completed here that you did not expect to find?

Data-driven performance was amazing for me. It was so incredible and motivating to see how many massive records show the results of achievements in terms of the number of people reaching for our services in the whole of Cleveland.

3. What is one takeaway you learned/experienced here in the US and hope to implement back home?

My key takeaway from the US experience is the cutting-edge networking and partnership that civil society organizations practice when serving their respective communities. No single organization does its work in silos, everyone belongs to a certain network. This doesn’t happen in Africa. Instead of networking, we compete and downplay each other. This is something I will labor to foster in my Country.

4. What is one thing you brought (a lesson, a philosophy, a tool, a perspective….) to the US that you hope is maintained by the people you were working with?

My working philosophy is visionary and all-inclusive leadership coupled with Patriotism for Society. All the people I worked with in the past 4 months were able to radiate these values in all their dealings and conduct. Even during social events, no one would feel left out (in my observation), everyone is taken care of.

5. In one year, what do you hope your work looks like OR in one year if you returned, what would you hope would be different based on your work and time here?

My perspective of work as a community activist is never the same from this moment onwards. I will continue to pratcice inclusiveness, patriotism, visionary leadership, and data-driven decision-making, important aspects that I have acquired from MyCom. If I was to return (which I look forward to), definitely, I would establish myself as a team player, committed towards work, contributing to a results-driven work culture, and ethical, and life-long learning from one another’s experiences.