Doing My Part

Friday was quite a day. Winding up my work here before returning to Canada, I thought I'd get out of the office and join our engineer for a day. MCC is partnering with some local partners to repair housing for handicapped people and were out assessing homes. I was confronted with the hard reality of the earthquake in a way I had never experienced before. The handicapped were telling us their stories in their own ways - through their silence, photos of dead loved ones pulled from the debris, or hand signs of the mute that needed no translation. We saw homes that were so damaged that I had no idea how anyone walked out alive, but they did, and continue to do so on a daily basis.

How I wish that I was an engineer, a nurse ..... even God maybe, so that I could change lives and provide hope. But I'm just an accountant. It feels like a dirty word around here sometimes - the ones who ask for receipts and create extra paperwork, taking you away from your real work. My only consolation is that accounting provides the information you need to manage your resources effectively, so beneficiaries are better served, and more handicapped homes are repaired. Is that worth something? Are we using our resources effectively?

Capacity Building

It's been awhile since I've written due to work load with month end and spotty access to internet, but I'm back, with only a couple of weeks left in my assignment.
In my last blog I'd asked how MCC can be accountable for how they spend funds when a good portion of their money is being funneled through to other organizations. Well, one option is to audit these organizations, the right to do so being included in our contracts with them. However, a much kinder, supportive option is to "build the capacity" of our partners. Building capacity is popular phrase here. In this case, it means helping our partners with their accounting by sharing our expertise to build theirs. If I were to stay here in Haiti, this would be an approach I would love to pursue.

Much to my delight, the director of one of our partners actually approached me to present a course to his office staff on the importance of accounting and best practices. I was impressed that the course was their own idea, and that the director himself valued strong accounting controls. So I presented a day long course to 13 office staff (in my broken French, I might add). I was quite excited to find a wonderful curriculum offered in French and English by Mango - Management Accountant for NGOs. I think this should be standard curriculum for any NGO, including MCC, most of who are so passionate about their work, that financial management is scarcely given a passing thought.