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Plan, Do, Review – this series of blogs have been to chronicle my time and experiences whilst on a VSO placement in Myanmar. Those of you who have been the faithful following seem to have found interest in the slices of Myanmar life I have shared or if nothing else enjoyed marking my grammar and spelling out of 10. If you had shared some of the technical difficulties encountered you would appreciate the miracle of getting anything posted, let alone to ISS standards.

Plan – not much planning went into this trip as I responded to a job offer that landed in my inbox at a very busy time. Before I knew it I was on a ‘plane, living and working in Yangon.

Do – my objectives were to help strengthen intermediatory support organisations who in turn supported smaller NGOs to develop and increase their capacity in the sphere of civil society and media. This should have an empowering affect within the emerging democracy of Myanmar.

Review – my time working here has now come to an end (although I will continue to work with my organisations remotely) so I can review what has been achieved. I have designed a two tier management cycle, which if fully implemented will ensure a robust and resilient organisation that can not only survive but grow to take on new challenges – of which there are many

To build quality and recognition for the civil society sector, I have drafted an accreditation system which is currently being developed by the organisations that will ‘own’ and administer it in the future.

One to one mentoring of individuals on strategic planning,leadership, governance, monitoring and evaluation proved to be a great way of understanding local challenges and as an aside, seeing 10 of the 14 Myanmar states.

Plan – if we follow the basic Plan, Do, Review model I should now move onto ‘Plan’ again. As we have already proved some of the best things happen when you remain flexible and when I get back to UK I am sure that opportunities will present themselves. If not, I have a few ideas up my sleeve ……

In the meantime I am not home yet, I write this in Cambodia and will be moving on to New Zealand at the end of the week (just imagine it – wine and CHEESE)