What is your contribution?

The phone rings at 8:50 pm on a Sunday evening, and the voice at the other end goes like this, “good evening Naa, Sorry to bother you this late. I have a meeting very early tomorrow and I would need a driver to go with me”. That is the start of a new week for the Human Resource/Administration Manager of SEND-GHANA.

Working with a Civil Society Organization (CSO) that seeks to hold duty bearers accountable and also promote equality between men and women in Ghana is all the job satisfaction I really wanted.

Hiring competent and highly qualified human resources in today highly competitive and human capital driven work environment is not an easy task. Both time and financial resources are wasted when the right people are not recruited.

Recruiting the right candidates requires that you sometimes probe beyond what has been put on the CV and what the candidate says during the interview.

It is important to adopt psychological measures to probe further to ensure the right candidate is hired.

Though not easy, there is always a sense of accomplishment after the process has ended and the right candidate chosen.

Retaining and motivating staff is also an important component of what I do. Coordinating the day to day activities of staff is another interesting part of what I do. The administrative team provides support to other staff to ensure the smooth implementation of all our programme activities.

Knowing that I play a role in ensuring that, the needs of the less privileged and disadvantaged in society are addressed is my motivation for doing what I do each day.

Indeed just like any other field there are some challenges. Working and managing people with diverse socio-cultural backgrounds are very challenging. A wrong approach to handling human related issues can cause the organization a lot.
Staff buy- in to new organizational policy is also a challenge that I am faced with sometimes. People most often are resistant to change; it requires tact and time to be able to achieve this.

Through all these challenges I have never regretted the decision to manage people and more so to do it with an institution that seeks to promote good governance and equality between men and women.

I find happiness with myself when I see the under privileged smile again.

Story by Naa Ayele Ashitey