Up and Down

Had a couple of interesting experiences today.

I took a day-long workshop on interacting, consulting and understanding civil society organizations (CSOs). That label is a grab bag for all sorts of organizations, from the vocal "Northern" international ones, such as Oxfam or Green Peace to the "Southern" local village-based women's association through church groups and all manner of other activists. Our projects often involve the participation of CSOs -- sometimes in a partnership role, sometimes as fierce enemies. The trick is to learn how to develop relationships which are productive and ultimately help the beneficiaries of the work we do. Half the audience was our staff; the other was from various CSOs. Fun stuff and well done!

This took place in our brand new environmentally-friendly "green" building, a model of its kind, with a very small footprint and quite creative architecture. There were so many blip opportunities there; alas I only had my blackberry with me. The washrooms impressed me: "pull the flush level up for #1; push it down for #2" (these were the exact instructions... nothing like economy of words too...) :)