TIRCOPA PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT

1. Introduction 

 It is a humble pleasure to produce a statement and provide a thought trigger for the executive and general membership (existing and potential). We have to praise ourselves for a successful milestone and look forward to a consistent approach in delivering the objectives of our noble alumni organisation, TIRCOPA. We have to understand that we are all on the humanitarian journey together. We must know that we are all on the right path in doing the right humanitarian services and expectations from the Supreme Being.

The thought process is important based on observations. All are encouraged to have a say and open up as that is the way forward to exemplary teamwork, and the pathway to maintain the achievements we have made as a team and family.

As a great team, we have significant issues like meetings, projects, teacher training programmes during the summer holiday, Independence celebration, welfare, plans and elections to agree on. We need to provide position statements on that, make concrete agreements, produce an achievable action plan and make provisions for reviewing decisions to ascertain the difference between the expected and actual. 

2. Meetings

Ongoing monthly meetings and emergency meetings are at the heart of organisational development. Meetings provide the platform to engage the executive team in strategic thinking. The executive has the task of developing strategies meant to achieve organisational goals and must inform the general membership of agreed decisions. 

We are responsible for communicating with members, specifically subscribed members or those paying monthly subscriptions to the association. We have the responsibility as an executive to communicate our decisions to the general membership and open decisions to their voluntary comments. We have to listen to their views and sieve the grain from the chaff- meaning taking on views from them that are beneficial to the progress of the organisation. 

We need to understand the categories of membership. Experience has unveiled that membership is categorised into subscribed members, members having a continuous impact through voluntary services (like our late sister who offered her voluntary services to cook for our events and otherwise), our patrons who continue to sponsor our projects and objectives, and potential members. 

We must be resolute that our association’s membership will only focus on subscribed members (those paying monthly subscriptions), patrons (those on our list of project funders) and those providing voluntary services for our events and project coordination.

In my honest opinion, the WhatsApp platform is the best for our meetings, looking at the trend of engagements. We have observed that face-to-face meetings or Google Meet meetings attract minimal attendance and the suggestion is for us to predominantly use the WhatsApp platform as the best platform for meetings. All we need to do is post the meeting agenda on the WhatsApp forum and allow the executive team to have their say. The same approach to meetings goes with the general membership forum. We only need to inform those meetings are meant for ( executive and general membership) to have their say or views at their own time or when free- giving them options to use either written or audio methods of communication to provide their views.

3.  Projects 

3.1 School Morning Snacks

The school morning snack project is a great thing to pursue. The concept paper is prepared and ready to send to potential donors.

The appeal is for volunteers to send the sponsorship letter and concept paper to donors. There are pool of donors out there to research and suggest that we have volunteers to research on those donors and personally send the letter and concept paper to them. The catholic dioceses around the world or in individual host countries can be of help, apart from other potential sources that volunteers can explore.

Experience has shown that donors want the start of internal funding of projects- that serve as an inspiration in their funding intervention. I suggest that we start with bread, butter and water for the students before the lesson begins in the morning as our internal funding efforts in reality would not cost much.

3.2 Library and Guest House Construction 

The library is a great project to do and that will be beneficial to students in our old school and the township. It will be further beneficial to students in the community preparing for external examinations, as the library will have 24-hour solar lighting. Adults and visitors in the community can use the library for desk research. 

The guest house will be beneficial too as that will host our volunteers (both local and international) whenever they are in Tongo Field for events or administrative engagements. Visitors and well-wishers can benefit from the guest house, although we will charge reasonable rental fees for the accommodation as an internal fundraising effort for our humanitarian services. 

The architectural plan for the library and guest house was coordinated by our able secretary general and treasurer. The plan was posted on the executive forum for all to see and digest a clear picture of the intention. 

The concept paper on the library and guest House project will be drafted upon consultation and posted for the executive members to see, comment and approve. 

The project itself is achievable but we need that initial commitment and start from internal funding. The relevance of the concept paper is to appeal to external funding agencies but that requires commitment from all of us to send the concept papers out to individuals, governments ( local and international) and private ( local and international) sponsors.

3.3 TIRCOPA Summer Teacher Training 

The teachers in the school need to be empowered, apart from the pupils in the school. Efficient teaching requires ongoing training (continuous professional development) and supporting the teachers to gain ongoing and updated skills are the way forward in achieving efficiency in the delivery of their services. 

Last year our corporate social responsibility was focused on pupils in our old primary school and community. This year (that is 2024) the spotlight during the summer holiday shall be on training teachers in the school and community.

We shall again organise our summer lessons for pupils in the school and community in the summer holiday of 2025. We shall maintain the trend for pupils and teachers after every two years. 

The continuous professional development ( CPD) for teachers in our old school and community shall be every two years, although we shall continuously inform the school authorities about educational updates every year through ongoing communiqués and expect the school authorities to independently brief teachers.  

TIRCOPA will ensure a memorandum of understanding with the education department on their certification to maintain authenticity and credibility.

4.  Independence Celebration

 The Independence celebration is around the corner and we have the tradition of celebrating it every year.  We need to collectively come up with a programme for the Independence celebration. 

In the last meeting, we discussed donating football kits to the school, particularly the ones that can fit the pupils in the school. I suggest we give a few of the oversized ones to the head teachers and teachers who delivered our summer lessons as an added incentive.

We can sell the rest to raise income for the humanitarian organisation as proposed in the last executive meeting, both WhatsApp and Google Meet. 

5. Welfare

This is an important area that we need to decide on. Sentiments can play here but trust that fairness and consistency in the delivery of the welfare of members are what we need to sustain our old-school organisation.

We need to singularly address the welfare of committed members- those who continue to contribute financially (subscribers and patrons) and voluntarily in supporting the objectives of TIRCOPA. Every little help and the little that is continuously offered to the association can be of immense help.

Welfare in conventional understanding focuses on the immediate family (nuclear family of committed members). That should be in pleasure and pain situations- marriages, death, soft loan facilities (low-interest loan for hardship or business purposes) and discount prices for items we are selling on internal fundraising grounds.

 Any issues beyond that should be a voluntary contribution or a non-compelling contribution.

6. Plans

This shall be discussed in our WhatsApp forum and Google Meet meetings.

7. Elections 

I suggest that we organise an election to elect new executive members. That is necessary to give others the chance to lead and promote ongoing democratic institutional governance. 

Some of us have a future political career to build and allowing that long-term presidency can dent the political career. Being in that executive position for a long can make you lose your steam and lure you to the toxic empire of dictatorship. 

I think we should set a date for the next election to vote for the next circle of our executive members.

8. Conclusion

I hope the statement will be a wake-up call. Please remember that the statement is only a mind-trigger and please be open to the team as we are all not an island of knowledge. We need to understand that teamwork demands openness and taking the beneficial grain from the chaff. 

We have made great efforts in working as a team and achieved a great deal in the current executive tenure. However, it is nice to leave the sweetness or bitterness of a bone for others to have a taste, learn and gain from the challenges that lie in the consumption of the bone. It is important to allow others to lead or steer the ship of an institution. Holding on to power for long and barring others from the opportunity of leading builds a platform of selfishness and greed, and that is unhealthy for institutional progress. 

My only recommendation is please let us maintain the current secretary general and treasurer as she is iconic in her job. I will honestly vote for her during the elections as she is worthy of continuity.

Although I have decided to leave the position of presidency, be assured that I will be part of the advisory team to the incoming executive if approved by the team. 

Proud to be a member of TIRCOPA and encourage all old members to come on board to support our primary school and community that nurtured us and built our DNA of national unity. We should be proud of our parents and guardians through the lessons we inherently learnt from them that every child is your child and the passion for giving back to our community they nurtured us with. 

We as a team deserve the praise and understand that the reward for our emulating humanitarian services will continue to indirectly come from the Supreme Being. Please remember that good begets good and bad begets bad. Please remember that our genuine contribution to the cause of making the world a better place for mankind supersedes material intentions or world vanity grabbing.

You will die and leave material acquisitions but the imprint that you leave through humanitarian services and support will earn you the everlasting reward from the Supreme Being that some are doubtful of ITS existence. 

God exist and observing our actions on planet earth. Humility matters and we can only make a difference in this world through the unwavering love of giving back to our old institution of learning, communities and nation, and the invisible hand beyond our national boundaries. 

PRINCE FODAY

PRESIDENT, TIRCOPA