Nairobi family day meeting 20140401

Nairobi family day meeting #1

Date: 01 April 2014 Venue: InfoCentre Time: 1000 hours

In attendance: Joyce Maru, Nadine Sanginga, Patrick Mbithi, Robert Oisebe, Tezira Lore Apologies: Muthoni Njiru

Summary discussions

Updates from from Shirley through Nadine

• Selection of date for Nairobi Family day. Suggestion was to have it take place on November 15th, the Saturday following the big ILRI@40 event in Addis. A weekend was suggested so as to allow alumni/friends of ILRI to participate without having to take formal leave etc.
• Brainstorm on whom else to invite to the planning team. PMOs and Researcher(s) should participate in the planning process.
• Organize a joint discussion with Addis family day planning group to harmonize ideas.
• Select a chair to lead the planning process.

Key takeaways

• Preference was for the family day to take place on a normal working day. Tentative date suggested: Friday November 14th Having the ILRI family day take place during a normal working day will drive participation from staff.
• Suggested format: (APM / CG Knowledge day format were cited as an example)
• Launch day with Keynote Speech over Friday Tea
• Friday Tea to be moved to an earlier time slot of maybe 9.00 am
• Inspirational speech to set the tone for the day
• Morning session to consist of concurrently running learning opportunities, talks, and presentations.
• Have a marketplace to showcase ILRI core business, new innovative projects, partnerships etc.
• Have running refreshments running throughout the day.
• Lunch to be informal as morning sessions may conclude at different times
• Afternoon session: Hardtalk Panel with Moderator
• Day to culminate with cocktail/dinner. Concerns were expressed about a dinner format being too rigid and not conducive to networking
• Logistics and set up will need to be outlined
• Attendance could be an issue as staff may see this as a “free” day. Having the Family day on a work day sends the message that it’s business as usual and not a “free day”From past experience, attendance projected to approx. 200 (ILRI + Guests). To drum up staff participation and involvement Supervisors should assign various responsibilities to staff
• Joyce Maru – Nominated as Chair / Tezira Lore – Secretary

Follow up actions

• Team members to identify other staff members to strengthen the planning team (NB: Shirley also mentioned inviting Henry Kiara and July Ojango) JM to send email to various members including PMOs to invite them. Already done and confirmed new members include Henry Kiara, Catherine Mutuku and Douglas Ikong’o
• Meeting notes to be shared with Shirley for input / feedback. JM/Tezira
• Draft a note to Nairobi ILRI staff for their ideas / input on activities for the Family day JM but await Shirley feedback
• Patrick Mbithi to represent planning team and provide update to broader ILRI@40 task force at next meeting on 16 April 2014
• Organize a meeting/conversation with Addis Task Force to harmonize ideas. JM to email Addis Task force through Azage/Iain

Next meeting scheduled for 23 April 2014