Organizational growth is a journey
The Grevy’s Zebra Trust (GZT) headquarters is located in Westgate Community Conservancy in northern Kenya. The majority of our time together has been spent in an open thatched meeting space or in the (usually) dry, sandy river-bed just below it. This location not only offers a perfect launch pad for GZT to access their field teams across northern Kenya, but it is also a tranquil space for reflection and gatherings. GZT has spent a lot of time in that river bed since we started working together in 2017 doing just that - coming together to reflect, learn, and make hard choices about their focus and growth.
When we began supporting GZT, they already had a strategy but it looked mainly at the ecosystem threats and less at the organization’s role, purpose, and opportunities. “We were very much siloed in our work, there wasn’t a huge amount of coordination and support across our programs,” explained Belinda Low Mackey, GZT’s ED. “We were incredibly passionate about what we were doing, but we really needed to take control of the direction we were going in and where we were going to land.” GZT’s new strategy helped them to articulate the areas of change they want to accomplish at a landscape level, and the type of organization they needed to be in order to deliver against this vision.
Before launching their strategy in 2018, they gathered all their field teams to ensure everyone understood and embraced their future plans. In the sandy river bed, small groups from their team formed to sing and dance GZT’s mission statement, which they had translated into three different local languages: Rendille, Samburu, and Turkana.
“There is real ownership of the plan. This has led to much stronger coordination and support across programs... We all have finite resources and so we want to ensure that all of our energy is being put into the right activity and program.”
GZT didn’t just gain focus and direction with their new strategy. Ultimately, it has shaped their calendars, podcast choices, job titles, and fundraising efforts too. “Out of the strategic planning process you also identify all the gaps you need to be able to support your growth going into the future. So we have quite a few pieces of work coming out of the strategic plan... A lot of organizational strengthening going on.
Grevy’s Zebra Trust is the only organization solely dedicated to conserving Grevy’s zebra in its core remaining range, focusing on the community lands of northern Kenya where 50% of the remaining population lives. GZT works with communities to monitor and protect Grevy’s zebras; improve rangeland management in order to recover healthy pastures for livestock and wildlife; and build a strong and peaceful local constituency for conservation.