If you aren't using the World Water Week App, you're missing out. BIG TIME!

Mike Flacy

I was a bit skeptical when I first heard that there is now an app created specifically for the World Water Week in Stockholm this year. With the millions of apps already in the world for everything, I asked myself why I would need an app that I would use for only a week, or even shorter? But after installing the free app on my phone, I was simply amazed at how the app ties together all that you need to keep organized and productive during such a hectic week of events and meetings. I'll mention just 2 major functions for now.

Scheduling

All the events at the #WWWeek are included in the app with a very brief description and they are grouped by days. At a glance, you can see all the events happening within one 90-minute block at a time and select some favorites which you will attend. The beautiful thing is that you can arrange to be notified 30 or 10 minutes before your chosen event starts. Now who needs  another calendar or bulky programme book when they have this app? And did I say that you can take and save notes within each session's page? Yeah, that too! So out goes the traditional paper notebook.

Networking

Everyone who uses the app can set up a short bio with their name, professional info and contact details plus a photo if they so wish. You can search for anyone so essentially, you have access to all the participants who are using the app at your fingertips. Need to set up a meeting with someone, send them a private message. Need to send them an email or call them up instead? One tap's all you need. Need their contacts? Download their vCard direct to your phone's local contacts with one tap. All this within the same app! Running out of business cards (or not having carried any) is now no longer an obstacle to effective networking.

At the risk of sounding like I'm over-enthusiast, I would like to opine that this app is the best (logistical) thing to happen to the World Water Week in several years (or at least the three I've attended)! This app could really enable #WWWeek to become a paperless conference. It is available on the Google Playstore and the App Store. I'm reliably informed that by evening on Sunday 28th August 2016, about 25% of the registered participants had signed up onto the app. If you aren't using it yet (or are "under-using" it), trust me, you're missing out.

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Lessons from the 2014 World Water Week

Last week, I had the awesome opportunity to attend and participate in the 2014 Stockholm World Water Week. Without doubt, it is one of the biggest event of the year for people in the water sector so for a novice like me, it was a huge dream come true. This year’s theme was “Water and Energy” and as such, several big names, both individuals and organizations, in the water and energy sectors were in attendance. At this point in my life, I could not have afforded the SEK1,800 (approx. UGX650,000) price tag that comes with a full week ticket for the event (this fee applies to students. Others have to part with SEK 6,000!). Thanks to the awesome people at the Swedish Institute, I got it all for free!

Throughout the busy week, I learnt a lot and interacted with many wonderful people who are doing wonderful things both to consume and to conserve (yes, at the same time!) the world’s water and energy resources. While the event was about water and energy, food kept coming up on the agenda and the nexus between the three was discussed in depth through the week. There was a huge push to shift from a linear to a circular economy where waste is seen as a resource.

It was interesting to witness lots of debate with arguments for and against constructing more big dams for power generation, especially in the developing world, as well as the responsibility of huge water-consuming private corporations in the conservation of water resources. Sustainable sanitation also received a lot of attention throughout the week with several workshops, seminars and side events focusing on how to reach the over 2 billion people without access to proper sanitation. An interesting social media campaign was also launched by UNICEF to “take the poo to the loo”!

Besides the more technical issues, I would like to share some key lessons I learnt from my perspective as a young professional.

Learn to make choices and priorities fast!

The world water week as a whole has over 100 events with seminars, workshops and side events running simultaneously along with an exhibition. Any delegate can be spoilt for choice as to what to attend and what to miss out on. It’s so easy to spend your valuable time attending events that are of no relevance to you at all. For a more enriching experience, I had to sit down and review the whole program (over 100 pages of it) and select events of particular interest to me that would make a reasonable schedule. I didn't regret the time I invested in reviewing the program.

Do something, don’t just speak!

When it comes to global issues of development, every one of us quickly forms an opinion and can at once flash ideas of what should be done about what. It’s so easy to point fingers at other people and pass on the responsibility of making the world a better place to them, all the while remaining in our comfort zone. With an illustration of the deciding penalty kick at a World Cup final match, one speaker challenged us to examine ourselves. Are we seated in the stands as mere observers? Dotted along the touch line as media critics? Or are we daring enough to go in and take that final shot well knowing it could be a hit or a miss? It is easy to speak high-sounding words and give expert opinions but the real game-changers are those hands-on people doing work on the ground.

Of great technology and evil institutions

It was thrilling to listen to Dr. John Briscoe, the 2014 Stockholm Water Prize laureate challenge popular opinion about various water issues. At the Stockholm Junior Water Prize dinner, one would have expected him to speak in awe of the wonderful technological innovations brought forth by the high school kids that were finalists. He instead stated in no uncertain terms that better technology will never change anything while it exists alongside evil institutions and wrong mindsets! And indeed, it gets very confusing sometimes when the very organizations/companies that consume and pollute water and other resources the most claim to be the very ones championing resource sustainability!

Starting my own company or organization isn’t always the best thing

Dr. Briscoe was at it again! He advised against the impatience that comes with youthfulness and the impulse to launch out on our own, thinking that we can solve all the world’s problems despite having little first-hand knowledge or experience about actual conditions on ground. This often comes from the feeling that the organizations run by the older generation have already failed, can’t do any better and aren’t willing to change. Sometimes, it’s actually better to join those very organizations and benefit from their rich field experience and perhaps attempt to change things from within. One could be surprised at the willingness of people to welcome positive change from within!

It’s okay to fail!

The organizers (Stockholm International Water Institute) put up a session where people could come and share on the failures they experienced in water and energy projects. It was humbling to listen to very experienced professionals sharing their stories of failed projects, some with a price tag in the millions of dollars! I came out of that session knowing that it’s okay to fail, if we fail less each subsequent time and if we learn well from our failures. And if you looked around, which success story doesn’t have episodes of failure somewhere in between?

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How can we improve our civil service?

When I was an undergraduate student at Makerere University, private companies like MTN, Halliburton, Total E&P, Delloite, EY, Rift Valley Railways, PWC and KPMG would come and do recruitment drives towards the end of every academic year. Of course you had to have a top class degree (expected) to stand a chance with their HR people and by the end of the year, most students graduating with top honours already had a placement in one or even more of these companies. I kept asking myself; if all the top students are being taken by the private sector, what will the civil service remain with? Don’t government ministries and agencies need people with first class degrees? These companies always benefit when they have bright and innovative people on their staff but wouldn’t everyone benefit more if we had our most skilled people in government service? Wouldn’t our infrastructure be much better? Wouldn’t doing business be much easier? Wouldn’t paying one’s taxes be a much smoother experience? Would people still have to suffer painful ordeals at public offices yet more innovative staff would have made things simpler, more effective and efficient?

Most of us dread dealing with public offices, and not without reason. Often times, getting things done for you at a public office may depend more on who you are or who you know than the fact that you deserve to be served well by the person that is paid to do the job! And I am sure we all concur that the general way of doing things is so outdated the speed so slow. You’ve seen those offices where they have several rooms storing old paper files and a member of staff has to spend over two hours looking for your “file”! We mostly have a sick system that is also filled with embittered staff who not only often feel powerless to change anything, but also unwilling to initiate any positive change.

One of the major pillars of any economy is the civil service. Have a crooked civil service and everything else will suffer. Have a lean, effective, fast and efficient civil service and everyone will be happier. You have better infrastructure and doing business becomes easier, coupled with a better social services system.

I believe that one of the major reasons why the Ugandan civil service is ailing behind and dragging everything else with it is because we have no serious vision and structure of attracting and retaining top talent to run our public offices. And I am not speaking of politicians here though they could be an example. I mean, look at the CVs of people chosen for cabinet positions in other countries that do better than us and you will quickly see the pattern. We cannot just assume that things will work themselves out automatically. That would be throwing our future, and that of our children to the dogs.

I strongly believe that if we are going to do things better, we need to deliberately make efforts to retain the best of our brains and deploy them in the civil service. The world is highly competitive and the same investments, tourists, trade deals and resources we want are being clamoured for by 195 other countries. If we must succeed at the global stage, we need to have people with wit and sharpness that can match that of our competitors. This competition is no longer only in the private sector but is now in the public sector too. What with all the multilateral negotiations over wars, natural resources and trade deals between countries? You simply must have the smartest guys on your side of the table to win!

We need our brightest people teaching in schools and inspiring our children into a well-tuned workforce. We need our brightest people in ministries to drive innovation in each sector of the economy. We need our brightest minds in every government agency; URA, UIA, CAA, UCC to mention but a few. People who will not just seek to maintain the status quo but will continuously look for ways to make things better.

I am not naïve to think that this can happen overnight but if you ask leaders from Singapore, they will tell you that this was one of the cornerstones for their development. We must make a deliberate effort and we must start right from the early years of our children’s lives if we want a better tomorrow. Pupils must learn that it’s good to be working for the state, not because of the “permanent and pensionable” mentality but because you get a chance to make life easier for your fellow countrymen. Talented students should be identified without regard to their background and sponsored to the best universities using state resources. It pays in the long run.

This extends even to African students who get opportunities to study in Europe and America. I often ask myself; why should the US be the one to require me to go return home after a degree program in any one of their universities when my home government doesn’t even care? Who needs the skills I would have earned more? Who should in fact be demanding that I return home? Are there any home-driven efforts to track Africans graduating from the world’s top universities in the diaspora and persuade them to return home? Do our home governments know how many students are being given scholarships, by which countries/organizations, where and for how long? This isn’t the case with most African governments and they are silent, despite the grave consequences of the prevalent brain drain. One would say that we benefit from the remittances by those in the diaspora but I can assure you that on any one given day, money will always follow good brains. Take those brains home and the money will follow suit. And besides, money alone doesn’t solve problems but good minds do.

With all the competition, will the talented accept to work in a crippled civil service with low wages? The jury might still be out on this but I have witnessed that people can sacrifice money if their other needs are met. Give them a conducive work environment with the freedom to innovate and contribute to sustainable development. Sometimes, that satisfaction is worth more than money. Of course, we can debate more about whether civil servants are getting what they really deserve and whether we can afford a higher public service wage bill or not but that will be for another day. No problem doesn’t have a solution if we don’t give up and this is just one of them. I am not giving up.

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Living with the end in mind

I read a book by Joshua Harris (I Kissed Dating Goodbye) in which he mentioned a few things to consider when looking for a suitable spouse. Commenting on the preeminence of character over beauty, he wrote that in his youthful days, whenever he felt attracted to a particular lady, he asked himself how she would look and be like at 50 years of age and whether he would still feel attracted to her at all. That way, he would better decide whether she had any qualities that made her worth pursuing.

You know, the things that matter at 20 years of age are radically different from those that matter at 50! When one looks back on life at 50, they have the benefit of hindsight. I also recently had the opportunity of listening to the testimony of a retired couple recounting their three decades of marriage and I was challenged to ask myself what stories I would tell in my senile years!

Of course, listening to other people tell their stories often makes it seem like whatever experiences they've gone through has just been a piece of cake because, well, it's now simply a story. But then, we all know what it means to go through tough times (I am sure each one of us has had some of these) and how they can challenge our faith and test our relationships.

Now, looking at life with foresight to the stories we'll tell later on in life helps us see our present circumstances in the right perspective and this also positions us for victory. It gives us the strength and motivation to persevere through it all. So, the next time you find yourself grumbling and complaining about your current struggles, just encourage yourself to live with the end in mind.

James 1:3-4 (NLT)

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7 things I learnt at the Global Village for Future Leaders of Business and Industry

Approximately one year ago, I had the rare opportunity of joining a 1600-strong global network of professionals, leaders and business people together with 106 other interns from over 50 different countries in the 2013 edition of the Global Village for FutureLeaders of Business and Industry (GV) at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (USA). Though I learnt tonnes of stuff throughout the six weeks of the program, these are the most memorable lessons I came out with.

1. Nothing is impossible

I was fortunate to have a scholarship from the Education Without Borders Conference of the Higher Colleges of Technology and that enabled me meet the $6,995 price tag of the training. However, my scholarship didn't include my flights to Bethlehem nor my other living costs like food and toiletries. At the least, all this would have cost me not less than $3,500. I had to look for this money even though I had a short time and was busy doing my final undergrad exams as well as trying to complete my final year research project. Though I felt like giving up at times, I was strengthened when people from as far as India who I had never even met (I’ll not forget you Javed!) contributed to my cause. I could have said that this is the power of crowd funding but no. This is the power of family. I was much showered with love from so many people who gave and I had more than enough for my entire stay at Lehigh. Indeed, if we do not give up, nothing is impossible.

2. Age is really just a number!

While I met many old successful entrepreneurs at GV, the most inspiring stories I heard were from my fellow interns. I realized that one doesn’t need to have reached a certain age before they can do something great. Many of my colleagues at GV were younger than me but were already doing great projects and some were already running successful businesses. In fact, this was a big challenge to me. Brandon Ritchey has a long history as a student entrepreneur and he has won a number of awards in his field, Ximena from Columbia was raising a million dollars for a hospital project, Tanja is running one of the most successful shipping companies in Croatia, to mention but a few. Now I don’t have any excuse for not doing awesome stuff with my life and besides, I am living the best years of my life now so why start later? Here is a link to a story I recently wrote about STARTing NOW!

3. Network, network, network!

I mentioned earlier that the Global Village Network now has over 1600 people from over 100 countries around the world. All members are family and strive to extend a helping hand to one another whether in business or even just tours/visits. Several members have had business and work opportunities materialize out of this network. Many people may not have the opportunity to be in the GVN but they have their own networks at the community level, schools, church, social clubs and professional associations. Make the most of these! Keep on trying to meet new people and keep on putting yourself out there! You will not regret it because your net worth is equal to the strength of your network!

4. I don't know what I wanna be when I grow up. In fact, I don't wanna grow up!

We had the opportunity to interact with several executives, some still active and some retired but not tired. One thing most testified to is that they never really knew where the world would throw them on their career journey but they gave it all their best. Career paths change and in this world of technology, you really can't bet on anything except that things will surely change. You can’t know where you will be tomorrow and don’t waste time trying to. Just live and enjoy the moment and live by your values and principles. In the end, the dots will connect when you look back with the benefit of hindsight. Instead of being frantic about where you need to go/be tomorrow, make the most of today.

5. Communicating well is key 

It is important to communicate well if you will be a great leader. Your communication isn't just about your speech but everything; from your dressing to your walking style and the attitude you portray in all scenarios. You must exude confidence and that will indeed give people the confidence to follow you. Think of any great leader in the world (good or bad) who couldn't communicate well? That's right. There is NONE! And of course, communicating well includes learning at least one other international language. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself lost yet among friends, like I was with the Spanish speakers!

6. People matter most!

Though this was a top-notch program and it had so many exciting programs to meet wonderful executives and go to nice places, all the interns kept testifying to the fact that what had impacted them most was the people. Don't look at a product or service or program and get so absorbed into marveling at its goodness that you forget the person behind it. The most awesome thing about GV is the family setting everything occurs in; living together, working together, cooking together, doing life together and helping one another, appreciating one another's backgrounds and personalities and the uniqueness each person brings to the whole mold together! If you focus on the people, you get everything else. Forget the people and lose it all. In fact, many of the speakers kept repeating that their business success resulted from having great staff and motivating them well. That's the power of people!

7. Life is so short yet so sweet. Have fun!

While at GV, I had the opportunity to sleep in Bethlehem (not Israel by the way), go fishing in New Jersey, tour Wall Street, have dinner in Little Italy and spend nights in DC! In short, I had fun. And I won’t mention the rollercoaster rides at Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom where I defied death several times over!

Yes, there is so much to do but you can't finish it all in one lifetime even if you worked 24/7. So get a break go out, appreciate nature, appreciate people and have a good time. Mix work adequately with pleasure or you will miss out completely on the flavours of life!

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