Christmas Visit to Zambia – Investing in Our Team and Our Future
Over the Christmas holidays, Michael, Anna and Sophie travelled to Zambia for a working visit focused on strengthening the skills of our local staff and improving how our library services are managed. As we continue to grow, so too does the importance of investing in the people who manage and deliver our projects every day. A key focus of the visit was working alongside our staff, sharing knowledge, developing skills and identifying ways to make our day-to-day operations more effective. Time was spent with the team on training and practical support, helping to build greater confidence and capability within our own staff. Developing local skills is essential to the long-term sustainability of our work, ensuring that our projects can continue to grow under the leadership of the people who know their communities best.
Another important development during the visit was the introduction of a new cloud-based library management system. With thousands of members using our library services, effective systems are increasingly important. The new platform will help streamline library operations, improve the management of books and membership records, and give our team better access to accurate and up-to-date information. Moving to a cloud-based system is an important step in the continued development of our library services. It will allow our staff to work more efficiently and provide a stronger foundation for managing future growth.
This visit also gave us the opportunity to experience Zambia at a very different time of year. Most of our previous trips have taken place in August, during the dry season, so visiting over Christmas and experiencing the rainy season was a real contrast. The dramatic thunderstorms, heavy downpours and rapidly changing skies were particularly memorable. Seeing the landscape so green and experiencing the intensity of the rainy season gave us a very different perspective on Zambia and on the conditions our staff and communities experience throughout the year.
Despite the rain, the visit was a productive opportunity to work directly with our colleagues in Zambia, strengthen our team and introduce new tools that will support the next stage of Inspire Zambia’s development.
As our projects continue to expand, our focus remains not only on building libraries and providing resources, but also on investing in the people and systems needed to ensure that our work has a lasting impact.
Stronger teams, better systems and local skills will help ensure that the work we have started continues to grow for many years to come.
