Activities in Denmark

The activities of UBU in Denmark can be described under the headings of the three mission statements and the management and coordination activities. A meeting schedule for some of the groups is presented at the bottom of this page.

Description of activities

Mission 1: Sustainable projects
UBUs main activities are the development projects, that it is responsible for, currently in India, Tanzania and Guatemala. UBU always work with one or more local organisation(s), who implement the project as part of their activities. UBU's role is mainly to 1) develop applications for funds (until now all to the Project Fund/Projektrådgivningen) together with the local partner, 2) to manage the funds and monitor that the projects are implemented according to the objectives and project documents and 3) to support with capacity building of the local organisation through sending of staff on review and technical assistance missions to the projects. The last part is done both by UBU (voluntary) staff and by students doing projects and internships on the projects. UBUs project work in Denmark is organised in groups with a project leader, who is responsible to the board. In 2009 UBU has established a Project Coordination Group (PG), consisting of the project leaders and other resource persons. PG is a quality assurance function, which support the board's responsibilty towards the projects.

Mission 2: Capacity building of the members
UBU has about 85 members, of which ca. 15 participate actively in UBU functions. UBU's members' capacity development is mainly supported by two means: On-the-job experience gained from participating in project work (see above) and through participation in training courses by PR and other organisations/networks, e.g. “Tematisk Forum”. Member's participation in courses is supported economically by UBU. UBU also organises their own workshops and meetings on information about their projects and “Lessons Learned” workshops for describing “Best Practice” when ending a project phase. Finally it can be mentioned that the development of the organisational capacity is continuously ongoing through discussions and new initiatives like e.g. the development of the strategy and forming of the project coordination group and guidelines for project work.

Mission 3: Central Network for water supply and sanitation
UBU has several members that have worked professionally with water supply and sanitation projects in relation to developing countries for more than 10 years. The combination of experienced professionals and students with new ideas that can develop good and innovative project approaches is a good basis for establishing a well organised network for knowledge and experience in the field, with access to the most updated knowledge. At the current stage it would be an exageration to call UBU a central network in the field. This mission should be seen more like a future perspective.

Management and coordination activities
UBU's board is meeting ca. once per month to manage and coordinate the various activities. Meetings are held in the private homes of the members, since UBU doesn't have any office space. Meetings are open to interested members. Decisions and discussions are taken at the rather often held meetings, and only in urgent cases issues are discussed between the meetings. An agenda is prepared in advance and minutes of the meetings is taken and published on this homepage after being approved. The board meetings are intended to coordinate, manage, monitor and plan on a strategic level, while actual work is done in the committees and groups. A lot of practical issues are discussed and decisions taken in the board, because several members are participating in several groups, and this is often a proper forum for decision making. The committee activities are:

PG, Project coordination group: PG is started in mid 2009 and the intention is to have meetings every 3 months. The meetings review progress reports from each of the projects and gives its feedback to the project and the board. The timing of the meetings is made appropriately in relation to be able to review applications to PR's Project Fund, as to give its recommendation to the board. Currently PG is developing guidelines for preparing and managing projects.

Project groups: Each project group is individually managing and meet as appropriate. In many cases meetings and communication is held virtually, because of distance between (sometimes travelling) members and inclusion of local partners. Meetings and other management / technical activities are all done in order to support the ongoing project, plan for new and keep its obligations with the donor.

Strategy group: The strategy group meets to develop a strategy for UBU. The strategy should be time bound and device the activities, structure and resources to make it possible for UBU to reach its mission. A final strategy is expected early 2010.

Homepage and PR group: This group reviews the current approach to communication towards the public and the members. The group has started to update this homepage, which includes restructuring, improved graphics, and transferring to a CMS. This makes it easy to update it regularly by several people.

Schedule of UBU meetings and workshops

Board meetings
Monday 9 August 2010 17.30-22.00, Henrik's place
Monday 13 September 2010 18.00-22.00, Karsten's place
Monday 25 October 2010 18.30-22.00, Anders' place
Saturday 4 December 2010 15.00-18.00, Staffans place
Monday 17 January 2011 18.00-22.00, Lars' place
Monday 28 February 2011 18.00-22.00, Marianne's place
Monday 11 April 2011 18.00-22.00, Henrik's place

PG meetings
Monday 16 August 2010 17.00-22.00, Lars' place
Monday 8 November 2010 17.00-22.00, Lars' place
Monday 21 March 2011 17.00-22.00, Lars' place
Monday 2 May 2011 17.00-22.00, Lars' place

Vision Mission Workshop
Monday 30 August 2010 17.30-22.00, Lars' place

Next General Assembly is Saturday 14 May 2011 at 15.00, Staffan's place

X-mas lunch is 4 December 2010 at 19.00-? at Staffan's place