Dave Sternberg, head of community and economic development, Bangladesh
After many years at senior management level within local government in the UK, Dave Sternberg decided to take a career break and volunteer with VSO. He spent two years working for a women’s rights organisation based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Here he describes how he developed his colleagues’ management skills and in doing so enhanced some of his own.
“Volunteering with VSO had always been my plan,” says Dave, formerly a senior public sector manager. “It was just a matter of timing. So when my youngest daughter started organising her own year out, I applied to VSO.”
A career break in Bangladesh
As Head of Community and Economic Development, Dave was responsible for delivering a range of anti-poverty, unemployment and economic development programmes. “Once VSO offered me the job in Bangladesh, I went to my boss to resign. But he told me I could take a career break instead.”
Dave joined Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association (BNLWA) as a management and strategy adviser. Established 30 years ago by prominent women lawyers, BNLWA has a national network of legal aid clinics that help women fight injustice and violence.
“My job was to help BNWLA re-organise itself from the small pressure group it once was to the large, many-branched organisation it had become,” says Dave. “They needed to make a good practical plan for the next five years, bringing all their work together and pinpointing what actions they needed to take.”
Sharing management skills
Dave advised his colleagues on a range of management issues such as monitoring and evaluating, report writing and staff development. With the help of colleagues he also pulled together a strategic plan, along with small steps everyone could take to move it forward.
One such step was a significant shift in relationships with donors. “The organisation is very dependent on external funding,” says Dave. “I encouraged my colleagues to talk more assertively to donors so that they could do the work they wanted to do, rather than what they thought the donor wanted them to do.”
Despite developing good working relationships with his colleagues, it took Dave nearly a year to really feel accepted.
“Being a middle-aged white man was quite a challenge in a dynamic organisation fighting for women’s rights,” says Dave. “Everyone was very polite and friendly, but I wanted to get past that politeness, to get to the heart of the organisation, carve out a role for myself and have my colleagues speak frankly to me. And I did get there eventually.”
A new way of working
Back in the UK, Dave had managed over 30 staff. In Bangladesh he wasn’t a manager, he was an adviser, so he had to approach working with others in a totally different way. “At BNLWA I couldn’t ask people to do things as I would have done as a manager – but that meant I developed my persuading and influencing skills.”
Those heightened influencing skills have proved useful in Dave’s latest role. “I spend two days a week working with an economic development consultancy – I’m in an advisory role again.”
Dave spends the rest of the working week focusing on special projects for Coventry City Council. His career break had come with two conditions: that Dave update his colleagues with a monthly newsletter (“I really enjoyed writing that – it was a useful anchor for me”) and that when necessary, Dave’s colleagues could contact him via email for advice on reports and proposals. “This meant I stayed in the loop with work at the council, and the council understood what I was doing in Bangladesh.”
Staying involved with VSO
As a trustee of the UK arm of large Bangladeshi charity Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Dave remains closely involved with the country he volunteered in. He’s even found the time to set up a thriving VSO supporter group, and is a popular presenter at VSO’s information days for potential volunteers. Next on Dave’s agenda is to volunteer again with VSO – this time in a short-term role.
Impact
With support from Dave, BNLWA developed more beneficial relationships with their donors.
As Dave was advising rather than managing as a volunteer, he developed his persuading and influencing skills.
Dave’s monthly newsletters raised awareness of life in Bangladesh among his colleagues at Coventry City Council.
