No such thing as a failed experiment!

Reader warning – I am still full of endorphins from the wonder of this virtual trip so this is a longish read. Skip to the end if you just want my 7 takeaways!

At 11am Monday morning our Country Director Justino Da Silva and I opened the first day of our virtual WaterAid Board trip. We were many miles apart – him in his office in Dili, me at my desk at home in Melbourne – but we were feeling the same thing! That moment when you know there is no turning back, even though you feel so nervous about how things are going to go but at that moment of kicking off the zoom call we were committed. Hearing of our pre-trip nerves Rob Skinner has reassured us with his high school physics teacher message "There is no such thing as a failed experiment"

We had invited Chief Executives and Board members from across the WaterAid world that would be awake at that time – Australia, Japan and in the USA (it was still Sunday and Valentines day for them!). Later in the week we also had WaterAid UK chair Andy Green and the Chair of WAi Maureen ONiel – though I love the title our team gave her Head of the World! 

The idea of a virtual trip had come together around the loss we felt of the ability to travel and therefor the loss of the important means for Board members to be immersed in our work. We were inspired by the way we could now use technology to connect and our colleagues in West Africa had hosted a successful virtual staff visit. So after hearing from them that a virtual visit was valuable and doeable we set out to plan our virtual Board trip. 

Our Timor team are consummate hosts and they have hosted many visitors over the years and never fail to send visitors home on the plane full of love for the country, inspired by the work and deeply moved by the values that drive our team collaboration, courage and innovation. 

Even knowing this on that Monday morning I still harboured doubts that we could achieve anywhere near that sort of connection for our visitors. And yet we did! 

The team designed a program that started the team in the Dili office where they grounded the visitors in Timor-Leste’s history and context in 2021, the WaterAid Timor-Leste strategy and goals. We gave the visitors space to get to know each other in break out rooms and we watched as tentative connections were made over the screen around the world. 

Days 2,3 and 4 were deep immersions into our work. 

We started in the Same District with a moving welcome ceremony. Each visiting nation was represented in the dance and the offering of betel nuts and tais felt as moving on screen as it would have been in person. After formal welcome speeches by the District Administrator we live streamed to a health care facility and marvelled at the inclusive toilets that had been built. The health care workers described the work they were doing and the difference it made for them to now be able to deliver quality care and for their patients to have a toilet to use when visiting the clinic. 

Next day we were on the other side of the island in Liquica. We covered a lot of ground with one team live streaming from the government office on the coast and others being up in the distant mountains at a school. A young student Romana told us about what is was like going to this school before there were toilets and then smiling from ear to ear - behind her face mask. She showed us around the toilets and even talked about the incinerator where they could throw away their pads. 

The courage of Romana standing there in front of a computer with 40 strangers on screen, surrounded by her school friends sharing her story was humbling for all. 

Our last day of immersion was back in the nation’s capital and it was here that we had our first technology glitch! This had been our biggest risk that the technology would let us done and the team had prepared videos we could play about the work if we lost connection. But all we had over the week was a 2 minute period when the internet dropped out!! 

This immersion day was a powerful representation of the work that the team does in Timor-Leste to take the systems strengthening work in the 2 districts to the national level. Again we heard from a range of stakeholders – national government, national civil society leaders, Women in Engineering, Women’s advocacy groups and the National Disabled People’s Organisation (DPO). There were so many highlights - the Director of DPO reminding us all of the mantra of “Nothing About us Without Us”; the women in Engineering group sharing photos of their work in schools dismantling gender stereotypes; unpacking the State budget cycle and understanding how these partners work together to advocate for increased financing to water, sanitation and hygiene. 

Day 5 and Justino were starting to feel like we were almost there… we were exhausted from the tension each day of hoping the internet would stay connected! Day 5 was all about reflections. Here are a few quotes from the feedback 

“I feel I had the opportunity to re-connect to WaterAid’s mission. Sitting Australia, more than 6 years since I was in Timor, I realise that having this immersion is fundamental to being an active Board member” 

 "The virtual trip is the best way to connect WA governance and Country Programs. It must have been a lot of work. Obrigado”

We will reflect on it over coming weeks but some immediate lessons and reflections on the value of it were

1.     Connection of people through a screen is possible – there were moments of deep emotion on the trip. We built connection through a range of ways we could great connection between people and teams including storytelling, taking the risk together of doing something new, music, fun segments that emerged during the week like one of the team, Edmund Weking, explaining their background, working the chat box relentlessly for engagement

2.     Global connection across Boards – it was invaluable for Board members across WaterAid to get to know each other and our team in Timor-Leste 

3. Role facilitation or hosts is key to hold to the purpose and make the most of the experience for all the visitors - this is true for any type of gathering and I loved reading The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker which makes the host role so clear

4.     Time efficient - each day we were online for 21/2 hours with a break for 5 days. Our colleagues from the US wouldn’t have even been half way on a flight in that time! All our Board members are volunteers and all have full lives so a face to face visit requires a minimum 1 week time commitment.

5.     Cost efficient – we would have roughly spent around $1000 on data, food for visitors, extra travel costs (excluding staff time which was probably similar to staff time hosting a face to face visit but we will test that)

6.     Connecting us all to our mission – we have all been impacted by COVID and so much more in the last 12 months and we know that our purpose and mission propels us forward. 

7.     Walking the talk on our commitment to devolving power – this was an unexpected example of how we could continue the conversation we have been having on devolving power and decolonising development as the team in Timor led the trip from start to finish. 

We will continue to reflect and share our lessons. The team are also thinking about how we can use virtual visits could work for supporters, inductions, other staff, more board trips and more! We also captured these throughout the week, at the end of each day we would stay on the zoom call for a 20 minute debrief and asked each other “What does better look like” even when the day had been spectacular! The team always found something to build on for the next day – better ways to manage the camera work in a toilet, ensuring we heard from a range of women as well as men, and so much more.

So our experiment gave us many lessons which we will continue to reflect and act on. Though these trips will never replace face to face ones they can still add value. We look forward to sharing more and also hearing how you are innovating with virtual trips and with your governance engagement.