Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Final Revised Platform of Team Dadoua



DADOUA

(Ah bli younh, ah kpa DADOUA ah ye Grand Gedeh poh)
National Campaign Headquarters
519 Spruce Avenue, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania
19082, (610)203-4276
“Building an Accountable, Transparent and Efficient
Service Delivery Grand Gedeh Association in the
Americas 
is our Vision”



Preamble
We the sons and daughters of Grand Gedeh County, in order to implement needed Services and develop an Inclusive structure that will augment the process of Unification in the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas, help promote the general welfare of all Grandeans home and abroad and provide a sound leadership that will be Accountable, Transparent and Uphold our Constitution we have organized ourselves as group to be called “DADOUA”

We believe that a totally accountable and transparent entity that operates within the confines of our constitution is bound to succeed at all levels. We will stop at nothing to incorporate views of every sector of our community to help carve a sustainable path to peace unity and harmony amongst us. It is in this regard fellow Grand Gedeans that team “DADOUA” has been formed and organized as a grassroots entity.

Holding firm to the true meaning of “DADOUA” which means togetherness and inclusiveness in the Krahn language, we have banded together to provide a Different direction for this noble organization of ours and lead her to a new place where all Grand Gedeans will be totally incorporated  irrespective of district, clans, section or social/birth year group. We will work to create that environment that will promote the idea of ONE GRAND GEDEH ASSOCIATION in the minds of all our members.
 We will form a common patrimony among all of our people and join forces with other Liberian county associations and the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas, ULAA and other social groups to work for harmonious relationship amongst ourselves in the Diaspora.

Accountability and Transparency

· We will provide a simple, but effective financial management system that will insure financial accountability and transparency.

· our quarterly comprehensive financial report will be made to our chapter leaders, other members that dot not have a chapters and the Board directors within the time frame set forth by our constitution. 

· We will Establish and implement an internal annual financial review of our accounting system and make the findings public.

· We will observe and do proper reporting and filing consistent with internal revenue code for a non-profit organization like ours.

·  For transparency Team Dadoua’s administration, we will make the requirement of the constitution that calls for independent audits mandatory for our administration and all bodies that fall under the umbrella of the association and those audits will be part of the president’s report to the national conference.

· We promised a standard of operation that will be based on the principles of Transparency and Trustworthiness to our membership. We clearly understand that it is our membership that is our most reliant sponsor, so to gain their trust we will be open, honest and frank with them as it relates to the management of our finances.

· In our first 30 days, our Transitional team will do a comprehensive review of the organization’s activities from outstanding contracts, projects-finished and unfinished and make those findings public.

·         In the first (3) three hours of our presidency we will save the people of Grand Gedeh an amount of $8,000.00 (eight thousand dollars), by pledging to cut the president’s compensation package.
·         Team Dadoua, will have an open general monthly meeting with our members across the United States and Canada to augment the process our process Transparency.


Rule of law

   Team Dadoua promise to our membership, our districts organizations i.e.: Gbarzon, Tchien and Konobo, sectional and our Social/birth year organizations is that “we solemnly swear to uphold and protect the laws of GGAA”. Our administration will lead by example, understanding that we do not have prosecutorial power. We will hold supreme every Article and section of our constitution and govern from that stand point.

· We will make the understanding of our constitution a priority, understanding the bond it creates among us when we all feel protected under the law.

· We will provide where it is necessary tools for chapters and our communities to make available copies of the constitution to our members.

· Our chapter’s territorial boundaries will respected by our administration, and members who move from one chapter to another will be given 60 days to regularize the membership with their new chapter. 

 · Our administration will propose a committee of eminent persons, to be comprised of former presidents and our elders.

· We will take a closer look at the way we elect our leaders, our aims are to propose a voting system through constitutional amendments to the board of directors that is smart, economical and unifying in nature, we will argue for a system that will allow Grand Gedeans to vote in their chapters and localities during out national convention.

Sound Leadership
Understanding that the success of any efficiently run organization is based on how sound and organized its leadership team is, Team Dadoua being a group of dedicated Grand Gedeans with an impeccable record of long service to this organization promised to lead this organization in a sound and professional manner; we will lead from a corporate perspective which in our belief is based on productivity, growth and expansion.

· We promised to provide a sound and efficient leadership that can meet the challenges and service need of our membership and develop sound policies that will draw members closer in a consistent manner. Our strength lies in our proven record of service to our beloved GGAA and knowing how to co-exist with every facet of our community.


· Written  sound administrative policies, those that will unify us and create a coherent and vibrant GGAA, will be send to the Board directors for approval in our first 100 days.

· The membership committee will be empowered and funded budget wise to play that role of galvanizing our members. The chairman of the committee will have monthly meetings with chapter’s leaders and all localities to familiarize themselves with activities in those areas.

· The Administration will mandate the committee to raise the membership fee for all members to $10.00 annually. This fee will be paid by every Grand Gedean in every locality and is projected to raise an amount of $20,000.00 per annum. 

· We will allocates funds in our annual budget to be used for chapters, districts organizations, sectional and social organizations to implement well defined and accepted projects in the county.

·         Reconciliation of our people will be prioritize by our administration, we will lead a totally inclusive GGAA, where the rights of every individual be protected. We will propose a memorial service that will coincide with the anniversary of the death of the late president Samuel K. Doe and our people at the Freeport of Monrovia. This service will be climax with Feast of closure in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County. Our aims are to help bring closure in the hearts of our people. The service will commemorate all the lives of our people that we lost during the civil crises.

Efficient Service delivery systems
Team Dadoua promise to create three service delivery systems, these will be:    Educational services, Health and sanitation services and social services.
Education
We are fully aware of our place in the country when it comes to education; we are at the bottom of the pile. We need to be aggressive at all levels to encourage our young boys and girls to make learning to read and write a priority. We at Dadoua will focus our resources mostly on providing the needed foundation for our kids, we will invest heavily in:

· Early childhood education, it is our belief that the foundation that each child gained at the beginning of their educational sojourn is vital to their overall development.

· We will make sure that each student from 6 grades down in the county will get at least the necessities that will encourage them to stay in school, things like exercise books, pencil sharpeners and back packs.

· We will work with our districts officials to obtain basic data on every elementary school in the district. Those data will be used by our Ways and Means and the Education and training committees to do proper planning and come up with ideas as to how we can provide needed services to those schools.

·         Our long term goal will be to create a reading room in every Jr. High school outside the perimeter of Zwedru.

· We will provide incentives for teachers to remain in their areas of assignments in the county especially teachers who reside in the remote areas of the county.

· As a long term goal we will study the possibility of a school lunch programs for our kindergarten and elementary schools kids in the county.

· For our college students we will propose to the board directors of GGAA to stripe our present scholarship program and replace it with a blanket tuition payment for all our students at public universities in the country who can meet our set required guidelines.

· We will seek out our bright students in all Senior high schools in the Diaspora and the country from Grand Gedeh to encourage them through aggressive incentives and scholarships programs to go in the field of Law, medicine and engineering.
     It is our promised to the people of Grand Gedeh, that by 2018 this association will produce 4 lawyers from the Arthur Grimes School of law at the University of Liberia.

· Provide allotment in our budget and collaborate with county officials to provide basic training for skilled and unskilled labor for Grand Gedeans back home. It is our beliefs that for Grand Gedeans to be competitive in acquiring those jobs that will be created from the logging and the mining industries in the county they must have the basic trainings that employers will need to employ Grand Gedeans in the county.

Health and Sanitation  
Team Dadoua been cognizant of the fact that our health care delivery facilities in the county are not in the best state, and also knowing that we cannot fix everything overnight, we will be realistic in our approach. Team Dadaoua will begin work starting on the first day of her administration with international philanthropic and donor organizations to bring to light the terrible conditions of our hospital and other healthcare facilities.
We will put together commission of 12 healthcare professionals that will in 3 months time do a feasibility study of our healthcare delivery facilities in the county. Base on their findings and recommendations, the administration will embark on an aggressive fund raising campaign to start renovation by the summer of 2016.
In the interim we will work along with county officials in order to provide basic services to our hospitals and clinics in the county. Our immediate short term goals will include the followings:

 · We pledged to provide continuous electricity at the hospital; our administration will open a direct line of communication with the hospital where the president in consultation with his advisors on health matters will have a conference call with hospital administrators once a month.

· We will build three public toilets in designated area in the county for sanitation purposes.
·         We will make sure that there is running water at the hospital at all times

· Working with the established presidential commission on health and sanitations the administration will carry out 2 basic drugs drive twice a year to help the hospital with needed over the counter drugs

· Provide incentives for at least 3 trained nurses to remain in the county at all time during our term in office.

· We will designed, managed and host a fully interactive website for the Martha Tubman Memorial hospital in Zwedru to help bring her plight to outside world. By this we hope for donors firsthand the condition of the hospital.
Social services   
· We will identify resources and opportunities that will improve, develop, and enhance the living condition of Grand Gedeans in the Diasporas. Whether it is in the area of education, health, and social welfare, our website will be used as a resourceful tool where our members can go to search for jobs opportunities, help in filling out applications for school, financial aid help, providing basic information on available scholarships programs and articles on adult illiteracy programmed

· We will establish a technical committee in our first 60 days to work with city officials and our law makers to revisit the agreement on the operation of the Putu Mountain. Our focus will be on the social funds, job creation and the environmental impact on the surrounding communities.

·         In the first 2 months of our administration, our liaison office, staff by employees that will be given a stipend by the administration will be up and running in Zwedru. The necessity of said office cannot be overemphasized.

·         One of our long term goals is to study the possibility of refurbishing the water towel in Zwedru to provide clean water to the city and its environs.

· We will empower all our committees, especially our Membership and the Education and Training committee to work with all of our chapters and localities to create a transition for new comers coming in to the US for smooth transition and integration into the American society by orientating them and identifying resources and opportunity to make life easy. Such as identifying and referring them to resource centers and facilities such as Immigration office, government centers, or health care facilities.

  · Empower our Education and Training committee to establish adult education programs in our chapters and localities, to provide the basic tools for some of our members to help in areas like filling out jobs applications where our studies showed has been a problem for most of our people.

·         We will work with the Ways and Means committee to aggressively engage the leaders of the Pennsylvania chapter in the city of Philadelphia our headquarter to
     secure a property to be use as our community center.  Our short term goal will be to get an office space in first 100 days.

      · In the near future it is our hope to secure a piece of land in Zwedru, where a modern office complex will be erected to house the Grand Gedeh Associations in the Americas.

This is the vision of TEAM DADOUA, we are committing ourselves to the total Reformation of the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas, it is our pledge that we will stop at nothing in the achievement of these service oriented goals for our county and people.  We believe that now is the time to step up to the plate to provide our expertise using our long record of service and using what we have we learned from working at all level with past administrations to  make GGAA the best she can be. TEAM DADOUA has been there, she understands GGAA and knows how to make things happen. All we ask of you is to give us that chance and we will promise you will not regret it, for we firmly believe that we are ready and we are well nurtured for the task. Also we want to stress that it behooves everyone of us to demand from those that are aspiring to lead this noble body to provide a vision that is clear and concise, this is ours to you the people of Grand Gedeh.



Thursday, March 7, 2013

Revised: Dadoua Platform



DADOUA

(Ah bli younh, ah kpa DADOUA ah ye Grand Gedeh poh)
National Campaign Headquarters
519 Spruce Avenue, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania
19082, (610)203-4276

"BUILDING AN ACCOUNTABLE, TRANSPARENT AND AN EFFICIENT SERVICE DELIVERY

Preamble
We the sons and daughters of Grand Gedeh County, in order to implement needed Services and develop an Inclusive structure that will augment the process of Unification in the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas, help promote the general welfare of all Grandeans home and abroad and provide a sound leadership that will be Accountable, Transparent and abide our written rule of law we have organized ourselves as group to be called “DADOUA”

We believe that a totally accountable and transparent entity that operates within the confines of our constitution is bound to succeed at all levels. We will stop at nothing to incorporate views of every sector of community to help carve a sustainable path to peace unity and harmony amongst us. It is in this regard fellow Grand Gedeans that team “DADOUA” has been formed and organized a grassroots entity.

Holding firm to the true meaning of “DADOUA” which means togetherness and inclusiveness in the Krahn language, we have banded together to provide a Different direction for this noble organization of ours and lead her to a new place where all Grand Gedeans will be totally incorporated  irrespective of district, clans, section or social/birth year group. We will work to create that environment that will promote the idea of ONE GRAND GEDEH ASSOCIATION in the minds of all our members.
 We will form a common patrimony among all of our people and join forces with other Liberian county associations and the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas, ULAA and other social groups to work for harmonious relationship amongst ourselves in the Diaspora.

Accountability and Transparency

· We will provide a simple, but effective financial management system that will insure financial accountability and transparency by making sure that

· our quarterly comprehensive financial report is made to our chapter leaders, members and the Board directors within the time frame set forth by our constitution. 

· We will Establish and implement an internal annual financial review of our accounting system and make the findings public.

· We will observe and do proper reporting and filing consistent with internal revenue code for a non-profit organization like ours.

· Transparency been the hallmark of our administration, we will make the requirement of the constitution that calls for independent audits mandatory for our administration and all bodies that fall under the umbrella of the association and those audits will be part of the president’s report to the national conference.

· We promise a standard of operation that will based on principles of Transparency and Trustworthiness to our membership. We clearly understand that it is our membership that is our most reliant sponsor, so to gain their trust we will be open, honest and frank with them as it relates to the management of our finances.

· In our first 30 days, our Transitional team will do a comprehensive review of the organization’s activities from outstanding contracts, projects-finished and unfinished and make those findings public. 

Rule of law

   Team Dadoua promise to our membership, our districts organizations i.e.: Gbarzon, Tchien and Konobo, sectional and our Social/birth year organizations is that “we solemnly swear to uphold and protect the laws of GGAA”. Our administration will lead by example, understanding that we do not have prosecutorial power. We will hold supreme every Article and section of our constitution and govern from that stand point.

· We will make the understanding of our constitution a priority, understanding the bond it creates among us when we all feel protected under the law.

· We will provide where it is necessary tools for chapters and our communities to make available copies of the constitution to our members.

· Our chapter’s territorial boundaries will respected by our administration, and members who move from one chapter to another will be given 60 days to regularize the membership with their new chapter. 

 · Our administration will propose a committee of eminent persons, to be comprised of former presidents and our elders.

· We will take a closer look at the way we elect our leaders, our aims are to propose a voting system through constitution amendment to the board of directors that is smart, economical and unifying in nature, we will argue for a system that will allow Grand Gedeans to vote in their chapters and localities during out national convention.

Sound Leadership
Understanding that the success of any efficiently run organization is based on how sound and organized its leadership team is, Team Dadoua being a group of dedicated Grand Gedeans with an impeccable record of long service to this organization promised to lead this organization in a sound and professional manner; we will lead from a corporate perspective which in our belief is based on productivity, growth and expansion.

· We will provide a sound and efficient leadership that can meet the challenges and service needs of our membership and develop sound policies that will draw members closer in a consistent manner. Our strength lies in our proven record of service to our beloved GGAA and knowing how to co-exist with every facet of our community.


· Our administration will propose sound administrative policies to help her lead and those policies will be sent to the board for approval in the first 100 days of our tenure.

· We will put together a strong membership committee that will be well funded budget wise. The chairman of the committee will have monthly meetings with chapter’s leaders and all localities to familiarize themselves with activities in those areas.

· The Administration will mandate the committee to raise the membership fee for all members to $10.00 annually. This fee will be paid by every Grand Gedean in every locality.  Our administration will propose the elimination of the $300.00 chapter dues that is been paid presently by every chapter. 

· We will allocates funds in our annual budget to be used for chapters, districts organizations, sectional and social organizations to implement well defined and accepted projects in the county.

Efficient Service delivery systems
Team Dadoua promise to create three service delivery systems, these will be:    Educational services, Health and sanitation services and social services.
Education
We are fully aware of our place in the country when it comes to education; we are at the bottom of the pile. We need to be aggressive at all levels to encourage our young boys and girls to make learning to read and write a priority. We at Dadoua will focus our resources mostly on providing the needed foundation for our kids, we will invest heavily in:

· Early childhood education, it is our belief that the foundation that each child gained at the beginning of their educational sojourn is vital to their overall development.

· We will make sure that each student from 6 grades down in the county will get at least the necessities that will encourage them to stay in school, things like exercise books, pencil sharpener and a back pack.

· We will work with our districts officials to obtain basic data on every elementary school in the district. Those data will be used by our Ways and Means and the Education and training committees to do proper planning and come up with ideas as to how we can provide needed services to those schools.

· We will provide incentives for teachers to remain in their areas of assignments in the county especially teachers who reside in the remote areas of the county.

· As a long term goal we will study the possibility of a school lunch programs for our kindergarten and elementary schools kids in the county.

· For our college students we will propose to the board directors of GGAA to stripe our present scholarship program and replace it with a blanket tuition payment for all our students at public universities in the country.

· We will seek out our bright students in all Junior and Senior high schools in the Diaspora and the country from Grand Gedeh to encourage them through aggressive incentives and scholarships programs to go in the field of Law, medicine and engineering.

· Provide allotment in our budget and collaborate with county officials to provide basic training for skilled and unskilled labor for Grand Gedeans back home. It is our beliefs that for Grand Gedeans to be competitive in acquiring those jobs that will be created from the logging and the mining industries in the county they must have the basic trainings that employers will need to employ our people in the county.

Health and Sanitation  
We are cognizant of the fact that our health care delivery facilities in the county are in shambles, we wouldn’t be in the position to fix everything overnight. We have to be realistic in our approach. We will be as consultative as we can be with our officials on the ground in finding ways to alleviate the suffering of our people. Team Dadaoua will begin work starting on the first day of her administration with international philanthropic and donor organization to bring to light the terrible conditions of our hospital and other healthcare facilities.
We will put together commission of 12 healthcare professionals that will in 3 months time do a feasibility study of our healthcare delivery facilities in the county. Base on their findings and recommendations, the administration will embark on an aggressive fund raising campaign to start renovation by the summer of 2016.
In the interim we will work along with county officials in order to provide basic services to our hospitals and clinics in the county. Our immediate short term goals will include the followings:

 · We pledge to provide continuous electricity at the hospital; our administration will open a direct line of communication with the hospital where the president in consultation with his advisors on health matters will have a conference call with hospital administrators once a month.

· We will build three public toilets in designated area in the county for sanitation purposes. We will make sure that there is running water at the hospital at all times

· Working with the established presidential commission on health and sanitations the administration will carry out 2 basic drugs drive twice a year to help the hospital with needed over the counter drugs

· Provide incentives for at least 3 trained nurses to remain in the county at all time during our term in office.

· We will designed, managed and host a fully interactive website for the Martha Tubman Memorial hospital in Zwedru to help bring her plight to outside world. By this we hope for donors firsthand the condition of the hospital.
Social services   
· We will identify resources and opportunities that will improve, develop, and enhance the living condition of Grand Gedeans in the Diasporas. Whether it is in the area of education, health, and social welfare, our website will be used as a resourceful tool where our members can go to search for jobs opportunities, help in filling out applications for school, financial aid help, providing basic information on available scholarships programs and articles on adult illiteracy programmed

· We will establish a technical committee in our first 60 days to work with city officials and our law makers to revisit agreement on the operation of the Putu Mountain. Our focus will be on the social funds, job creation and the environmental impact on the surrounding communities.

· We will empower all our committees, especially our Membership and the Education and Training committee to work with all of our chapters and localities to create a transition for new comers coming in to the US for smooth transition and integration into the American society by orientating them and identifying resources and opportunity to make life easy. Such as identifying and referring them to resource centers and facilities such as Immigration office, government centers, or health care facilities.

· Empowered our Education and Training committee to establish adult education programs in our chapters and localities, to provide the basic tools for some of our members to help in areas like filling out jobs applications where our studies showed has been a problem for our people.

We will work with the Ways and Means committee to aggressively engage the leaders of the Pennsylvania chapter in the city of Philadelphia our headquarter to
· secure a property to be use as our community center.  Our short term goal will be to get an office space in first 100 days.


· In the short term we will collaborate with Zwedru city government to provide us with an office space that will be use as our point of contact and a resource center. This office will be furnished with computers, a fax machines and an internet service. There will be a staff that will be compensated by the union. This office and resource center will be the face of Grand Gedeh association in the Americas in the county

· In the near future it is our hope to secure a piece of land in Zwedru, where a modern office complex will be erected to house the Grand Gedeh Associations in the Americas.

This is the vision of TEAM DADOUA, we are committing ourselves to the total Reformation of the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas, it is our pledge that we will stop at nothing in the achievement of these service oriented goals for our county and people.  We believe that now is the time to step up to the plate to provide our expertise using our long record of service and using what we have we learned from working at all level with past administrations to  make GGAA the best she can be. TEAM DADOUA has been there, she understands GGAA and knows how to make things happen. All we ask of you is to give us that chance and we will promise you will not regret it, for we firmly believe that we are ready and we are well nurtured for the task. Also we want to stress that it behooves everyone of us to demand from those that are aspiring to lead this noble body to provide a vision that is clear and concise, this is ours to you the people of Grand Gedeh.