Programmatic Responsiveness in Action: The MaMardia Story

Adapting an Organization’s Process to Achieve Mission Success.

In 2018, I established MaMardia, an organization designed to serve as a country partner for cultural exchange programs between Liberia and the United States. The mission was to facilitate non-traditional learning opportunities for Liberian students through participation in culture exchange programs abroad. However, upon arriving in Liberia to implement this mission, I encountered significant operational challenges that threatened the viability of the organization:

• Unreliable technological infrastructure with limited high-speed internet access.

• Escalating costs due to Liberia's economic conditions.

• Logistical complexities of managing international exchange programs in Liberia.

• Limited financial resources to support the original program design.

These realities forced me to critically reassess how MaMardia could effectively serve Liberian youth while remaining operationally sustainable.

Discovery Process

The implementation challenges in Liberia led to personal burnout and a necessary period of reflection. Several key insights emerged during this time:

1. The original exchange program model was not feasible given the local constraints.

2. Local organizations were already doing important work and needed additional support.

3. Effective programs would need to operate within existing infrastructure limitations.

   
   

Solution Design

Following careful reflection, I pivoted MaMardia's approach to achieve our mission of facilitating non-traditional learning opportunities for Liberian students. Rather than focusing on facilitating exchanges abroad, we redesigned our approach to act more as a supportive organization to local educational initiatives by providing financial or operational support to their existing programs.

Implementation Strategy

Our implementation strategy involved selecting local organizations and supporting their existing programs. We achieved this through partnering with Smart Liberia's College Readiness Program, which primarily focused on helping students learn hard skills. In line with their college prep mission, we offered to assist by providing a class where students could learn soft skills through non-traditional learning methods.

We achieved this by partnering with a Harvard-certified learning coach to create Wrolomondeh Coaching, a class designed to:

• Help students recognize their agency and voice.

• Shift from traditional top-down mentoring to collaborative coaching relationships.

• Empower participants to identify opportunities for taking action within their contexts.

• Build confidence through guided self-reflection and supported goal-setting.

Adaptation Through Crisis

Shortly after launching the class, COVID-19 hit Liberia, forcing the closure of Smart Liberia's facilities. Rather than abandoning our efforts, we underwent another strategic pivot to a fully virtual class. This required:

• Adapting coaching materials for digital delivery.

• Requesting internet modems from our funders for students with limited internet connectivity.

• Training coaches in effective virtual engagement techniques.

• Creating additional support structures for students facing pandemic-related challenges.

Results & Impact

Despite multiple pivots and adaptations, Wrolomondeh Coaching achieved meaningful outcomes:

• Created a coaching methodology that centers student agency in a cultural context where hierarchical educational approaches were the norm.

• Provided students with what many described as "the best time they had all year long" during a global pandemic.

The program's impact extended beyond the immediate student experience, demonstrating that effective support for local initiatives can create more sustainable value than imposing external program models.

Key Lessons

This journey with MaMardia reinforced several critical principles for international development work:

1. Conduct more thorough feasibility studies before fully committing to implementation strategies.

2. Challenge assumptions about what success looks like in different cultural contexts.

3. Remain adaptable in the face of unexpected challenges and changing circumstances.

4. Prioritize local partnerships that leverage existing networks and community trust.

5. Practice self-care as an essential component of sustainable service work.

Conclusion

The evolution of MaMardia exemplifies the importance of programmatic responsiveness in international development. We were able to achieve our mission of supporting non-traditional learning programs in Liberia by adapting our programmatic approach based on cultural context, local resources, and operational constraints.

By shifting from an exchange-focused model to creating Wrolomondeh Coaching in partnership with Smart Liberia, we prioritized mission fulfillment over adherence to our original business processes. This approach allowed us to respond authentically to the realities we encountered on the ground, ultimately creating a more sustainable impact through locally-led solutions.

My experience with MaMardia demonstrates that social impact organizations can continually reassess and modify their operational models while maintaining commitment to their core mission. When processes are viewed as adaptable tools rather than rigid frameworks, organizations can respond more effectively to local needs and contexts, creating paths to success even when the journey looks nothing like what was initially planned.

This lesson in programmatic responsiveness represents the true achievement of my work with MaMardia and guides my ongoing approach to helping social impact organizations streamline their operations for programmatic success.