FUTURE TRAJECTOR OF FECT IN NEXT YEARS
1. FECT is seeking in the next years- to focus on our work on the Dengue Project going on till April 30, 2022
- to consolidate past work for SL and MV - through publications, communication, knowledge management
- we need to get additional stream of funding than the PEER Dengue Project
- we need to be at the top of the Data Assimilation and Analysis Work on Env and Climate in SL
- we need scientific computing skills to be added
- we have to be ready if big opportunities come to us.
- we are looking at improving our core research
- we have to get our basic systems in order - in IT, Admin, Research and the Themes
OPPORTUNITIES
2. Opportunities that FECT has for funding are
- for funding in Maldives through project opportunities that may come up through FECT-MV and in particular Hudha and Aslam.
- bilateral funding in SL ( while the UK Embassy funding was not helpful, it does not mean that funding though bilateral is closed)
- funding in the US through new programs - foundations as well some USAID and other programs
- funding for the components of the CCA proposal
3. Opportunities for FECT to advance non-traditional funding:
- Through providing Instrumentation Services and Installations
- Through providing weather and air quality and weather services via Mobile Apps (- with a sponsored model or advertisement based models)
- Through some e-commerce options (which we should keep for much later)
4. Becoming a Publisher and Educational Service Provider
- Through becoming a TVEC diploma awarding institute ( - this shall at least get us some discounts and softwares and enable us to register as an educational org.)
- Through becoming a Publisher on non-profit books in our field - esp high quality books on Climate Change
- Through publishing high volume books through other publishers - maybe even externally.
WEAKNESSES
5. Work Planning and Monitoring Internally
- in some areas, it is weak enough to Undermine the Organizations Functioning
- Over the last months, IT, Admin, Research, Communications have recovered.
- The weak areas are Publishing,
- The neglected areas are our past projects
- The Crisis Areas are Financial, FECT-Inc, Legal
6. Financial Management is Manual
- Financial work is done by hand - and partly because of that - accounting is slow
- Backlog in accounts extend to a year
- ongoing accounts are not visible to the Board
- and there is a lack of ability to keep track of the financial flow - so there is no financial control and lots of financial risks
- as this work cannot be entirely manual during COVID.
- Financial Projections are not being presented to guide on whether we can afford to recruit or take on training courses
7. Attempts to have Internal Audits Done is taking so long that it is killing the momentum.
- much of our processes are not documented
- work allocation is not clear
- there is no monitoring of work
- there is no reallocation of work that is not getting done.
8. Knowledge Retention, Knowledge Management, Risk of Losing the Knowledge Workers and Poor Transmission of Knowledge
We are an Information and Expertise based organization - and we need improvements - there are ISO standards for this
- Our systems to organize knowledge has made some progress in terms of TB, OSF, Blogs - but there is lot of weakness
- We need to improve on our TB, OSF, Blogs and Build our Internal Filing System
9. Digital Information is not organized at all
- Our Digital Files are very poorly organized - we have talked about this without any progress
- we have such a crude system of keeping our files organized
- it just works where each person is storing the files - and then when the person leaves, there is a dump
- There is some system to take back-ups - but this is with an overloaded persons such as TH in charge.
(Think that ZI’s next big project is to take this on - maybe in late July)
THREATS
Threat scenarios have receded except some risks such as banking and covid afflictions.
Principal Threats
- If COVID does not recede until we can meet in person within a year -
- Legal Threats have receded but in the worst case, we have to plan to counter it
- Rule of Law is becoming weak in Sri Lanka - so we should be careful about ambitious plans (so ruled out starting a University)
- Financial Management Threats
- because of banking breakdowns
- Currency Instability that can come
- Poor Financial Control
RISK MANAGEMENT
7. HR / Staffing
- we have to balance the staff levels in keeping with our work needs and also the need to stretch out funds for a long enough period.
- we should not lose core competencies in Admin, IT and Research
- we have to manage turnover - was recent high turnover due to internal issues or external (- I think it was external, what do you think)
- we should be careful about recruiting in bunches - need to have good diversity.
- At present, we have
- 4 persons who have been around for more than 4 years,
- 3 for a 1 year,
- 3 who have been here for 6 months, and
- 3-5 who are here for 1-3 months.
This is a reasonable distribution - but any departures of those who are here longer-term can take a lot of head-knowledge out.
8. Reducing the Load on Principal Scientist, Lead Researcher and IT Admin
- Reconfiguration is needed
- as General Manager Role Played by Principal Scientist is damaging the productivity of the PS and the institutions output and outreach.
- Recruiting Personal Aide / Writers / Accounts persons - has been FAILURES over the last few years
