Frankline Agbor
In January 2018, Tesfaye Ayalew, Executive Director (ED) of the Africa Centre was placed on administrative leave after an employee resigned accusing him of professional misconduct, including sexual harassment. At the end of last week, he got a letter stating that his services were no longer needed at the Africa Centre.
The Africa Centre Board is the only authority to hire or fire Tesfaye and it just pulled its unique trigger. The million community question is where does this leaves the organization, the community that rallies around it, and the funders and sponsors? What is the way forward to pick up the pieces and start to forge ahead again?
Although still ongoing, this sexual harassment investigation has dragged on for close to three months now and has evolved from a scandal into a community crisis with different factions, interests, and agendas, springing up. Five blurred groups can be identified from this crisis pulling in different directions; pro-Tesfaye, anti-Tesfaye, those who want processes and Africa Centre constitution and bylaws to be followed, those who seek justice for the women who have come forward, and those who use this to settle scores.
Well, when brothers and sisters get in to a fight, they all go back to the same home when night fall. In other words, the way forward is to engage all factions to re-unite a divided community. Set up an independent committee within the community, we know people who are close and have influence on all groups. Engage the women who have come forward and include them in any reconciliation process moving forward. Bring in the custodians of the bylaws, involve the Africa Centre funders, sponsors, and supporters in the process, as well as negotiate a safe exit for Tesfaye and appreciate him for his services to the centre and the community. We know all these people, they are our brothers, sisters, family, friends, colleagues, husbands, wives, and what have you. We meet them at work, in church, at the mosque, at the grocery shop, at the community events, for sure everywhere. We should be able to, or find people in the community who can talk to them nicely, take them by their hand, and bring them to the table. There is only one winner out of this crisis – the community. Those using this crisis to settle scores should be educated on the implications and hand them to the appropriate authority if need be; bullying, threats, and defamation are criminal.
Avoid a legal battle at all cost with any of the factions as this will be the beginning of the end for the centre. Legal battles takes years to conclude, legal fees for two to three years case will exceed hundreds of thousands of Dollars, a significant chunk of Africa Centre’s budget, and of course grants money cannot be used to pay for legal battles. Insurance hardly covers legal battles and funders will drop you like a hot potato until the legal battle is over.
The next step is to replenish the vacant board seats on the Africa Centre Board, bring in communities, develop new policies to protect our sisters and wives in the face of sexual harassment, craft an open, fair, just, and standardized process of appointing a new ED.
It is said when you go to Rome, do what the Romans do. Of course the new ED will do that selectively as the person will be busy with a lot of bridge re-building to do, institute a paradigm shift in direction and thinking of the organization. The world has changed a lot since 2006 when the centre was founded, so too are the main players in the community and in government and funding ecosystem. The centre has to diversify its funding sources from predominantly grants to fundraising, and other creative revenue generating strategies.
To this end, the focus of the organization will also have to diversify from immigrants and refugees to those who are already here helping them to capture or create opportunities, as well as, forging impactful alliances, partnerships, and cooperations for the good of the community.
Tesfaye took the organization as a one man crusade on a $75,000 budget in 2008, and has led it into a formidable organization it is today with a budget of over $2 Million and a staff team of 30.
The Council for the Advancement of African Canadians in Alberta (CAAC) is the legal name of the organization that operates as Africa Centre. It was founded on 23rd October 2006 in Edmonton. It supports African immigrant and refugee families as well as cultural communities and organizations to address barriers and challenges that come up in their process of integration into Canadian society.
