Rose Thuo and Dorcas Kongwie: Reflections from the Eighth Batch of The Comms Mentoring Programme

Dorcas Kongwie and Rose Thuo were matched as mentee and mentor during the eighth batch of  the Comms Mentoring Programme. In this week’s article, they share about the experience, challenges and lessons from their mentorship journey.

 


Rose Thuo

Joining The Comms Mentoring Programme (CMP) was a natural transition since I collaborated on the resource “Navigating Development Communications Guide”. The lead Admin for the CMP, Damilola had sold me on the idea years ago and I waited too long to do this.

Meeting Dorcas Kongwie, my mentee, took me to a good place where talent lives and dreams are more than valid. Her energy and ambition is infectious. She renewed my excitement for the profession in ways I had forgotten.

During our meetings, she reminded me how each day, client and experience is unique. We make the world colorful, enhance human interactions and spark dreams in people of all ages. Dorcas literally does this at Foto4Change with young people. She sees first hand their potential, links their dreams to the world through her captivating images and digital storytelling. Beyond all this, she wanted to do more and that more was Strategic Communications.
Our assignment was set, to use our time to develop a long term visionary communication strategy for Foto4Change. We did just that and added a digital media content plan and guide lines. With this gift, Dorcas is sure to take Foto4Change to become word of mouth in Ghana and online worldwide. What’s the best part? It’s a gift that will keep giving to the organisation for the next five years. Look out here I present Dorcas Kongwie, Strategic Communications Manager and future professor of public engagement!

The Comms Mentoring Programme does more than nurture our young communications talent, It gives us seasoned communicators a sense of purpose, fuels our hope that things are getting better, grounds us in times of rapid changes, and ensures generational knowledge is not lost. It connects us across time and generations. It is an essential part of our African culture of the old guard giving a strong hand up to the new guard. And so on and so on.

 

Dorcas Kongwie
Being part of the eighth batch of The Comms Mentoring Programme has been a turning point for me. I joined the programme with limited knowledge of communication strategy and planning, but with the guidance of my mentor, Rose Thuo, that changed. Rose walked me through real examples, allowed me to try and fail, and supported me in developing a strategy for my organisation. Today, I feel more confident and capable.

One challenge I faced with my mentor was network issues. But instead of giving up, we switched to WhatsApp when needed and made sure we kept going. That kind of adaptability made the experience stronger. Another challenge was impromptu work demands but as determined as were to achieve what we set to achieve as a team, we made up for the days we could not meet up.

One of the most impactful moments for me was the opportunity to hear Rose talk about her lowest career point. She didn’t just share the story, she shared the lessons that I could implement on my own journey.

From her story, I learned to be determined, to have a direction and to always hold my head up, because the reality is, there are obstacles everywhere I go. That is a mindset I’m carrying with me into every opportunity going forward.

From content planning to message development, the tools I’ve gained are already shaping my work. I now understand what it takes to lead communication with purpose and how to make it align with the organisation’s or project’s objectives

As a young person still exploring the Communications space, I now know how important it is to keep learning, through short courses, webinars, which my mentor shared some links with me. This mentorship has shown me what’s possible when we are open to growth and willing to do the work.

I’m grateful to The Comms Avenue for this opportunity and to Rose for being the kind of mentor who not only teaches but also inspires.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *