Last year proved an annus horribilis for Goal and John O’Shea, the former journalist who founded the aid agency more than three decades ago.
Boardroom tensions arising from questions over internal governance resulted in O’Shea taking a High Court action to prevent Goal from dismissing him as chief executive. The case was eventually settled, with O’Shea agreeing to leave at the end of August.
The unedifying series of events that led to O’Shea’s departure left its mark on the organisation his successor, former minister of state for children and youth affairs Barry Andrews, inherited when he took up the role of chief executive in January.
“I know there has been reputational damage,” Andrews acknowledges.
“The legacy is the legacy and it is in history, it is in formaldehyde, and there is nothing I can do about it. I can’t undo the past. We will just have to take that on the chin right now.”
Andrews is keen to look to the future as Goal finds itself grappling with the challenges of a changing development sector in the midst of recession. “I am starting with a blank page . . . I have to build on our strengths today.”
A Goal staff conference in January left Andrews with the impression that, despite the turmoil of last year, the agency’s core remains strong. “The organisation is very healthy and our staff are highly motivated,” he says.
“We had a superb conversation about where we are, where we are going, what our strengths are and what we need to improve on. It was very frank exchange.”
Internal governance
Andrews says the issue of internal governance has “progressed very dramatically” and he notes that Irish Aid, the Government’s overseas development division, has positively reviewed Goal’s implementation of recommendations it made in this regard. “We want people to know that we take seriously the fact we spend tax payers’ money in the aid context and we wanted to be able to say hand on heart that we run a very efficient organisation and that there are appropriate lines of demarcation between the board and the CEO.”
He argues that whatever issues may have arisen over governance, Goal’s work on the ground reflected the calibre of its field staff.
“When Irish Aid did their audit, they weren’t auditing the delivery of our programmes, they were auditing the governance structure at the top. Naturally that has some influence on implementation but my impression is that implementation has always been very good.”
Andrews says Goal is “beginning to build up a very good working relationship” with Irish Aid after relations became strained towards the end of O’Shea’s lengthy term at the helm.
That period was marked by several controversies, including the kidnapping of Goal aid worker Sharon Commins in Sudan in 2009.
She later accused O’Shea of failing to implement proper security procedures for his staff, a criticism privately shared by other colleagues.
“Security was one of the major issues I wanted to get a grip on when I came in,” says Andrews. “Any organisation has to learn from critical incidents . . . I am satisfied that security is a major priority in this organisation and on a personal level I take responsibility for that security.”
‘Learning curve’
A barrister who served as minister of state between 2008 and 2011, Andrews has no previous experience in the development or humanitarian sphere. “I am on a learning curve,” he admits.
He envisages Goal retaining its focus on emergency aid while expanding its existing longer-term development programmes in areas such as health and nutrition.
Last year, Goal’s board, which had denied trying to remove O’Shea, gave a vague undertaking to “explore opportunities to collaborate” with him “for the betterment of the organisation” in the future.
Andrews says this now appears unlikely.
“He has moved on now . . . his two daughters work here so we have a connection in that way but there is no other connection.
O’Shea’s energetic approach helped transform the Dún Laoghaire-based aid agency into a respected organisation with a global reach, but his abrasive manner and blunt pronouncements on issues such as corruption made him a divisive figure within the development sector and among his own staff.
“My view is that no organisation should be embodied by a single individual . . . I think it is important that we are the sum of our parts and that anything apart from that can cause the organisation to have weaknesses,” Andrews says.
“John did a lot of good things, he built up this organisation from the boot of his car and it is now having a huge impact in improving the lives of poor people around the world on a daily basis. That will never be taken away from him.
“For some people, John O’Shea is a heroic person for what he did to bring the organisation to what it is today. There are other people who don’t share that view, but for me it is irrelevant, it is in the past. The organisation has moved on.”