ICF Uganda Chapter Visibility

The International Coaching Federation (ICF) Uganda Chapter, a registered association for Certified Professional Coaches, came into legal existence in August 2019 and was officially launched at a beautiful half-day conference on 25^th October 2019 at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel, Rwenzori Ballroom.  ICF is the leading global organization dedicated to advancing the coaching profession, by setting high standards, providing independent certification and building a worldwide network of trained coaching professionals.

ICF’s main objective is to institute standards and enhance development of best practices in Coaching as a strategic enabler of excellence in organisations and for individuals. In order to do this effectively, the Chapter Board has an Events Director in whose docket Marketing, Corporate Communications, Public Relations and Events Management sits. Since the formation of the Chapter, ICF has been involved in a number of events to raise awareness about the purpose for the existence of ICF and to build member and stakeholder engagement with the Chapter.

The first major event held by the local Chapter was the launch itself on 25^th October 2019. The Chapter was supported by Priority Partners from the Corporate world like HRMAU, Coach Africa, Umeme Ltd, NSSF, DFCU Bank, Strathmore University Business School, PrecisionHR, Imagine Me Africa and Stanbic Bank. These partners have shown a great commitment to the cause of coaching and have not only sponsored coaches to attend ICF Programmes but have provided strategic direction and oversight by giving of their time, skills and competencies in building the legal and organisational structures of the Chapter and the Coaches themselves, from strategy formulation to execution.

In January 2020, the ICF Uganda Chapter held a half-day strategy retreat, in which the Coaches came together to brainstorm on a 3 year strategy. Since May 2020, after many iterations, the strategy has been adopted as the official document that will guide the process of building a strong and value adding chapter to the Ugandan community of coaching practice, both for Coaches and for clients. 

The International Coaching Federation ICF Global holds an annual Global Leaders Forum (GLF) and in 2020, it was scheduled for March, but due to the outbreak of the global pandemic COVID-19, the physical event in Fort Worth, Texas, USA was cancelled and the entire conference was moved online. This event therefore had active participation from Coaches and leaders from all over the world, and in numbers that would have been impossible had the in-person event taken place instead. The ICF Uganda Chapter was well represented on this global stage and many lessons to Chapter Directors on formulation and execution of strategy were learnt.

In May of each year, the International Coaching Federation runs an International Coaching Week (ICW) and this year 2020 was no exception. The only difference is that all the physical events were cancelled and instead webinars were held on the Zoom platform. The entire coaching week was packed with webinars that reached hundreds of Coaches, Coaching enthusiasts, clients and stakeholders in this country and beyond. The Uganda Chapter was also well represented at the Global scene with our own Coaches, including the President, Joan Mugenzi, the Secretary Josephine Mukumbya, the Treasurer Samuel Mwogeza and the HRMAU President Moses Mbubi Witta facilitating as panelists some of the ICW webinars.

In partnership with the Love-Care-Hope initiative under the auspices of Minet Uganda Limited and Strategic Engagement, the ICF Uganda Chapter has been at the forefront of discussing employment transition matters through the employee assistance workplace programme. From disruptions to employment, as well as disruptions to livelihoods and wellness, this employee assistance programme has ICF Uganda Chapter Coaches actively engaged in providing career transition and life coaching services to the employees in different organisations. Clearly the ICF Uganda Chapter continues to demonstrate a robust value proposition in the Ugandan professional community through these and many more initiatives and events.

Joseph Ajal

ICF Uganda Chapter Events Manager