Photo by Will Schermerhorn
At the center of every Special Olympics competition, you’ll hear the roar of the crowd, the determination of athletes, and the joy of families watching loved ones succeed. But behind the scenes, another kind of work is quietly shaping these moments, Organizational Development (OD).
For Special Olympics Africa, OD is not simply a support function. It is, as President and Managing Director Charles Nyambe describes it, “the heart of the movement.”
“If you amputate the arm or leg of a person, they can still survive,” he reflects. “If you remove the heart, that marks the end of their life. OD is the heart of Special Olympics. It cannot be underestimated.”
The Africa Region made a deliberate decision to prioritize OD because experience has shown, time and again, that it is the backbone of Programs. OD guides strategy, strengthens infrastructure, and enables Special Olympics to fulfill its mission with greater efficiency and impact.
“If the foundation is weak, sustainability gets affected. Weak leadership, governance, and management can undermine all programming. But when OD is strong, Programs are set up for success.”
Susan Masila, Senior Director of Global Development, Government Relations, and Organizational Development
As Nyambe explains, OD is the engine that propels the movement forward. It helps Programs identify and mitigate challenges, seize opportunities, and stay aligned with the broader vision of inclusion. Over the years, data and trends confirmed what many already knew, that Programs thrive when they are built on a strong organizational foundation.
OD has been part of Special Olympics since its earliest days. “The Founders of the Organization identified OD early enough as the heartbeat to the accomplishment of the mission,” Nyambe notes. Yet through the years, OD has been debated and reassessed as leaders considered how much investment it deserved compared to other priorities.
Those assessments have consistently reinforced the same conclusion. OD is critical to mission success. Nyambe insisted why OD has endured, strengthened, and evolved over time is because the evidence always points back to its essential role.
The metaphors used by Nyambe bring OD’s importance to life. Nyambe compares OD staff to pilots of an aircraft. Passengers in the cabin may enjoy food, music, and conversation, but it is the pilots who must stay focused, constantly assessing the plane’s condition and direction. The same is true for OD staff, who monitor Programs, anticipate turbulence, and make adjustments to keep everything on course.
Susan Masila, Senior Director of Global Development, Government Relations, and Organizational Development, added another perspective, OD is the foundation on which everything else is built. “If the foundation is weak, sustainability gets affected,” she explains. “Weak leadership, governance, and management can undermine all programming. But when OD is strong, Programs are set up for success.”
She also likens OD to the engine of a car with regular attention and care, it can take the movement thousands of miles further than imagined.
OD is not only about systems, it also transforms the way staff connect with one another and with the mission. With OD’s 360-degree perspective, Masila explains, different departments can collaborate more effectively. By engaging OD staff before, during, and after new initiatives, the organization ensures smarter decision-making, better stewardship of resources, and ultimately, greater impact for athletes.
Every quarter, Special Olympics Africa staff come together to review Programs using a snapshot tool that measures organizational health. “It’s like a medical check-up,” Nyambe said. “A way to diagnose needs early and prescribe the right support.”
Looking three to five years ahead, both Nyambe and Masila see OD driving transformative change. For Nyambe, the goal is clear, a society where people with intellectual disabilities are seen with no difference, no prejudice, only respect and acceptance. “The most effective way to change mindsets is through experience,” he says. “That’s why sport remains the catalyst for everything we do.”
For Masila, success means positioning Africa as a thought leader at the crossroads of intellectual disability, sport, health, education, and self-advocacy. Inside the movement, she envisions staff working with a stronger shared vision. Outside, she wants policymakers and partners to see Special Olympics Africa as a solutions-driven leader in building inclusive communities.
Both Nyambe and Masila believe OD is not optional. It is the compass that guides leadership decisions, the pilot who keeps the aircraft steady, the foundation on which everything else stands.
“Programming does not happen in a vacuum,” Masila reminds. “OD responds to people, processes, and systems. Without it, nothing holds together.”
“OD is the GPS of our movement,” Nyambe said. “It keeps us on course, away from assumptions, and always focused on our mission. It is the heart of Special Olympics Africa.”
