One Team. One Energy. One Vision

Have you ever wondered what powers Projet Jeune Leader’s (PJL) success?

An ambitious strategy? Strong community support? Of course !

But the real driving force behind our impact is something even greater — a passionate, talented, and united team moving forward together with one vision: that every Malagasy adolescent thrives! 

“The first thing that stood out to me about PJL was the team’s motivation, passion, and energy. There’s a genuine warmth and sincerity in the way they’re committed — something I haven’t experienced anywhere else. At PJL, you find this rare mix of enthusiasm, professionalism, and accountability that really makes you believe in the mission and want to keep pushing further.” — Saraha, Safeguarding, Protection, and Strategic Innovations Lead at PJL

Our geographic growth and the diversity of our roles are a real strength. But it also means we don’t always get to see each other as much as we’d like.

And 2025 has been a busy year: 13 new positions created, expansion across the country, stronger internal processes… So many positive changes — and plenty of reasons to pause and reconnect.

So how could we bring everyone together, celebrate how far we’ve come, and be aligned for what’s ahead? The answer came naturally: a team retreat. Two days to exchange ideas, reflect, laugh, share meaningful moments, and kick off 2026 with energy and ambition.

Celebrating our wins & setting the course for 2026

The team retreat kicked off with a look back at 2025 and a recap of the year’s major milestones. It was a meaningful moment to realize how much we’ve accomplished together.

Then, our Technical Managers, Mamisoa and Chrys, walked us through our implementation models and the challenges linked to our national expansion. A helpful and inspiring reminder — especially for the admin teams, who don’t always get to see the direct impact of our programs.

Faniry, our HR Director, reminded us of our core values: ambition, partnership, quality, and enthusiasm. Everyone took time to reflect on how these values guide their daily work — the very DNA of PJL.

By the end of this first session, we felt aligned, energized, and ready for 2026. 

Getting to know each other

With over 50 team members, it’s not always easy to keep track of who does what.

This second session gave us the chance to better understand each other’s roles and responsibilities and to connect on a more personal level. It was an important moment to clear things up, build stronger relationships, and make our day-to-day collaboration smoother and more effective.

Taking a closer look at our departments

It was time to break out by department! Each team focused on topics closely linked to their everyday work.

Our Directors had completed in advance the “Gallup Test” to better understand their strengths, work styles, and ways of interacting. They then shared their insights and discussed practical ways to collaborate even more effectively.

Our Administrative and Logistics team came together to go over key aspects of their daily work — from document filing and financial processes to electronic signatures — using this time to better align and streamline how they work together.

Our Technical team participated in a refresher session on our scaling strategy led by our Executive Director, inspired by her learnings as a Rainer Fellow with the Mulago Foundation. They explored important questions such as: Who is the payer-at-scale? Who is the doer-at-scale? Will we “go big,” or … “go home”? It was a valuable moment to challenge and refine our vision and ambitions.

Our Support staff took part in a training session centered on three essential pillars of professional effectiveness: communication at work, self-esteem and confidence, and mutual respect.

Overall, everyone had the opportunity to move forward on key priorities while strengthening collaboration within their teams.

Revisiting our policies

At PJL, we have zero tolerance for fraud and corruption. We are also guided by clear principles when it comes to safeguarding and protection.

That’s why we spent a full morning revisiting these key policies — checking our understanding, refreshing our knowledge, and making sure we’re all on the same page.

To keep things engaging, we chose a more interactive approach.

On the agenda:

• An immersive case study based on a serious issue related to fraud and corruption.

• Group discussions around real-life scenarios (abuse, harassment, etc.) to better understand how our safeguarding and protection policies apply in practice.

  
  

It was an important and hands-on moment to strengthen two core pillars of how we work at PJL — and to renew our commitments (code of conduct, conflict of interest declarations, etc.) for 2026. 

Exploring key themes together

These workshops were designed to raise awareness around important topics we want to continue strengthening within PJL.

We took part in two interactive mini-sessions focused on:

• Sustainability

• Ethical communication

  
  

The sessions were fun and participatory, encouraging reflection, open discussion, and the sharing of practical ideas we can apply in our daily work.

Sharing fun team moments

What would a team retreat be without a little team building? To laugh, challenge ourselves, and enjoy quality time together, we filled these two days with a series of fun activities:

• Question cards to get to know each other better and spark lively conversations during meals

• A team trivia game

• A bingo game with prizes… or playful forfeits

  
  

Great moments that created lasting memories and strengthened the bonds within our team!

Wrapping Up 

For us, it was clearly a success!

But we’ll let you be the judge — just take a look at what our participants had to say...

“The ‘Getting to Know Each Other’ workshop really helped us connect better as colleagues, which made communication much smoother. The department sessions also helped us clarify our ideas, get better organized, and improve how we divide tasks — all in a collaborative and efficient way.” — Lalaina, Accounting Assistant at PJL

“The time management was spot on, and the facilitation was dynamic from start to finish — not a single dull moment.” — Hasina, Procurement and Purchasing Manager at PJL

“All the discussions helped build trust, improve communication, strengthen the way we work, and deepen our sense of belonging as we look ahead to 2026.” — Stella, Director of Finance and Administration at PJL

“The teams really mixed during the practical sessions, which gave me the chance to work with different people and build new connections. Even during meals, we kept that mix going, which led to more informal conversations and stronger team bonds.” — Tahiry, Research, Learning, and Accountability Coordinator at PJL

“Every workshop was valuable. I either learned something new or gained deeper insight into topics I deal with regularly. I especially appreciated the conversations about roles and responsibilities — we don’t always realize it, but we all rely on one another.” — Lilie, Advocacy Manager at PJL

See you next year?