This week marked another new experience for me as a
development worker (at the time of writing, but this is posted late in this blog hehe). One of my subjects (Community Development Training), in my
graduate school, required us to conduct a training of our own, for an assigned
sector. I was assigned to the youth sector. We conducted the TNA, designed the
training program and executed accordingly.
And it was definitely a wonderful experience….
I have always dreamt to become a teacher. Influencing at
least one student, say at least in one semester, to walk in the path I am
trying to pave will be one contribution from me to a kinder world. I am always delighted to speak about the
things I am passionate about. But training, for me, is not my cup of tea.
It actually scares me
because it is to me a different arena from classroom teaching. It consists of
extraneous variables including standing in front of an unpredictable, diverse
group of individuals. But my work has forced me to do training…and to my
pleasant surprise, I am falling in love with it. Each time I do it, it makes me
happy - getting to know beautiful people, sharing what I know, and them sharing
to me as well their experience, their knowledge, their feelings. All the exhaustion,
stress and hardwork tend to become all worth it.
And this again, surprisingly happened, this week, with my
experience of conducting a training for the youth in our subdivision.
At the beginning I was a little reluctant, because they were
not my expected participants for the design of the training. Plus the fact
that I am unsure of my knowledge about the youth (since my sector is farming).
But it turned out to be a really awesome session with them.
Like most youth, they are really playful, have a very short attention span,
rowdy and give this “pilosopo” answer. However, I just find everything so
amusing and funny and entertaining. I think their jokes are not offensive and
it really cracks me up.; makes the training really fun and animated.
And yes, when you get their attention, they really listen.
You’ll see the usual curiosity every youth has. And they have these really
smart and intelligent inputs too. The most inspiring thing is that, well, it
seemed to me that they got interested with the topic. A topic that is dear to
my heart. =)
So yeah, I guess, I can live doing things like these.
*****
The training we (my team mate and I) have put together for
the youth is about teaching them the principles of community development. We
have targeted youth leaders, specifically those who have experienced running a
political office (as in SK) or any leadership role.
The training design we have prepared, still is a work in
progress, but I would push that this is a good training design for anyone who
is interested to serve a community. I’d say that if there is a course for “accounting
for non-accountants”; what we have developed is “community development for
aspiring development workers”
The design is a combination of training on leadership,
basics of community development, basics of project management, and basics of
managing and implementing community development project. The design is supposed
to be for a year. We chose topics that we can do for a one day training. It was
very challenging because we have to compress subjects that have been taught for
one semester to a 2 hour session at the maximum! @_@. But it was a rewarding
experience nonetheless.
Anyways, I would like to share with you our training design.
Take note that we squeezed in in one day (not a good idea, but, we pulled it
off, having the youth participants stay for a 9-hour training session!) the topics on CD basics, project management
and leadership training. In reality, this should be like a 3-day training
session.
I would be posting our training design (combination of
original + revisions). I would like to post
this in my blog to help likeminded individuals who want to impart not only to the
youth, but to any sector, the beauty of community development and hopefully develop
advocates in the future of such a beautiful development approach!
Training Title:
A Training Program for
Aspiring Youth Leaders on Implementing Community Development Projects
General Objective:
This training aims to develop and instill in the
participants the value and practice of implementing community development
projects.
Specifically, the
activity will enable youth leaders to:
- Understand the principles of community
development and its significance to being a public servant or a youth leader
- Identify
their strengths and weaknesses and
build their potentials as leaders
- Develop and model the core values of a good
leader.
- Develop their skills in implementing
participatory rapid appraisal.
- Understand the basics of project management.
As I said, this is still a work in progress. Feel free to
comment if you have suggestion, or if you wish to know about this =)
And now, I would like to share our actual training run.
Please take note that for a one-day training as requirement for our class, what
we implemented were: Understanding Oneself, Analysis of a Problem, PRA, Basic
CD Principles, Basic Project Management, and Implementing CD Projects.
It was a loooooottttt of topics covered for one day. I was
wary at the beginning if we will be able to keep up with the youth’s short
attention span. But apparently, we have somehow been able to get their
attention. It was not a perfectly planned training, but I am nonetheless
satisfied with how the training ended. I am delighted because I saw in their
faces the interest in the topic. But I
am most fulfilled with how this rowdy bunch of youngsters were able to provide
intelligent inputs and how aware they are to the problems and issues that
embattle the youth of today. So let me share with you their two cents during
our evaluation of the training FGD (excerpt from our training report):
Essentially, the youth provided positive responses, articulating that
the training was “masaya” and “marami
silang natutunan.” One of the most significant learning that was instilled
in them is that hostile and aggressive behaviors will not solve problems (“hindi nakakaayos ng problema ang pag-aaway”)
They said that their favourite topic on the training are the one in
leadership roles (Anong X Factor Mo Bilang Lider?) because it talks about
themselves. They can easily relate to it because it is all about their personal
life and how they deal with others.
They also like the exercise on problem analysis (Fish Bone), because
this has helped them on understanding in a deeper level a problem. They enjoyed
thinking in a critical way and shared that this will be helpful to them.
Another favourite is the discussion about project management. They also
believe that this is important as they grow up and become professionals in the
future.
As for the improvements, they suggested that it would be better if there
are more Resource Speakers. They also suggested the utilization of more case studies at the level of the youth so
they can relate more. They specifically said,
“Mas mababaw na lecture para lahat makasunod”
When the youths were advised if they have some other topics of interest,
one of them suggested about the legalization of marijuana. He wants to talk
about and know more about the perils of drug addiction. Meanwhile, one of the
participants proposed a topic on prostitution and the adverse impact of this.
This is in relation to the “Beer House” businesses slowly proliferating outside
of the subdivision. The participants emphasized that there are some youth who
go there and they should be educated about this.
They unanimously said that they will recommend the training. They said
that even if the training was long and a lot of topics were discussed, they are
pleased with it due to the many learning that was imparted to them. As one of
them pointed out,
“Mahaba, pero worth it”
Awwwww….how my heart was so touched….
Ok. Ok, now the pictures!
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At the TNA
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Photo Ops at the TNA
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getting to know each other at the training proper
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expectation setting
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problem analysis activity
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they already completed the puzzle!
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the PRA using clay
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leadership training activity
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minefield
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dr. kwak kwak
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photo ops towards the end
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having fun with them
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has so much fun!
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I fervently hope that this training has inspired them
enough, transforming them as a promising community development leader one day,
being the most caring to the vulnerable sectors.
And I am not done talking yet.
I want to share as well that I am new to the terrain of
training. At the beginning, I was the reluctant facilitator. I was afraid of
speaking in front of an unpredictable group of people. But the first time I had
to facilitate a capacity building activity, I fell in love with it. So I guess,
aside from CD work, it is my calling to teach and train. There is an unending
self-fulfillment knowing that someone has learned from me. It is equally
fulfilling to meet people and also learn from them.
I wanna share my thoughts about the training profession.
Again, below is an excerpt from our training report.
One of the facilitators has just started to embark in training
professionally (Training of Partners in Monitoring and Evaluation) and this
training exercise has been both relevant and meaningful. One of the most
significant learning is to prepare more topics that are easily relatable to the
participants. This has been difficult as the said facilitator has limited
background about the youth. The facilitator has yet to learn more about the
proper tools and activity to make a training more lively and experiential. Most
importantly, tools that will provide lasting knowledge especially to the youth.
The experience however edified the realization that training is a fun
and fulfilling career. Standing up in front of people to impart to them
community development – which is the facilitator’s passion is already very
rewarding; what makes training an even more gainful endeavor is that it
provides an avenue for community people to share a glimpse of their mind and
speak about it. And at the end, the facilitator learns as well. It is a bonus
when you get to connect and be friends with the community.
Training is also an artistic endeavour. A facilitator needs to be
creative on how he/she can implement a training to avoid exhausting or draining
the participants. This makes the training an even more exciting profession
because it merges ones technical and artistic side. A downside of this is that
at times, creative juices come late, but most definitely just in time before
the conduct of the training. And when executed well, the personal reward is
overwhelming. Just in the case of this youth training, it took some time before
the creativity sets in due to the demands of work and limited knowledge about
the youth sector. But hearing from the youth that the rigidity of the training
is “worth it,” makes all the challenges as well equally worth it.
