Community Development Training for the Youth Sector

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 of becoming 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 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.

In 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 in 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 teammate 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 in serving 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, the basics of community development, the basics of project management, and the basics of managing and implementing community development projects. 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 will be posting our training design (combination of original + revisions).  I would like to post this in my blog to help like-minded 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 potential 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 suggestions, 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 a 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 in one day. I was wary at the beginning if we would 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 their 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 of 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 learnings 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 in the training is 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 understand 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 were 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 had some other topics of interest, one of them suggested 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 would recommend the training. They said that even if the training was long and a lot of topics were discussed, they were pleased with it due to the much 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!

At the TNA

Photo Ops at the TNA

getting to know each other at the training proper

expectation setting

problem analysis activity

they already completed the puzzle!

the PRA using clay

leadership training activity

minefield

dr. kwak kwak

photo ops towards the end

having fun with them

has so much fun!

I fervently hope that this training has inspired them enough, transforming them into 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. In 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 on 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 activities to make 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 training to avoid exhausting or draining the participants. This makes the training an even more exciting profession because it merges one's 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 set 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.