Hege_Hermansen
09-11-2008, 02:02 PM
Dear colleagues,
We are planning a two day training on the theme of developing capacities for accountability and voice in the context of local service delivery for a group of development practitioners in the Eastern European region.
As part of the training, we would like to dedicate some time on day two for participants to plan application of new knowledge, more specifically to think about how they can design a voice and accountability intervention in the context of their ongoing programmes. We are grappling a bit with how to structure this session, because participants will come from a range of different countries with different political contexts and also different programme portfolios. If we place them in small groups to do this exercise, they may be in a situation where group participants are faced with very different work contexts and therefore will have limited benefits from doing this exercise in a group setting. On the other hand, we feel that doing this exercise only on an individual basis partially defeats the point of having a face to face meeting, and we also fear that attention spans might be decreasing on day four of a face to face meeting (the training is preceeded by a two-day community of practice meeting). We have discussed combining individual work with small group feedback sessions, but I am also not convinced that this format will work effectively.
If anyone can share tips or past experiences in relation to formats for applying new knowledge in a training situation where participants have diverse, complex and context specific work settings, while at the same time preserving the benefits of group work, that would be very much appreciated.
Thanks a lot,
Hege
We are planning a two day training on the theme of developing capacities for accountability and voice in the context of local service delivery for a group of development practitioners in the Eastern European region.
As part of the training, we would like to dedicate some time on day two for participants to plan application of new knowledge, more specifically to think about how they can design a voice and accountability intervention in the context of their ongoing programmes. We are grappling a bit with how to structure this session, because participants will come from a range of different countries with different political contexts and also different programme portfolios. If we place them in small groups to do this exercise, they may be in a situation where group participants are faced with very different work contexts and therefore will have limited benefits from doing this exercise in a group setting. On the other hand, we feel that doing this exercise only on an individual basis partially defeats the point of having a face to face meeting, and we also fear that attention spans might be decreasing on day four of a face to face meeting (the training is preceeded by a two-day community of practice meeting). We have discussed combining individual work with small group feedback sessions, but I am also not convinced that this format will work effectively.
If anyone can share tips or past experiences in relation to formats for applying new knowledge in a training situation where participants have diverse, complex and context specific work settings, while at the same time preserving the benefits of group work, that would be very much appreciated.
Thanks a lot,
Hege