This program is a capacity building program in strengthening skills of advocacy aimed to assist the Ministry of Health in accelerating the reduction of maternal, newborn, and child (MNC) mortality. One of the strategies is to conduct training of trainers for advocacy facilitators at the national, provincial, and district levels. These trainers are people who were involved in implementation of Advocacy Workshops at the 15 districts during 2007 as co-facilitators and people from the MoH and District Health Office.
This program is executed by Boy Fidro, Edriana Noerdin and Sita Aripurnami who will be responsible for the facilitation of the Training of Trainers. The program in facilitating training uses adult learning principles.
The Process
The Training of Trainers (TOT) brought forward two important aspects in enhancing the capacity of trainers or facilitators. Those are namely:
- Inputs for practice, which discuss (1) The Learning Condition and (2) Basic Concepts.
- The practice, which discusses ways to become good facilitators or trainers.
The TOT was held from 12 – 15 February 2008 at Cemara Hotel in Jakarta and participated by 20 participants from Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, East Java, West Java, North Sumatera and Banten, as well as 4 PC of Health Services Project (HSP).
February 12, 2008
On this first day, participants were taught how to start the training or facilitation process, so the participants were ready to learn and get into the learning zone. In the first session in the afternoon, all participants learned how to conduct introductions among participants, built consensus on the Dos and Don’ts as well as listing what are the hopes and fears of the participants.
In the second session, all participants refreshed their knowledge on Advocacy. The presentation of advocacy was presented by Ms Noor Alam from HSP. In this session, all participants also got the opportunity to view the video of the success story of Sumedang district in advocating the MNCH local regulation.
February 13, 2008
On this day, all participants started the day with a game to energize them. Right after the energiser game, the participants were refreshed with their knowledge on MNCH issues. In the second day, participants were learning as well as sharing not only about participatory facilitation skills but also about adult learning and games for energiser and icebreaker.
The participants were trained by using participatory facilitation skills through group discussion with techniques like ‘mind map’ and ‘shopping around’. These techniques enable participants to learn more than one topic as well as help them to think logically.
In the evening, the participants learned from the sharing done by Mr Nandang Suherman (Sumedang), Mr Mulyadih (Bogor) and Mr. Suhendi (Serang) to learn these three participants’ experiences on advocacy.
February 14, 2008
On the third day, participants started the day by doing the review using creative techniques. The participants passed a ball among the participants that contained papers on key words discussed on the second day. At the end of the song, the ball had to be stopped also and the participants holding the ball should take out the papers and explain the meaning of the key words.
On this day, participants were trained to plan and design a training curriculum referring to the module that had been developed by the Women Research Institute, Health Support Project and the Ministry of Health. The results were quite encouraging; the participants can come up with various techniques in bringing forward the topic in each session, i.e. using role play to understand about the issues of maternal and infant mortality.
February 15, 2008
On the last day, participants continue the discussion on the session on planning and designing the training curricula.
At the end of the day after the facilitator presented the recapitulation of the training process, all participants were asked to bring forward their evaluation of the training. Below is the description of the evaluation from the participants.
The Evaluation
The evaluation assessed three points:
The facilitation process
All participants feel that the facilitation process was very good. They can learn how to process the training by observing the way the three facilitators organized and processed the training. The participants were inspired by the strong team work performed by the facilitators and their attitudes towards the participants during the training. Yet, the management of time and space for processing the training need to be improved in the future.
The substance of the training
Most of the participants feel that the substance was very helpful for their future work as facilitators. However, they are hoping that in the future there will be a handbook particularly on games to help them facilitate in their districts/cities.
The supporting work of the organizing committee
Almost all of the participants felt that there was no clear information on who took the responsibility as the organizing committee. So, the participants feel that they were not being supported enough by HSP.
Lessons Learned
- All participants refreshed their knowledge on advocacy, the issue of MNCH, adult learning methods and became more aware of the importance of data on MNCH in each district/city.
- All participants exchanged their skills and experiences on techniques of facilitations as well as reflect their techniques of facilitation process.
- Learned some innovations and creativity in processing the learning process.
- Learned about the function of games used for processing the learning process.
- Learned how to package powerful advocacy messages.
- Realized that it was important to select carefully the right media and the importance to develop networks with the media, so the advocacy strategy became more effective.
Outputs
There are several outputs derived from this training, namely:
- Participatory facilitation techniques referring to the concept of adult learning, as well as tips to overcome problems encountered during the facilitation process, including skills on how to take participants into the learning climate.
- Up to date presentation handout regarding the concept of advocacy and the issue of Maternal and Infant Mortality.
- Games that can be used as icebreaker, energizer, develop learning climate and group formation.
The list of games are as follows:
- Games for Introduction: Tukar Properti
- Games for Energiser: Selada Buah, Gerak & Lagu, Hitungan, Gang Kecil & Jalan Raya, Ting, Tong, Ting-Tong and Hajli Sapopo
- Games for Group Formation: Jempol, Dengkul, Siku and Sekoci
- Simulation to take participants into the topic: “Bayi Mati”
- Capacity in planning training, including the knowledge to correlate between the basic concept, i.e. maternal and infant mortality, and participatory facilitation techniques which are effective to help participants understand the topic they learned. For example, using the technique of role play to help participants understand the topic of maternal and infant mortality.
- Some variant of the facilitation techniques in processing sessions of the training referring to the Module of Advocacy that had been trialed in the 15 districts/cities.
- The capacity in facilitation process referring to the method of Adult Learning.
- There are pools of facilitators that are ready to implement the Advocacy Training in reducing the maternal and infant mortality rate in selected districts in Indonesia.
Based on the criteria of a good facilitator (see The Facilitators’ Handout), we come up with our assessment that all participants of the workshop are ready to handle the facilitation process in the selected districts/cities. However, some of them have to be partnered with the skilled facilitators and their role is more as co facilitators.
Recommendations
- As facilitators it’s important to understand the training module beforehand.
- As facilitators, we need to be prepared not only regarding the substance but also in relation to the technical preparation, i.e. space of room, setting of the room, white board, flip charts, etc.
- Form a good teamwork among the facilitator and the partner as well as working on the role and responsibilities each of them during the facilitation process.
- Differentiate the role of facilitator and resource person. Our role in this training is as facilitators.
- Increased the practice as facilitator.
- As facilitators, we have to get out of our comfort zone and suppress our ego as well as be more open to criticism and input.
- Used appropriate facilitation techniques to bring forward the substance, so all participants can learn effectively.
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