There I was, together with Farellia, our coach from Madagascar. My first time Ghana. The challenge: facilitate a 4-day workshop on Food Security in West Africa with prominent church leaders and advocacy experts in the region. And we had to facilitate in English and French! The participants generally visit a lot of conferences, often dominated by Power Point shows and…

The RIGHTS Commission comprises three commissions: Women and Gender Equality, Rights of the Child and the Indigenous Peoples’ Commission. At a recent meeting of the executives it was discerned that there was tension among the staff including between senior management and subordinates.

Members of the senior management team agreed to an exercise to stimulate ‘team spirit’ among staff. Exercises of the Community Life Competence Process, was used to achieve the intended goal of…

When those in authority become too involved in the community's life, the community becomes dependent and see themselves as recipients of welfare and help. Working in a community with a good mix of low, middle and high income group, it is natural that that rich sees themselves as superior and powerful. They take charge of leadership positions and make decisions they deem to be helpful for the whole community.

I was invited by the Residents Commiittee (RC) to make a presentation to this…

I am very concerned about the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the world and even more concerned about the 4 new infections per day that is occurring in my country, I hope that my group can transfer what we have learned from the 6 blended learning modules to the various communities that we target to do our salt visits, keeping in mind we will also be learning new things from these communities to make us even more salty.It's as one of my group members said we need to pass the salt,so as we embark on our…

We* spent a second day visiting four different places in the the Tohoku disaster area.  I'll just talk about two.



Eight months ago today the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown hit Japan.  Back in the tsunami area of Miyagi Prefecture, I impressed with the extent of clean-up and it is still hard to look at the extensive damage. 



We started the day meeting with Watanabe-san, the volunteer coordinator in Minami-Sanriku-cho.  Watanabe-san was born in Sendai, and was…

This was one of the exercise to be completed in Module 2 of the Blended Learning. I wote down in my notebook "I want to live in a society that is peaceful and clean." I have information and the skills needed to ensure that this can happen, even skills to help others live in a peaceful and clean world."

Did I really mean this? Of course I cared about the state of our society, but did I really want to devote my life to this cause? My conclusion was that even if it was a personal…

During the CLC Workshop UNAIDS hosted in September, 2011. I did my first dream building exercise..we were given about 10 minutes to do this .....this is what I drew:

My dream spoke of having easy, readily available access to Mental Health support / services for everyone.......of having no taboo / stigma  when accessing mental health support / services .....of…

This post first appeared on HUMNews for World Pneumonia Day. 

"Hillary Clinton unveils initiative on clean cooking stoves," was among last year’s highlights at the Millennium Development Goals Summit. But what has become of The Global Alliance…

Weathering a slew of bad experiences, 24-year-old Korey Anthony Chisholm has been able to take the negatives in his life and turn them into positives, displaying resilience beyond his years. Korey is no ordinary young man. In fact, if he had allowed what life has thrown at him to get the better of him he would not have been here today. But instead he planted his feet firmly on the ground, seemingly made stronger by adversity.



Brutally raped by two men at the age of 16, becoming…

A couple of colleagues came back excitedly after a meeting with a community leader who had expressed her frustration at how things could be better done for the children in her neighbourhood. Our colleagues informed that this community leader was of the opinion that Beyond will probably do the job of looking after the kids well and asked us to present a proposal to her fellow committee members.   Hence, our colleagues wanted to be helpful but after talking and thinking it through, they now…

In setting the ground rules for our discussions I asked those gathered if they promised to be honest and open with me, as facilitator, I'll do the same and together we will learn from each other.

It never ceases to amaze me how the "Are We Human?" question stimulates thinking and generates lively banter. The ensuing discussions naturally humanizes the gathering and sets the perfect stage to the discussions following.

We were given 1 1/2hrs to facilitate, our community was…

I think the great facilitator to any local response is that you have to be comfortable with yourself, know your values and have a willingness to be transparent and open to your community.

If you allow preconceived notions to bias you, you will never make the impact you need to because you'll miss the window of opportunity to treat people as humans. Humans who like yourself, are subject to mistakes and failures and who can develop strength through out that process to develop themselves…

Community Action Day 2011 SALT Activity

We started one hour late due to rain. The rain however did not damper our spirit. It was here, our Community Action Day activity.

I planned a SALT activity with my family,…

Following on the interest in my posts on exchange visits between local organizations and oral reporting, here’s another set of guidelines on mentoring relationships for your use and adaptation.

***

Stronger, more sustainable community-based organizations can contribute to a more effective and participatory civil society…

Posting below on behalf of Ian Campbell and his facilitation team members in Odessa - Ukraine. After a SALT visit, the team followed up on an invitation to bring a visit at the house of the people they met. They left enriched. Enjoy the reading!

During the SALT visit to the refugee group, Mohammed from Guinea said ‘I am a man-I can succeed and I will.’…

I want to share the story of one beauty and on the other hand strong young women who is also my friend - Elena or simply in Russia - Lena. I think her story is really inspiring for people living with HIV. And she is also one of the SALT visits organizers in Samara.

My name is Lena.  I am a nurse by profession, so I had some information about…

We did our first SALT visit as a team on Friday, Nov 3rd 2011 at the SALVATION ARMY, Georgetown Guyana.



Before the meeting Steve, Nadia and I kept in contact, constantly SHARING ideas, about the concepts we learnt in the CLC workshop. It was exciting to LISTEN to each other's views and share our thoughts. 



On the day of the planning meeting, I had black out or no electrical power at home. Steve and Nadia and Myself kept in contact via phone. Later that day, creativity…

Our way of thinking, trying to put this into words.At the end of this Chapter we were asked for our input,there are a few things I would say differently ...I would say ...

we are all learning, growing and changing.... continuously 

The capacity continues to be revealed and nurtured.



My thinking: 



We are right where we need to be in any given moment. There are several things going on here, first, whatever…