Who can be a SALT Facilitator?

[Kausar Skhan]

Constellation has many Facilitators, and they are its strength. The have innumerable workshops for participants to understand SALT.  My question to them : Do you know how many learners who came to your workshop carried forward SALT, and how did they do so ? And, how many who just never carried it forward, and why did they turn away?

I attended a 5 days workshop on SALT, in Karachi, about 3 years ago. As am a trainer/facilitator of learning of people at various levels (community level, illiterate, semi literate women and men,  literate people working at the community level, and even the  higher degree holder working as professionals in government and non-government organizations). Hence it was not difficult for me to start looking into the ways SALT can be introduced to different group, and how this could be done. Thus off I went, accompanied by a young colleague, and introduced SALT through some distinct questions of SALT – on humanity, community responses, pride and dream building. This was exciting, as this approach established a connectedness that was new – a connected between the participants and between the facilitator and participants.  Thus one thing was definite…. Something was happening… people were getting stimulated and appeared ready to take actions, and some actually did take actions. So far so good, a turn came when attempt was made to help people learn to use SALT in their work.

Note

This difference between (a)  people experiencing SALT, and (b) people learning SALT in order to use it in their work with communities. A challenge was faced in the (b) sector. Two groups could be seen within this category . the groups being : those from modest economic background, from the rural sector, and on the lower rung of employment hierarchies. The other group was university graduates ( BS/MA from foreign and local universities) and conversant in English. If these groups are analyzed with the help of a 2 x 2 framework below, four positions emerge. SALT training would aspire to reach A, and ground realities may show the presence of B and C.

( I had a diagram here... which was not accepted here. !!! )

Constellation has its own Facilitators, which is an excellent situation. Does Constellation have a mechanism of certifying somebody emerging from SALT trainings to be recognized as a SALT Facilitator? If so, what would be the criteria? Furthermore, if somebody is striving to help cadres’ B and C to learn SALT and apply it in at the community level, what role could Constellation play? How would Constellation establish that learning is taking place, and is according to some pre-given criteria.

 

 

[Luc Barriere-Constantin]

Thank you for this post. I see 2 main questions in your blog:

• Do we follow-up with the people we train in order to see how they are using the various concepts, tools and SALT WoW?  The short answer is NO, at least to a large extend. One of our expectations is that as people practice and use the SALT-CLCP, they may want to stay connected with a larger “community of practitioners” of the SALT-CLCP in order to share and learn; and our role has been to organize and stimulate that community of practitioners as far as our capacities allow. Hence the existence of the Ning and other social medias, plus the organisation of the Global Learning Festivals and the recourse to trained practitioners in our partnerships and training offers (Online of FtF).

Up until now, we don’t have the capacity to follow them up. And I am not sure it is necessary, on a regular basis and outside research questions.

• Your second question relates to the quality-assurance idea that has been floating in The Constellation since 2017. And that’s a concern for many of us as we would like to ensure that “patented facilitators” are delivering services according to the values of the SALT. In that regard, we developed a certification process; for various reasons, only a few members adhered to that process.

Given the “open” nature of the SALT-CLCP, and the constant search for new lessons and innovations – always in the respect of the SALT spirit – it may be counterintuitive, or at least difficult, to create a “norm” for SALT facilitators; always norms tend to limit the creativity of facilitators, creativity which may be necessary to adapt the SALT-CLCP in various contexts.

However, I do believe that we can identify some criteria – the non-negotiable as we say – that would need to be respected by “patented facilitators”, so that we can have a label supporting our development.

Do you think that the training method group that you launched can address that question of basic criteria?