New beginnings – taking forward our learning from the first TTC

Tuesday 02 June 2015

Two months after returning from Tostan’s first Training Centre, and two months before Orchid Project’s Knowledge Sharing workshop in Kenya, we look at those final days of training, how Orchid Project and our partners felt, thoughts that we had about what we could adapt and incorporate and we look forward to what the future holds…

On the penultimate day of the training back in early April, we each shared our poems, skits, songs and drawings that we had created to represent the right to be protected from all forms of violence. Then, Orchid Project, our Kenyan partners SAFE Maa and ECAW, and the other participants discussed how we were going to incorporate our learnings into our work, developing ideas for what we would take back to our organisations and communities.

 

Cess, working with Orchid partner ECAW in Kenya, talking with girls in the village

Cess talking with girls during a Tostan village visit

Cess Mugo, Project Officer at ECAW said:

“There is just so much that is relevant! I have so many questions and ideas. We can use so much in what we do and we now have practical examples of how to do it. Standing out the most are the theatre examples, especially the tableau exercise.

There are many similarities between the Tostan method of problem solving and the Family Unity Model we are developing. Pictures are so important in getting across human rights and other information. I want to add human dignity to our programme as this is at the centre of everything, of all the work we do.  I will look into how to incorporate this further into training of our paralegals [community outreach workers].

We didn’t have a strategy on human rights or social norms and now I have ideas of how to take this to communities.”

 

Amos presenting his learnings to TTC participants and observers

Amos presenting his learnings to TTC participants and observers

Amos Leuka, Project Manager at SAFE Maa said:

“I am meant to be here. When I hear Tostan talk about communities not being needy or weak or poor, I see the match with my work, the need to build upon our communities’ strengths to enable them to move from the known (what they know and do well) to the unknown (information on health, peace, female genital cutting) and develop their own ways to deal with their issues.

This has broadened our methodology. The basis on social norms is so encouraging. The Tostan approach aims to understand the background of the community, their values and incorporate this to develop their learning and solve problems. Everybody is able to understand the information through pictures – a good strategy and I am impressed by it.

This is enriching our work. We already have a model and we can take content from here and add it in, for example well-being and visioning would really help. I will do a training with all staff when I get back to ensure they understand. We will then take a week to adapt what we do, go through all my notes and incorporate useful aspects. Mobilisation is SO important! We are part of a big change. We can start to reach more communities and eventually FGC will end in the 1 million Maasai across Kenya and Tanzania!”

 

On 23rd July, Orchid Project will be holding our first ever Knowledge Sharing workshop in Narok, Kenya, held in partnership with SAFE Maa and ECAW, convening a range of organisations working to end female genital cutting (FGC). The aim is to enable the sharing of what works in ending FGC amongst organisations working in Kenya and neighbouring countries, building a network to ultimately support the abandonment of FGC on a wider scale. SAFE Maa, ECAW and Orchid Project representatives will also share their experiences of attending Tostan’s Training Centre (TTC), revisiting key learnings and aspects which they have found most useful to adapt and include in their work.

SAFE Maa will explore how they have incorporated social norms and values into their work with the Maasai, ensuring that the community is even more central in their approach and delivery. Amos will also share how the training he developed on visioning, human rights and social norms went.

ECAW will present on how learning has been adopted within their team, whether a shift to less judgmental language has facilitated more dialogue, which aspects of social norms and human rights have been adapted and how paralegals are using new information.

Orchid Project will also share our highlights from the training, as well as our theory of change around how FGC ends (based on our experience as well as the experience and theory of Unicef and our partner Tostan).

 

We at Orchid Project are so excited to have the opportunity to share our experience alongside our partners with other organisations working toward the same goal, fostering the movement towards the abandonment of female genital cutting. It will be the first time we have held anything of this kind. Until now, we have supported communities to learn information and understanding about how FGC ends from each other, through social mobilisation. This is a chance to share that information, understanding and experience across organisations, in the hope to reach more people in Kenya and Tanzania. Should the workshop go well, we hope to hold more in Kenya, potentially reaching out to other countries with time.

 

Read blogs 1, 2, 3 and 4