a manual for trainers -...
TRANSCRIPT
How to train facilitators of
Generation Dialogues
for reproductive health and rights
A manual for trainers
Version of July 2016
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Acknowledgement
This manual has been developed as part of a joint initiative by the Sector Initiative ‘Ending
Female Genital Mutilation and of other Harmful Traditional Practices’ and the Reproductive
Maternal and Newborn Health Project (RMNHP) Pakistan. We would like to thank Anna von
Roenne, the author of the approach, for adapting the existing Generation Dialogue
manuals, with the valuable help of the writer Karen Birdsall, for the specific context of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province; and for coming to Pakistan in February 2016 to conduct a 5-days
training of trainers. We want to also thank Shahmir Hamid, Natascha Ahmed and Dr. Hamida
Iqbal for co-facilitating the training. Lessons from the training have been incorporated into the
final version of this manual. The facilitators manuals have been translated into Urdu to
support implementation of the Generations Dialogues for Reproductive Health in Pakistan.
Jasmin Dirinpur (Implementation Responsible RMNHP) & Christiane Adamczyk (Sector
Initiative Ending FGM)
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About this manual Who is this manual for?
This manual was developed for trainers who are preparing male and female facilitators to
implement the Generation Dialogue for reproductive health and rights. It reflects the
cumulative learnings from Generation Dialogue processes undertaken in nine different
countries, on a range of thematic topics, over the past 15 years.
The trainer’s manual is intended to be used in conjunction with other resources related to the
implementation of Generation Dialogues. These include:
Manual for facilitators of women’s dialogues
Manual for facilitators of men’s dialogues
Manual for master trainers
Guidance note for organisations implementing the Generation Dialogue
Guidance note on monitoring and evaluating the Generation Dialogue
Can this manual be used as is, or does it require adaptation?
No two Generation Dialogue processes are the same. While the core objectives, principles
and methodology of the Generation Dialogue remain constant, the issues addressed vary, as
do the settings in which the Dialogue is implemented.
While this trainer’s manual, as well as other Generation Dialogue resources mentioned
above, can serve as a starting point for a Generation Dialogue process, some modifications
will be required before it is put into use.
This version of the manual (July 2016) was last updated following a Generation Dialogue
process in Pakistan which addressed two topics: unsafe childbearing practices and son
preference. To facilitate the adaptation of this manual for future applications of the
Generation Dialogue, sections of the text which are likely to require modification are
indicated as follows:
Text highlighted in gray pertains to a specific sociocultural context, or to distinctive
aspects of a country’s health system (e.g. the terms describing community health
workers). These references should be modified to reflect the setting in which your
Generation Dialogue will take place.
Text highlighted in yellow refers to the specific topics of unsafe childbearing practices
and son preference. These sections should be modified to reflect the issue or issues
which your Generation Dialogue will address. In the case of Generation Dialogue
processes addressing only one issue, it will be necessary to shorten or simplify some
exercises which were structured to accommodate two topics.
Where can we get more information about the Generation Dialogue?
More information about the Generation Dialogue can be obtained from the Sector Initiative
on Ending Female Genital Mutilation and other Harmful Traditional Practices
([email protected]), which is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
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Table of contents
Introduction: The Generation Dialogue approach ............................................................................... 5
How it started .......................................................................................................................................................... 5 How it works ........................................................................................................................................................... 6 How the Generation Dialogue relates to other approaches ................................................................. 7 Generation Dialogue projects and their results ........................................................................................ 8 What it takes ............................................................................................................................................................ 9
The steps of the Generation Dialogue approach ................................................................................ 11
The role of the Generation Dialogue trainer ....................................................................................... 13
Required qualifications .................................................................................................................................... 13 Tasks and responsibilities............................................................................................................................... 13 How to become an approved Generation Dialogue trainer............................................................... 14
Preparing the training of facilitator candidates ................................................................................ 15
Selection of facilitators ..................................................................................................................................... 15 Venue, catering and materials ....................................................................................................................... 15
Programme for the facilitator training ................................................................................................. 16
Day 1 ........................................................................................................................................................................ 17 Day 2 ........................................................................................................................................................................ 26 Day 3 ........................................................................................................................................................................ 33 Day 4 ........................................................................................................................................................................ 40 Day 5 ........................................................................................................................................................................ 49
Assessment of facilitator candidates and selection of core teams .............................................. 56
Standard elements of Dialogue sessions .............................................................................................. 58
Why and how to conduct Public Meetings ........................................................................................... 60
Why are the Public Meetings held? ............................................................................................................. 60 Who should be invited to the Public Meetings ....................................................................................... 60 What should happen at the Public Meetings ........................................................................................... 60
Annex 1. The steps of the Generation Dialogue approach as graphics ...................................... 63
Annex 2. Discussion guides for Community Consultations ............................................................ 66
Annex 3. List of traditional and modern objects ................................................................................ 71
Annex 4. Assessment form for facilitator candidates ...................................................................... 74
Annex 5. Record form for Dialogue sessions ....................................................................................... 75
Annex 6. Record form for Public Meetings .......................................................................................... 80
Annex 7. Record form for supervision meeting ................................................................................. 83
Annex 8. Questionnaire for facilitator candidates: End of facilitator training ...................... 86
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Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................... 88
Introduction: The Generation Dialogue approach
How it started
The Generation Dialogue approach was first developed in Guinea, West Africa. In 2001, a
group of community-based organisations (CBOs) decided to look for a new way to reduce
the widespread practice of female genital cutting. In spite of many years of information and
health education campaigns throughout Guinea, the cutting continued. Knowing about its
harmful consequences did not stop families from submitting their daughters to it.
The CBOs decided to change direction. If so many Guineans felt it right to have their
daughters cut, they must have strong reasons for it. To find out about these reasons, the
CBOs would have to create an atmosphere of trust and respect so that Guineans would be
prepared to discuss what they really thought about cutting.
As a first step, the CBOs organised meetings called Community Consultations. These were
held separately for men and women and for younger and older community members,
allowing everyone to feel free to speak their mind. The CBO members did not come as
“experts” with information to tell to their “audience.” Rather, they came as social researchers,
determined not to judge but to show sincere interest and respect, and to listen and learn from
community members.
At these first Community Consultations, the CBO facilitators did indeed learn a lot. They
found out that most community members knew quite a lot about the risks and physical
consequences of female genital cutting. This information did not come from formal education
or information campaigns, but from what had happened to girls amongst their families and
friends. And yet, many people (especially the elders) saw female genital cutting as part of an
important initiation rite through which girls learned the importance of solidarity, respect and
modesty – in short, how to act like “respectable women.”
Most importantly, the CBO facilitators learned about the stigma that uncircumcised women
and girls suffered in their communities. Many mothers spoke about the dilemma they faced.
Which would cause more problems for their daughters: the physical and psychological harm
of cutting or the social exclusion that would result without it?
In the Community Consultations, younger women said clearly that they wanted the cutting
stopped, but they felt powerless compared to their elders. The suggestion for a Generation
Dialogue first came from them: “Could you organise a discussion such as this one between
us and our mothers and grandmothers? It is they who want to continue cutting, not us.”
The sense of respect given in these Community Consultations led to community members
sharing their reasons for still pursuing female genital cutting, their concerns and fears about
it, but also the aspirations they had for their daughters. They also expressed hope for social
change that might eventually bring about an end to female genital cutting.
As they shared these findings, the CBOs recognised that in their new role as respectful
researchers, they were much more effective than in their earlier role as experts or “health
promoters.” They had become dialogue facilitators who enabled community members to
recognise and share their beliefs, values and dilemmas – and to start thinking about possible
ways of overcoming the practice of female genital cutting, in their own time and in their own
way.
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How it works
The Generation Dialogue that the CBOs organised later in 2002 in response to the young
women’s request was based on just these principles: active listening, dialogue, respect and
appreciation – as much for the different points of view as for the local culture, traditions and
practices. Whilst the approach has since been extended – engaging both women and men in
initially parallel and eventually joined dialogue processes – and although it has been adapted
to different contexts and requirements, it has always maintained these principles and the
successive steps of the dialogue process (see next section of this manual).
Following the Community Consultations, trained facilitators involved 48 carefully-chosen
members of the community (24 men and 24 women) in a series of transformative Generation
Dialogue sessions. Each group of men and women included 12 “younger” people (not yet
married, approximately 18-30 years of age) and 12 older people (approximately 40 years and
older).
The basic structure of the Generation Dialogue process is as follows:
In the first Dialogue session, both generations learn about active listening and dialogue skills.
This is followed, in Dialogue session two, by the “life-path” exercise, in which members of the
older generation get a chance to present the way they experienced growing up and their
transition from childhood to puberty, marriage and parenthood. Using traditional objects as
well as role-plays, songs, proverbs and poems, they create a lively image of the rites and
traditions, pleasures and challenges that they lived through in their time. In response, the
younger generation presents to their elders how they experienced these life-stages and
transitions up to now – and what they are hoping for in the future. In the women’s Dialogues,
the life-path exercise always stimulates a rich discussion about sexuality, marriage,
childbearing, and gender relations – both the positive values these embody and the pain and
suffering they can entail.
The third Dialogue session focuses on both the reasons for and the consequences of certain
traditional practices that can have harmful effects on women and families. It does not only
look at the physical and psychological consequences of these practices, but also at the
reasons why many families continue to practice them, even though they may be well aware
of their harmful effects. All these discussions strengthen the mutual trust between the
generations and lay the foundation for the fourth Dialogue session, in which the participants
of both the women’s and the men’s Dialogues develop visions of, and commitment to,
change without losing traditions and shared values that both old and young regard as
indispensable.
The Dialogue Sessions
1. Listening and dialogue skills
2. Men’s and women’s life-paths in the past and present
3. Customs and traditions and their effects on family health and wellbeing
4. Joining the men’s and women’s Dialogues
5. Preparing the follow-up period
The younger and the older generations develop ideas about what they, as groups, could
contribute towards positive change in their community – and what they would like other
groups (e.g. the other sex, the other generation, teachers, health workers or religious
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leaders) to do to make the desired change happen. These ideas are then formulated as
pledges (“What we commit to do to make change happen”) and “special requests” (“What we
are asking [a specific group] to do so that change can happen”). In the second part of this
session, the participants of the women’s and the men’s Dialogues come together to share
what they have learned as well as to jointly agree which special requests they want to put
forward at a Public Meeting to be held the following week. The entire community is invited to
hear the Dialogue participants – now known as Dialogue Champions – share what they have
learned through the Generation Dialogue process. The Dialogue Champions publicly declare
their pledges and special requests so that the whole community, including its leaders and
representatives of important sectors (known as Community Partners), is made aware of the
community initiative and invited to join it.
One week later, a fifth and final Dialogue session is held to plan activities for the next three
months. In this follow-on period the Dialogue Champions continue spreading the spirit of
Dialogue and commitment to change throughout the community. In pairs of one younger and
one older Dialogue Champion, they visit households, schools, women’s and men’s
associations, and other community venues (depending what is appropriate in the cultural
context) to discuss with them the potential of improved dialogue between the generations,
the importance of appreciating local traditions and values, and how traditional practices with
harmful consequences could be overcome. These visits or meetings following the five
Dialogue sessions are called Mini-Dialogues, because they aim to recreate the core
elements of the Generation Dialogue: respectful listening, appreciation for individuals’ stories
about community values and traditions, and a dialogue about change.
Overall, the aim of the Generation Dialogue process is to build a group of Dialogue
Champions at the heart of a community. These groups will carry the dialogue between the
generations not only into a large number of families, but also into schools, health centres,
religious institutions, and the local administration.
What is the aim of these dialogues and conversations?
The aim of the Generation Dialogue process is to ignite the spark of dialogue in ever more
households and in other places where people meet – in churches and mosques, health
centres, hospitals, schools, clubs and private homes all across the community. The more
people of all ages who enter into a respectful exchange with one another about being both
proud of their heritage and aware that some practices need to be adapted to modern times
the better. As more and more “dialogue sparks” are ignited, the process of change will gain
such a momentum that, eventually, it can no longer be halted or reversed.
How the Generation Dialogue relates to other approaches
Like the Generation Dialogue approach, the United Nations Development Programme’s
(UNDP) “Community Conversations” and the “Stepping Stones” methodologies aim at
creating safe spaces for dialogue where people can freely express their understanding of an
issue, how it affects them as individuals or as a community, and the changes they would like
to see (UNDP 2005, Welbourn, 1995). Through such sharing, people often realise that
despite having different views on an issue, they ultimately share a commitment to finding a
common solution.
The Community Conversations and Stepping Stones approaches were originally developed
in response to the devastating impacts of the HIV epidemic on communities in Southern
Africa. In contrast, the Generation Dialogue started as an attempt to engage custodians of
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valued traditions in a conversation that acknowledged the special significance of female
genital cutting. Instead of treating it solely as a health issue, the Generation Dialogue
recognises that in many African communities it is part of a rite of initiation that regulates a
girl’s transition to respectable womanhood and serves to ensure their loyalty to their
community’s values and traditions. It appreciates the need to pass these values on whilst
also addressing the harmful consequences of female genital cutting, thus allowing both
generations and sexes to look for ways in which they could overcome the latter without losing
the former.
Generation Dialogue projects and their results
Following the initial Generation Dialogue in Guinea’s capital in September 2002, the Guinean
CBOs organised further Dialogues in two other regions, this time addressing two issues:
female genital cutting and growing up in a time of HIV. In both regions, the population and
the local leaders welcomed the Generation Dialogues. The Public Meetings attracted
considerable attention, with commitments and pledges moving some to tears.
Four months after the Dialogues’ completion, GIZ1 carried out a study comparing
intergenerational communication and collaboration – and specifically communication about
female genital cutting and HIV – in families who had a member participating in the
Generation Dialogue sessions with other families who did not (GTZ, 2004). The results
showed significantly better family communication and intergenerational relationships, as well
as significantly more communication about female genital cutting and HIV, between the
sexes and the generations in families who had had a member participate in the Dialogue
sessions as compared to control families.
From 2004 onwards, the Generation Dialogue approach was also implemented in three
regions of Mali (Ségou, Mopti and Koulikoro) with support from the GIZ-implemented Mali-
German Basic Education Programme. In 2009, a comprehensive impact evaluation was
undertaken, using a systematic sampling procedure to compare four intervention villages
with three villages where no Dialogues had taken place. In all villages, focus group
discussions and individual interviews were conducted with younger and older community
members of both sexes and with community leaders, using standardised questionnaires
(GTZ, 2009).
In contrast to the earlier Guinean study, the Mali survey covered a representative sample of
all community members, not just families who had a member participating in a Dialogue. Its
findings showed significant differences between intervention and control villages as a
consequence of the Dialogue process. The people in the villages that had undertaken
Generation Dialogues were much more willing to discuss the formerly taboo topic of female
genital cutting across the sexes and the generations. Awareness of the harmful effects of
female genital cutting was considerably greater in these villages, too. Overall, relations and
communication between the generations were improved and older community members felt
that there was more interest and respect for community traditions by the young people in
their village.
From 2009 onwards, with support of the GIZ reproductive health programme, three CBOs
were trained to implement the Generation Dialogue approach in communities in Yemen’s Ibb
1 The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) was established on 1 January 2011. It
brings together the long-standing expertise of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) (German technical cooperation), the Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst (DED) (German Development Service) and InWEnt – Capacity Building International, Germany.
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Governorate. An evaluation in October 2010 (GIZ, 2011) found the following achievements
and challenges: All three communities appreciated the programme very much and confirmed
that it helped to enhance their ability to engage in Dialogues across generations and gender.
Recognising the harmful effects of the widespread custom of early marriage, all three
communities set a minimum age for young women to be married (18 years). Also, all three
communities had decided to organise literacy classes for women and were seeking
development partners to support them in this.
GIZ-supported Generation Dialogue projects have also been undertaken in Kenya,
Mauritania, Namibia and Sierra Leone. One important lesson learned across all the projects
has been that the Dialogues bring forth new community initiatives, ranging from literacy
classes for women in Yemen, to life skills peer educator training for uncut girls in Guinea. In
order to sustain the momentum in these initiatives, it is crucial that the Dialogue sessions be
followed by continued technical and financial support, either through the same partner who
supported the Generation Dialogue project or by linking Dialogue projects with programmes
providing support for small-scale community initiatives.
Dialogue sessions: A way to kick-start unlikely conversations
The Dialogue approach can bring about conversations, ideas and actions
that exceed by far what participants would have thought possible at their
start. At the end of a Generation Dialogue session in the traditional Fouta
region of Guinea, a respected community elder said: “I thought that at my
age, no one could teach me anything anymore. But this has changed me.
There are many things I have to think about now.” In a remote village of
the Amran region in Yemen, a Dialogue project brought about the first
public meeting between women and men for as far back as any villager
could remember. In Malawi, Dialogue sessions with health workers and
traditional healers succeeded in getting the two groups to listen to and
talk with one another about caring for people living with HIV, and to set up
a mutual referral system (German HIV Practice Collection, 2007).
Techniques such as the proverb-, listening- or life-path exercises can and
have been adapted and used for Dialogue sessions, projects and
conferences, both in industrialised and in developing countries. Whilst this
set of manuals describes how Generation Dialogues can be implemented
across whole regions, readers should not hesitate to use and adapt these
Dialogue concepts and exercises to kick-start other unlikely conversations
in different contexts and at different occasions.
What it takes
The Generation Dialogue works best in places where community organisations are already
working on development challenges that are related to tensions between traditional, often
patriarchal belief/value systems and those that are more modern and egalitarian. Ideally, it
can be introduced when local stakeholders recognise that their existing activities (which are
often behaviour change communication campaigns) are not creating the desired changes in
attitudes and behaviours amongst their audiences.
At that point, the Generation Dialogue can take such campaigns to a different level, building
trust through its respectful approach and allowing local people to express the underlying
dilemmas and values that lead them to resist changes that – from an outside perspective –
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appear logical and useful. The Dialogue sessions permit these values and dilemmas to be
acknowledged and discussed by younger and older participants. The suggestions for change
that result from the Dialogue process may be more modest than those of the earlier
campaigns, but they will be “owned” and pursued by all involved community leaders and
representatives of community groups.
For this process to work, the Generation Dialogue approach requires sustained support for
approximately three years from the agency providing financial and technical assistance. The
support should cover a training of at least four trainers (two men and two women), who can
then conduct 12 successive trainings of facilitator teams who can, in turn, conduct up to 36
Dialogue processes at community level. See Annex 1 for a set of graphs outlining this
process, from the initial training of trainers to the roll-out over 36 communities.
If possible, support for the Generation Dialogues should be followed up by small grants for
community initiatives that emerge as a result of the Dialogues.
In addition to a commissioning organisation, a Generation Dialogue project also requires the
commitment of one or more experienced implementing partners. These local organisations or
agencies must possess the management capacities and community-based networks needed
to plan, implement and monitor the trainings and Dialogue processes over the project period
and beyond. It is essential that they be trusted by the communities in which they work.
To evaluate the results of the Dialogues, the organisation commissioning the implementing
partner should hire an independent team of researchers to document the attitudes and
behaviours that community members express before and after the Generation Dialogues in a
sample of the intervention communities. This can be done by documenting the Community
Consultations, which are held at the start and end of the Dialogue process and by conducting
interviews in a sample of households at these points in time. Ideally, to control for
confounding factors, such interviews and focus group discussions should also be held in one
control community that will receive the intervention at a later date. Further information and
sample tools can be found in the guidance note on the Monitoring and Evaluation of
Generation Dialogues.
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The steps of the Generation Dialogue approach
1. One or more local implementing organisations and a funding agency agree to
partner for the implementation of the Generation Dialogue approach in a particular
region or country. They agree on the number of communities they want to cover in
the given project phase and plan and budget for the corresponding numbers of
trainers, facilitators and trainings.
2. Together, they hold an introductory stakeholder workshop to present the
Generation Dialogue to national and local partners and to agree the ways in which
they would like to connect with the project.
3. They invite a master trainer and select suitably-qualified professionals with extensive
trainer experience (at least two men and two women) to take part in a five-day
training of trainers for the Generation Dialogue approach.
4. The implementing organisation selects two groups of eight male and two groups of
eight female facilitator candidates from each of the first two areas in which it plans
to implement Generation Dialogues (32 facilitator candidates in total).
5. The trainer candidates conduct their first five-day trainings of facilitator candidates:
two female trainers conduct the training of the female facilitator candidates and two
male trainers conduct the training of the male facilitator candidates. The master
trainer or someone from the commissioning organisation who has experience with the
Generation Dialogue should be present throughout the training. At the end of this
supervised practice, the trainer candidates get structured feedback on their
performance. Once trainers have been approved, they can conduct trainings of
Dialogue facilitator candidates without supervision.
6. Following their trainings of the facilitator candidates, the trainer teams select the four
most capable male and the four most capable female facilitator candidates from each
of the two areas as core facilitator teams. Two further male and female candidates
from the same area are selected as back-up facilitators. These two core facilitator
teams start the Generation Dialogue process in the first village/community in their
area. The two core facilitator teams are supervised and supported by one male and
one female trainer throughout their initial implementation of the Generation Dialogue
approach.
7. The core facilitator team meets with community leaders in the two communities
where the approach will be implemented to inform them about the Generation
Dialogue and to gain their support for it.
8. The facilitator team holds initial Community Consultations with younger women,
older women, younger men and older men to learn their views about the issues the
Generation Dialogue will address.
9. In each community, the facilitator teams select 12 younger women, 12 younger men,
12 older women and 12 older men to participate in the Dialogue sessions.
10. The facilitator teams hold four Dialogue sessions for the female participants and
four Dialogue sessions for the male participants. Each group of participants attends
one session per week, over four consecutive weeks. Male facilitators work with male
participants and female facilitators work with female participants.
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11. At the first Public Meeting, the participants of the Dialogue sessions, who are now
called Dialogue Champions, present what they have learned in the Dialogue sessions
to the community, its leaders and government officials. They commit themselves to
particular actions (“pledges”) to help address community challenges that they
identified in the sessions; and they ask other important community members (e.g.
teachers, health workers, religious leaders, local government) – referred to as
Community Partners (see p. 42) – to also commit themselves to specific actions to
help them address these challenges (“special requests”).
12. The facilitator teams hold a fifth Dialogue session for the female participants and a
fifth Dialogue session for the male participants. At this final Dialogue session, the
Dialogue Champions review how the Public Meeting went. They also plan and
practice how they will keep the Dialogue process alive – and how they will keep the
pledges and special requests in the public eye – over the coming months.
13. For a follow-up period of three months, the Dialogue Champions hold Mini-
Dialogues with families, community groups, health workers and religious leaders,
bringing more and more of them into the Generation Dialogue process. Once a
month, the facilitators and the Dialogue Champions hold a supervision meeting to
discuss achievements and challenges.
14. Three months after the first Public Meeting, the facilitators and the Dialogue
Champions organise a second Public Meeting to discuss with the community
whether progress has been made on the pledges and special requests they made at
the previous meeting.
15. The facilitator team holds follow-up Community Consultations to discuss once
more with the whole community the issues raised by the Generation Dialogue.
16. After the facilitator teams have held their first Public Meeting and move into the
follow-up period, the trainers can start training the next two teams of facilitators
from two new areas, moving through the steps described above.
17. Following the completion of the Dialogue process, trainers meet with facilitator
candidates for a formal assessment of their performance.
18. If assessed as competent, the facilitators can move on to another community in the
same area, repeating the same steps. Ideally, each trained facilitator team should
facilitate Generation Dialogues in three communities in their area.
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The role of the Generation Dialogue trainer
Required qualifications
Generation Dialogue trainers should be:
Experienced in conducting participatory assessments and community interventions
with young people and adults.
Experienced in conducting trainings, applying adult learning methods, and combining
theoretical inputs with interactive exercises.
Experienced in providing supervision to community workers.
Experienced in working on gender issues and on culturally-sensitive issues in a
respectful manner.
Familiar with and appreciative of the local culture.
Respected in their professional role as trainer.
Fluent in English and in the local language.
Able to document their work in professional reports.
Available for the steps and tasks outlined below.
Tasks and responsibilities
Trainer candidates initially take part in a five-day training of trainers.
Under supervision of the master trainer or a representative of the commissioning
organisation, and together with another trainer candidate of the same sex, they then conduct
their first five-day training of 16 facilitator candidates. Male trainers train male facilitator
candidates and female trainers train female facilitator candidates.
Together with a trainer of the opposite sex, they then guide and supervise facilitator teams as
they:
Meet with community leaders to get their approval for the Generation Dialogue (one
day).
Conduct the initial Community Consultations (two days).
Conduct five Dialogue sessions and the first Public Meeting (one day per week for six
weeks).
After this nine-week process, they can start training and supporting the next group of
facilitator candidates.
They return to meet once more with the first facilitator teams to supervise and support them
during their second Public Meeting and their first follow-up Community Consultations.
Based on the duration and scale of the Generation Dialogue project, trainers can train and
supervise up to six facilitator teams from six different areas over a period of 18 months.
Working as a Generation Dialogue trainer is not a full-time occupation, except for the times at
which facilitator trainings are being conducted (at most two-and-a-half months per year).
After these trainings, trainers need to be available for one day a week over six consecutive
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weeks and again, three months later, for four days (for the second Public Meeting, the follow-
up Community Consultations and for a final assessment of the facilitator teams that have
now concluded their first complete Generation Dialogue).
How to become an approved Generation Dialogue trainer
To become an approved Generation Dialogue trainer, candidates need to:
1. Successfully take part in an introductory five-day training of trainers, conducted by a
master trainer.
2. Successfully conduct a five-day training of facilitators in the Generation Dialogue
approach under full supervision of a master trainer.
3. Successfully provide supervision and support to the same core facilitator team as
they conduct preparatory talks, Community Consultations, Dialogue sessions, Public
Meetings and supervision meetings for the participants of the Dialogue sessions.
4. Receive a positive evaluation in the formal assessments by the master trainer or
representative of the commissioning organisation after having conducted all of these
steps.
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Preparing the training of facilitator candidates
Selection of facilitators
The facilitator candidates should be selected by the implementing organisation. After the
initial training, the trainers and representatives of the implementing organisation jointly select
the eight most capable facilitator candidates from the localities in which they will successively
conduct the Generation Dialogues (see chapter “Assessment of facilitator candidates and
selection of core teams”, p. 55, on how to formally assess facilitator candidates at the end of
their initial five-day training). Facilitator candidates should be:
Well known as a trustworthy person to the organisation responsible for implementing
the approach.
Motivated to improve the relationships between young and old, men and women in
their community.
Motivated to promote reproductive health and rights and to help overcome traditional
practices which are harmful, particularly to the health and wellbeing of women and
families, in the community.
Able to facilitate group sessions in an organised and respectful manner.
Someone who knows the local culture and local language well.
Available for a five-day training and for the facilitation of Generation Dialogues in
three communities over a two-year period.
Overall, the selection of facilitator candidates should be transparent and based on the criteria
specified above. Selection of candidates based on family ties or other personal relationships
should be safeguarded against.
Venue, catering and materials
In consultation with the implementing organisation, ensure that:
A suitable room is booked for the training of facilitator candidates. It should be a
modest venue, e.g. in a local training centre.
Facilitator candidates are invited.
Catering for tea breaks and lunch is organised.
All training materials, including sufficient copies of the facilitator manual, are available
(see list below).
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The following materials are needed throughout the five-day training of facilitator
candidates:
3 pin boards
100 cards (size: about a third of an A4 page)
1 flipchart with paper
100 pins (tacks)
20 markers
16 notepads
16 pens
40 meters of large, cheap paper such as butcher’s paper or newsprint, preferably on a roll
Two sets of drawings on laminated A4 sheets of the following four Community Partners
(a-d) and four Dialogue groups (e-h):
a. A local government representative
b. A religious leader
c. A health worker
d. A teacher
e. A young man
f. A young woman
g. An older man
h. An older woman
16 facilitator manuals (8 for men, 8 for women)
4 trainer manuals
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Programme for the facilitator training
Day 1
Goals of the day
At the end of this first day, the facilitator candidates:
1. Have started to get to know each other and the trainers.
2. Understand the principles of the Generation Dialogue approach and its successive
steps.
3. Know the qualities, tasks and responsibilities of an effective facilitator.
4. Understand and are able to practice and explain active listening and dialogue skills.
Required materials
Facilitator manuals for all facilitator candidates
Pin boards, brown paper and pins
Cards and 20 markers
Prepared cards with drawings of signs of good listening
Flip chart with overview of training programme (see p. 20)
Flip chart with the steps of the Generation Dialogue (see p. 23)
Exercises
1. Warmly welcome all facilitator candidates, sing a song or say a prayer (5
minutes)
The opening of this first day of the facilitator training is important as it will set an example of the way in which the facilitator candidates themselves will start the Dialogue sessions in the community. As a trainer team, consider beforehand whether it is more suitable to sing a song or to say a prayer, which song or prayer would be best, and how to involve the facilitator candidates in it.
2. Introductions of trainers (5 minutes)
Introduce yourselves, stating your name and, briefly, your professional background.
3. Facilitator candidates’ introductions with proverbs (50 minutes)
Ask all facilitator candidates to sit down with another candidate whom they don’t know very
well. Invite these pairs to interview one another and to find out (write the following on a flip
chart that is visible to all during the exercise):
Each other’s names
Where they come from
Their experience as community facilitators
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After interviewing each other about these points, they should jointly think about a local
proverb that has something to do with traditions and with the Dialogue between the
generations.
After 10 minutes, ask the pairs to finish their interviews. When all have completed the task,
ask the members of each pair to present one another. To do this, they should both stand up.
At the end of their mutual introductions, they should recite the proverb they have selected.
At the end of this first exercise, explain what is special about it:
It is the first exercise that the facilitator candidates will facilitate with participants when conducting Dialogue sessions in the community.
As it is done, during the first Dialogue session, in pairs of a younger and an older participant, it is also the first opportunity to practice a Generation Dialogue.
Reflecting jointly about a suitable proverb is a way to appreciate local culture right from the start of the Dialogue process.
4. Small group work: Agreeing rules of the workshop (30 minutes)
Invite the facilitator candidates to form two groups and to sit in two circles. Each group
should have a stack of cards and markers. Ask them to agree some ground rules that should
be obeyed by all to ensure a good working atmosphere during this training.
Ask the facilitator candidates to draw a symbol for each of the ground rules they come up
with (e.g. clock face for punctuality, ear for good listening). A trainer should sit with each
small group and encourage the facilitator candidates to start drawing. Everyone is able to
make a simple drawing, encourage them to try!
After 10-15 minutes, ask each group to appoint one person to present the ground rules to the full group. Put the symbolic drawings up on the wall and use them to remind facilitator candidates of the ground rules when necessary throughout the training.
5. Presentation and discussion: What is special about the Dialogue approach?
(30 minutes)
Tell the facilitator candidates about how the Generation Dialogue started in the communities in Africa where it was first applied:
Several community-based organisations had been sensitising the community for
many years against harmful practices, including early marriages and female
genital cutting as part of girls’ initiation to womanhood. The CBOs did health talks
and showed films about the harmful consequences of these traditional practices.
The community members listened to their talks and watched the films, but they
still continued their traditional practices.
Then the CBOs decided to take a different approach. They wanted to find out
why these traditional practices were so important for community members that
they accepted the harmful effects these were having on many of their women and
girls. They decided to do the following:
They would come to the community as interested researchers, not as
“experts.”
They would listen respectfully, not judge or criticise anyone’s point of
view.
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They would show interest in and appreciation for the local culture and
traditions they would hear about.
They would speak separately to older men, younger men, older women
and younger women so that these groups would all feel free to say what
they really thought.
After they had tried this new approach in so-called Community Consultations, the
local organisations felt that they had been much more effective than before:
The community members had been much more interested and engaged.
They had been much more open about their own ideas and concerns.
There had also been a lot more discussion of the harmful effects of the
traditional practices, although the community organisations had not
actively raised this: they had simply asked questions and listened.
Now ask the facilitator candidates:
Why were the community members more interested and engaged after the
organisations changed their approach?
What was different about the CBOs’ new approach?
The following points should come up in the discussion:
People feel more comfortable and free to talk when they are not judged or criticised
for their attitudes, beliefs and practices.
People prefer to be involved in a discussion, rather than being told what to do and
what not to do.
When people feel appreciated and respected, they are more likely to talk about their
doubts and dilemmas about some of their traditional practices, because they don’t
have to defend themselves and their traditions.
With the new approach, the organisations do not come as “experts” but as facilitators
of discussion and dialogue, and are much more welcome in this second role.
Tea break (20 minutes)
6. Goals and principles of the Generation Dialogue approach (10 minutes)
Explain that there are three goals for the Generation Dialogues they will facilitate:
1. To improve the way younger and older people understand each other and work
together for a better future for the community.
2. To learn about and appreciate the community’s customs and traditions and to jointly
agree which of them should be continued and which of them might need to be
adapted to today’s world.
3. To enable the Dialogue participants to become champions of change who hold
traditions in high esteem and who are committed to improving the lives for younger
and older people in the community.
In order to reach these goals, the Generation Dialogue approach follows three principles:
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1. The Generation Dialogue approach aims to appreciate local culture. This is why
poems, proverbs and other expressions of local culture are most welcome in the
Dialogue sessions.
2. This is also the reason why the sessions will be held in the local language.
3. Another essential element of the method is mutual respect. All participants are asked
to show appreciation and respect towards each other’s points of view – regardless of
whether they share them or not. Both the older and the younger generations will get
the chance to make their voices heard.
7. Keeping a double perspective (10 minutes)
Explain that all facilitator candidates in this training should have a “double perspective” on
each exercise:
The first perspective is that of a participant who takes part in different exercises.
This perspective will help them understand the exercises and what they feel like for
the Dialogue participants in the communities.
The second perspective is that of a facilitator who will have to facilitate these
exercises with the participants of the Dialogue sessions in a community.
Ideally, they should always first experience the exercise as a participant, and then reflect
upon it as a future facilitator.
Invite the facilitator candidates to think back to the first exercise of the day, where they met in
pairs, introduced each other and had to find a suitable proverb. Then ask them to answer the
following three questions from the facilitator perspective:
Can you imagine yourself facilitating this exercise?
What could be difficult about it?
How could you avoid or manage those difficulties?
At the end of a short discussion about this example, explain that, throughout this training, you
will first invite them to experience the exercises as participants and then to reflect on them
from the facilitator perspective.
8. Presentation: Goal of the training and overview of the training programme
(20 minutes)
Explain that it is the goal of this training to introduce facilitator candidates to the Generation
Dialogue methodology. Over the course of this week, they will develop a thorough
understanding of the approach, get to know its central exercises and gain a good overview of
how to conduct the full Generation Dialogue process. Soon after the training, each one of
them will receive an individual assessment of the facilitator capacities that they have shown
in the course of the training. The eight most capable facilitator candidates (four per
implementation area, see p. 10) will be appointed as core facilitator teams and will continue
their training by facilitating all the essential steps of a Generation Dialogue under a trainer’s
supervision. Another four candidates (two per implementation area) will be selected as back-
up facilitators and will be called upon in case one of the core facilitators falls ill or is no longer
available for another reason.
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Make sure that all facilitator candidates have understood these conditions and assure them
that their assessment will be undertaken in a transparent manner and in dialogue with them.
Next, take the participants through the workshop programme that you have copied on a
flipchart. Highlight the starting and ending times each day (e.g. 9 AM and 4-4.30 PM) and
point out the topics that will be covered on each of the five days. Clarify any other
organisational issues and questions that facilitator candidates may have.
Workshop programme
Day 1:
Introduction to facilitator candidates, trainers and training programme
Role and responsibilities of the facilitator
Principles of the Generation Dialogue approach
Active listening
Dialogue skills
Steps of the Generation Dialogue process
Day 2:
How to give feedback
Preparation of talks with leaders
Community Consultations
Standard elements of Dialogue sessions
Day 3:
Review of Dialogue session 1: Listening and dialogue skills
Dialogue session 2: Men’s and women’s life-paths in the past and present
Day 4:
Dialogue session 3: Customs and traditions and their effects on family health and wellbeing
Dialogue session 4: Joining the men’s and women’s Dialogues
Day 5:
First Public Meeting
Dialogue session 5: Preparing for the follow-up period
Facilitators’ tasks in the follow-up period
Second Public Meeting and Community Consultations
Evaluation of the training and closure
9. The role of the Generation Dialogue facilitator (30 minutes)
Hand out the facilitator manuals to all facilitator candidates. Ask them to treat their manual
with great care as it will be their essential tool when they work as Dialogue facilitators.
Take them through the table of contents of the manual so that they get an overview of the
manual’s composition.
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Then ask one volunteer to read out the section “What does it take to become a Dialogue
facilitator,” on p. 6 of the facilitator manual. After it has been read out, ask the facilitator
candidates:
Do they feel that they can play this role?
What would they be good at and why?
What could be difficult for them and why?
In this discussion, facilitator candidates may have questions about the steps of a Generation
Dialogue project. Explain that you will talk about the all steps of this process in the afternoon
session.
Lunch break (60 minutes)
10. Role-play: Listening exercise (40 minutes)
Ask the facilitator candidates to form pairs of two and to sit facing each other. The pairs
should not be the same as in the first exercise.
Ask that one of the two should share with the other one a nice memory he or she has about
his or her grandfather/grandmother (or another close older member of the family, such as an
uncle/aunt).
Explain that, at first, the person in the “listener role” should listen intently until – after about
two minutes – you clap your hands. When they hear the clap, they should stop listening
completely while the other one continues to tell his or her story. After two minutes you clap
your hands again to stop the conversation and the pairs should change roles. Now the
listener should share a memory of his or her own with the other one listening, for two
minutes, and then not listening, again for two minutes.
After this, all facilitator candidates should go back to their places in the big circle. Ask them
what it felt like to be listened to intently – and what it felt like not to be listened to when one is
sharing something important.
Ask the facilitator candidates to list the signs of good listening. Have cards with drawings of
these signs ready and hold them up when the signs are named. Then pin them to a pin board
or a large sheet of paper on the wall where everyone can see them. Although such signs are
different from culture to culture, they may include:
A friendly, interested face
Nodding
A slightly forward-leaning posture
Eye contact
When facilitator candidates bring up other signs of good listening for which you don’t have a
card, ask them to draw them and add it to the pin board.
Next, have all the facilitator candidates who now sit in a big circle take a listening posture.
Walk around and have a good look at them, commenting on all the typical features of their
posture. Next, ask them to take a posture that conveys that they are not listening. Again,
walk around and comment on all the typical features of non-listening.
Summarise that listening to each another is crucial for the Generation Dialogue. All facilitator
candidates should aim to practice being good listeners throughout the training.
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11. Role-play by the trainers: Recognising dialogue skills (25 minutes)
Ask the facilitator candidates to carefully watch the two role-plays that will now be presented
by two of the trainers. They should watch out for differences in the way the people behave in
the two role-plays. Don’t say what the role-plays are about. Let the facilitator candidates find
out by themselves.
Together with your co-trainer, role-play two examples of a Generation Dialogue in a typical
household in the community. Through your posture and movements, make it very obvious
that one of you is a younger person and one is an older person.
In the first role-play, the younger person does not show any dialogue skills:
The younger person approaches the older person at a bad moment (e.g. the older
person is busy, or almost asleep) without asking whether it is a good moment to talk.
The younger person starts the dialogue standing, instead of making sure that they
can sit down together in a quiet place where both are comfortable.
The younger person does not explain what he or she wants to talk about and why.
The younger person rushes through several questions and does not listen to what the
older person has to say.
The younger person interrupts the older person, or laughs.
The younger person suddenly ends the dialogue without thanking the older person for
sharing his or her views.
In the second role-play, the younger person gets it right and shows the essential dialogue
skills:
The younger person starts by asking if it is a good moment to talk and finds a
comfortable place where both can sit and talk.
The younger person shows the gestures that are customary in the local culture when
younger people approach older people in a respectful manner.
The younger person explains what he or she would like to talk about (“Can you tell
me about how young men and women were prepared for marriage when you were
young?”).
The younger person listens attentively, without interrupting.
At the end of the dialogue, the younger person thanks the older person for sharing his
or her views and stories.
At the end of the role-plays, step out of your roles so that it is clear that you are now again
the two trainers. Then ask the facilitator candidates to describe the differences between the
two role-plays. Which was the better dialogue and why?
At the end of this exercise, point out all the dialogue skills that these role-plays
demonstrated:
Finding a good moment and a good place to talk.
Explaining what one wants to talk about and why.
Listening respectfully and attentively.
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Thanking the Dialogue partner for sharing his or her experiences and views.
12. Group Work: Practicing dialogue skills (30 minutes)
Next, invite the facilitator candidates to practice dialogue skills in groups of three (one group
can have four members). The members of the small groups move their chairs so that they
form a triangle with two facilitator candidates facing one another and the third one – the
observer – watching from the side. Before they start, they should agree who will role-play a
younger and who will role-play an older family member and which of these two will start the
dialogue. Once all threesomes have agreed their roles, let them start their role-play at the
same time. After four minutes, clap your hands and ask them to interrupt the role-play.
Ask all observers to give feedback to the person who started the Dialogue:
What went well?
What could be improved?
After this, the members of the small groups change roles. The observer now practices
dialogue skills in a role-play and one of the original role-players becomes the observer. This
way each member of the small group has practiced dialogue skills and received feedback.
As trainers, you move from group to group and also give your feedback to the participants
practicing dialogue skills.
Tea break (20 minutes)
13. Presentation: The steps of the Generation Dialogue (30 minutes)
Use the flip chart with the steps of the Generation Dialogue process for this exercise:
a. Training of facilitator candidates
b. Talks with community leaders
c. Initial Community Consultations
d. Dialogue sessions 1-4 (4 weeks)
e. First Public Meeting
f. Dialogue session 5
g. Follow-up period: Mini-Dialogues
h. Second Public Meeting
i. Follow-up Community Consultations
Explain the successive steps to the facilitator candidates and invite them to ask questions.
Answer them as well as you can, yet also explain that they should not expect to understand
the whole process on the first day. You will look at the different steps in more detail over the
course of this training. Later, those who will work as core facilitator teams will be supervised
and supported at each step throughout their first Generation Dialogue process.
At the end of this exercise, suggest that tonight, before they go to bed, everyone should read
the section “The steps of the Generation Dialogue” on pp. 4-5 in their facilitator manuals.
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14. End-of-the-day exercise (30 minutes)
Ask all facilitator candidates to stand up and to join you at one end of the room. Invite one
volunteer to step forward and say one important thing they learned today. Then invite a
second facilitator candidate to join the first, taking his or her hand, and to also share one
important thing they learned on this first day. Successively, all facilitator candidates and
finally you, as trainers, should join the group holding hands until everyone stands in one big
circle. Thank everyone for their contributions and close the training day.
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Day 2
Goals of the day
At the end of this second day, the facilitator candidates are able to:
1. Give feedback constructively.
2. Conduct preparatory talks with community leaders.
3. Prepare and conduct Community Consultations.
4. Understand the standard elements of Dialogue sessions.
5. Facilitate Dialogue session 1.
Required materials
Flip chart paper and 20 markers
Flip chart with the three principles of constructive feedback
Pin boards with brown paper and pins
Copies of the questionnaires for the first Community Consultations for all trainer candidates
Exercises
1. Opening (5 minutes)
a) Start the day with a song or prayer
b) Welcome the facilitator candidates
c) Give an overview of the objectives of this second day of the training
2. Presentation: How to give feedback (10 minutes)
Giving feedback is an important tool for good communication, for trainings and for Dialogue
sessions. You will use it on several occasions during this workshop and the facilitator
candidates will also use it when they facilitate Generation Dialogues.
Feedback is about letting a person know what effect their behaviour is having on other
people. Feedback can be positive when behaviour is having a positive effect on you, and it
can be more critical when behaviour is having a negative effect on you. Good feedback can
help people to adapt their behaviours in order to have the effect they would like to have on
others.
There are a few principles that can make feedback more effective; these are summarised in
the box below. Explain these principles and display them on the flip chart that you already
prepared in the morning. Keep that flip chart paper fixed to the wall for the whole training so
that you can remind facilitator candidates of it whenever feedback is given during the
workshop.
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Guidelines for constructive feedback
1. Start with something positive
Try to always begin your feedback by stating something positive you observed in the
way the person you are giving your feedback to did the exercise or the role-play.
It is much easier for people to accept feedback on things that did not go so well if they
have first been told about the things that they did very well.
2. Comment on the behaviour you observed – avoid judgements
When you give feedback, comment on a specific behaviour: what you saw and what
you did not see. Such feedback is helpful because the person receiving it will know
how they can improve what they did. Feedback that simply passes judgement and is
not based on specific observations can easily hurt the person who may have tried
their best.
This is an example of feedback based on observations: “The way I saw you greet the
older gentleman showed a lot of respect, because you were bowing your head and
offering him both hands, not just one. But I did not see you ask whether he had time
for you at that moment.”
3. Suggest an alternative behaviour
In addition to stating what you observed and what you were missing, you can also
suggest specific ways in which a behaviour could be further improved. Make sure to
phrase your suggestion politely, for example: “The way you bowed your head and
gave both hands looked very respectful. I wonder whether you could have also asked
the older gentleman if it was a convenient time for a conversation.”
3. Group work and role-plays: How to do the preparatory talks with leaders (50
minutes)
Ask the facilitator candidates why is it important to meet with community leaders to get their
support before a Generation Dialogue process is started. In the discussion which follows,
underline the following points:
1. Community members will feel reassured if they know that their leaders have
approved of this project.
2. If leaders feel that they have not been consulted, they can boycott and undermine the
Generation Dialogue process.
3. Leaders who can be engaged to take part in the project can make a substantive
contribution to its success.
Next, divide the group into two working groups with one trainer joining each group. Ask them
to discuss the following:
In a typical rural community in their region, which leaders (male and female) should
be informed about the Generation Dialogue?
Where, how and by whom could each of these leaders best be approached?
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Which of these leaders could be opposed to the Generation Dialogue and what could
then be done to change his or her mind?
After 15 minutes of discussion, ask the group to choose one of the leaders they discussed
and to role-play a preparatory talk. One of them should play the leader; two others should
play facilitators meeting this leader for a preparatory talk. The other facilitator candidates
should observe whether the leader was approached in a respectful manner and whether the
objectives of the Generation Dialogue were well explained.
After five minutes of role-play, ask the role-players to step out of their roles. Ask the two who
played facilitators how they think their preparatory talk went. After this, ask the observers to
share their feedback, always applying the feedback rules.
To close the exercise, summarise the main points and thank everyone for their contributions.
Then ask everyone to go back to their seats in the big group.
4. Presentation: About Community Consultations (15 minutes)
Now explain what Community Consultations are:
Community Consultations are open discussions that facilitators hold separately with
younger women, older women, younger men and older men.
Each of the four groups (older women, older men, younger women, and younger
men) meets separately, so that no one feels embarrassed to speak his or her mind.
During each Consultation, two facilitators meet with approximately 20 community
members of the same age and the same sex.
They ask them a series of open-ended questions about the relationship between
the younger and the older generations in their community, and about their views
on some traditional practices which might harm women’s health and family
wellbeing.
Then ask the group why they think that Community Consultations are held at the start of the
Generation Dialogue process. Listen to every point the facilitator candidates raise and make
sure that the three following reasons are mentioned:
1. Involving the whole community: The Community Consultations are a way of
involving as many community members as possible in the Generation Dialogue
process. They are also a way of showing that you have not come to preach or teach,
but to listen and learn what men and women, young and old, think about the issues
the Generation Dialogue will address. It is important that everyone who has
something to say on the matter feels that the facilitators are interested in their views
and take them seriously.
2. Learning about main opinions and concerns before you start the Dialogue
sessions: In the Community Consultations with these four groups, you will learn a lot
about people’s particular convictions, hopes and concerns, and also about current
conflicts and tensions between these groups. This will help you to be prepared for
issues that are likely to come up in the Dialogue sessions.
3. Monitoring the changes that the Dialogue process brings about: Community
Consultations are conducted at the beginning and at the end of the Generation
Dialogue process. Comparing the views the groups express at these two points in
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time will show how the Dialogue has influenced intergenerational relationships and
communication, as well as attitudes and practices in the community.
To undertake this comparison, a team of independent researchers will normally observe both
Community Consultations, as well as other steps in the Dialogue process. The information
they collect will be used by the funding agency in a formal evaluation of the Generation
Dialogue.
Tea break (20 minutes)
5. Group work: Understanding and approving the questions for the
Community Consultations (40 minutes)
Before you start this exercise, agree between yourselves, the trainers, who will work on the
first two sections of the discussion guide and who will work on the third and fourth sections. A
copy of the discussion guide is included in Annex 2.
Then start by dividing the facilitator candidates into two groups. Each of you will sit with one
group in a circle at one end of the room.
In your groups, hand out copies of the discussion guide for the initial Community
Consultations.
Explain that this is a suggested discussion guide for Community Consultations in your
communities. However, it may not be not possible to ask certain questions or to use certain
words and it may therefore be necessary to change the wording of the questions. This is
what you want to check with them now.
Invite one of the facilitator candidates in each group to read out the questions one by one.
After each question, check whether the question has been understood. Also check whether
the facilitator candidates think that it is appropriate to ask the question in this way in their
communities. If not, ask for suggestions how it should be changed. Finally, ask how they
would translate this question into the local language.
When both groups have discussed and understood all their questions, come back into a
large circle. Let one member from each group present their adaptations of the questions, if
any, to the large group.
6. Group work: How to facilitate Community Consultations (30 minutes)
Divide the facilitator candidates into two groups. One of the trainers sits with each group and
discusses the following questions with them:
When you facilitate a Community Consultation:
How can you ensure that community members feel comfortable and safe so that they
openly share their views?
How can you make sure that all the questions from the questionnaire are asked
without reading them from the questionnaire in front of the group?
How can you make sure that many different people share their points of view?
How can you deal with a person who is always talking and not giving others the
chance to say what they think?
How can you end a Community Consultation in a kind and respectful manner?
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For every question, let the facilitator candidates come up with their own ideas first. Praise
them for every good idea and then help them to think of important points that they have not
come up with. When you have gone through all the questions (20 minutes), ask all facilitator
candidates to come back into the large circle.
Together with your co-trainer, summarise and note on a flip chart (only the bold sections of)
the following recommendations for facilitating Community Consultations:
a) Welcome the community members warmly.
b) Explain why you have invited them and how you will use what you learn from
them.
c) Ask open-ended questions without reading them from the questionnaire.
d) Appreciate each point of view.
e) Do not judge or interrupt: show respect.
f) Explore different views: When one person has given his/her view, say “This
is one important perspective, thank you for sharing it. Some people in the
community may see this differently. Would somebody like to express a
different point of view?”
g) Encourage shy and quiet participants to also give their views.
h) At the end, thank all community members and tell them that you have
learned a lot from them.
7. Group work: Preparing Community Consultations (30 minutes)
For this exercise, the eight facilitator candidates from the same community (or the same
cluster of three communities) should form a group. One trainer sits with each of the two
groups. In these groups, read the section on “Preparation of the Community Consultations,”
pp. 7-8 of the facilitator manual (disregard points 1 and 2, as these have already been
covered above). Then ask the facilitator candidates to discuss these questions:
Where could they hold the Community Consultation sessions?
Who should be invited to the sessions?
How could they invite them?
At the end of this exercise, the participants should have a realistic plan for the organisation of
Community Consultations in their community.
Explain that, after the lunch break, several of them will have the opportunity to practice
facilitating a Community Consultation in a role-play.
Lunch break (60 minutes)
8. Role-play: Practicing Community Consultations (50 minutes)
For each role-play, you need two of the facilitator candidates to act as facilitators, 12 to act
as community members who take part in the Community Consultation, and two to act as
observers. Find volunteers for each of these roles for the first role-play. Agree whether the
first role-play will depict a Community Consultation with members from the older generation
or from the younger generation.
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One trainer should then take the 12 “community members” to the side of the room and
prepare them for this role-play – and for a second one which will follow directly after the first.
Find two volunteers from this group who agree to act in an obnoxious and overbearing way
during the role-play (e.g. talking too much, being very opinionated, and not letting others
express their views) – one for the first role-play and one for the second role-play. Then find
four other volunteers from the group who agree to be extremely quiet, shy, and hesitant to
make eye contact – two for the first role-play and two for the second role-play.
Explain to the two observers that they should monitor closely whether the two facilitators are
following the guidelines for Community Consultation meetings (point them to the flip chart
prepared for Exercise 6 on which these are noted down).
Explain to the two facilitators that their role-play should be in the local language and that they
should use the questions that they developed in the Exercise 5.
Finally, explain that you will at some point interrupt the role-play by clapping your hands.
Ask everyone to start the role-play at the moment at which the community members enter
the room and the facilitators welcome them.
After a few minutes, clap your hands to stop the role-play. First, ask the facilitators how it has
gone so far. Then ask the observers to give feedback, reminding them of the principles of
constructive feedback!
After they give their feedback, ask the observers and facilitators to swap roles. The two who
played observers should now continue to facilitate the same Community Consultation
meeting. The two facilitators should now act as observers. If they wish, they can now role-
play a Community Consultation with members of the other generation (that is, if they started
with the younger generation they can now switch to the older generation, and vice versa).
Repeat the process as above, interrupting after 5-10 minutes, to get feedback.
Finally, thank everyone for their active participation in the exercise.
Tea break (20 minutes)
9. Standard elements of Dialogue sessions (15 minutes)
Review the training programme and point out that over the next three days they will learn
how to facilitate the five Dialogue sessions in their communities. The last exercise of the day
will look at some standard elements that they need to remember for each of these sessions.
Ask them to look at the section “Standard elements of Dialogue sessions,” p. 12 in their
facilitator manuals. Let one facilitator candidate read it out and highlight how you have
already used some of these elements over the last two days. Ask facilitator candidates to be
aware of these elements at the start and end of the day throughout the next three training
days.
10. End-of-the-day exercise (15 minutes)
As final exercise of the day, do a variation of the exercise you did at the end of the first day.
Again, every facilitator candidate should come forward and share something that they
learned in the course of this second training day. Instead of standing in a circle holding
hands, however, this time they should build a tower of fists. The first facilitator candidate
should kneel down and put their fist upright on the floor in front of them. The next candidate
will place his or her fist on top of the first fist and so it continues until all fists are joined
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together in a tower. Explain that they should take good care about the way they position
themselves around the tower of fists to that they don’t fall and cause the tower to collapse.
Once the tower is complete, thank everyone for their contributions.
Before closing the training day, assign the facilitator candidates homework for the evening.
Tell them to read through Dialogue Session 1 in the facilitator’s manual (p. 14). Explain that
they will recognise all the exercises in this section of the manual, as they are the same ones
they completed on this second training day.
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Day 3
Goals of the day
At the end of this third day, the facilitator candidates have a good understanding of:
1. How to facilitate the second Dialogue session (life-path exercise).
2. How to facilitate the first part of the third Dialogue session (exercises on reasons for
and consequences of traditional practices).
Required materials
Flip chart paper and 20 markers
Flip chart with objectives of the day
Rolls or large sheets of paper
Optional: Traditional and modern objects (see Annex 3) related to community life in the past
and in the present.
Exercises
1. Opening (5 minutes)
a) Start the day with a song or prayer
b) Welcome the facilitator candidates
c) Give an overview of the objectives of this third day of the training
2. Review of Dialogue session 1 (15 minutes)
Ask the facilitator candidates to open their facilitator manuals to page 14 and give them a few
minutes to look the section on Dialogue session 1, “Listening and dialogue skills.”
Point out that over the past two days they have taken part in four different exercises. These
are exactly the same exercises they will facilitate with participants during the first session of
the Generation Dialogue. These exercises are:
- The proverb exercise
- Establishing the ground rules for the Dialogue sessions
- The exercise on listening skills
- The exercise on dialogue skills
Ask for a volunteer to explain how the first exercise, using proverbs, worked. As the
volunteer explains the exercise, check to be sure that they cover all the key steps and
elements. If the volunteer gets stuck, encourage other facilitator candidates to help him or
her by adding additional points. Before moving on to the second exercise, be sure that the
exercise has been explained fully and that the facilitator candidates are clear how it works.
Then ask for three more volunteers to review the other three exercises, one after another, in
the same way. Before ending the exercise, thank the facilitator candidates for their careful
attention to detail and congratulate them on being ready to conduct the first Dialogue
session.
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3. Introducing life-paths (10 minutes)
Begin with all the facilitator candidates in a group, sitting in a circle. Explain that today’s
session will be all about life-paths. Ask whether somebody has an idea what a “life-path”
could mean. Listen to the suggestions of the facilitator candidates and then explain further.
Say that a person’s life-path starts when he or she is born and ends when he or she dies. In
between these two events there are many life stages. The life-path takes the person from
one life stage to the next.
Ask the facilitator candidates to name some life stages they can think of (e.g., childhood,
adolescence, parenthood, old age…).
Once they have named a number of life stages, explain that between two life stages there
are so-called transitions. Often, transitions are marked by celebrations. A good example of
such a transition is a wedding. It marks the transition from single to married life.
Ask the facilitator candidates if they can think of other such transitions (e.g. from being
childless to having one’s first baby, from being a young child to being a school child etc).
Next, ask them if there are life stages or important transitions that are different for men and
for women.
The aim of this introductory discussion is to make everyone aware that there are both life
stages and transitions between life stages. These life stages and transitions are not
necessarily the same for men and women. In the next exercise, when they set up a life-path,
they should keep the idea of life stages and life transitions in mind.
4. Setting up the life-paths of women/men in the past and present (40 minutes)
Before you start this exercise, lay out two pathways of brown paper at the two opposite ends
of the room. One pathway will be used to create the life-path of the older generation and the
other will be used for the life-path of the younger generation.
When this exercise happens in the second Dialogue session in the community, it is clear who
belongs to which generation. In this training of facilitator candidates, those who are age-wise
somewhere in between the “younger” and the “older” generation must decide to which
generation they want to belong. Those who are more familiar with customs and traditions
should join the group that works on the life-path in the past. Those who are more comfortable
with the “modern world” can work on the life-path of the present. Make sure that the two
groups are more or less the same size (not less than six facilitator candidates per group).
In the middle of the room, between the two pathways, put a whole range of traditional and
modern objects (Annex 3) which can help the two groups to illustrate the life-paths of the
older and younger generations and the traditions that accompany and shape them.
Encourage the facilitator candidates to use the objects when preparing the life-paths. They
may also use markers to draw or write on the brown paper at certain points of the life-paths.
One trainer joins each group and helps the group members set up their life-path: from early
childhood to old age for the older generation and from early childhood up to married life for
the younger generation.
As they are working on the life-paths, carefully prompt the facilitator candidates to think about
the following questions:
What role did/does school education play in boys’ and girls’ lives?
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What traditions accompanied/accompany girls’ and boys’ puberty and adolescence?
How old should girls or young women, and boys and young men, be when they get
married and start to have children?
How and where did/do women deliver their babies? (with professional assistance or
not)
How many children is it good to have and how and by whom was/is this decided?
(family planning)
Remind them that they can also use short role-plays, songs or poems to present a life stage
or an important transition.
If the issues of son preference and unsafe childbearing practices are not mentioned, carefully
ask about them and encourage the facilitator candidates to include them on their life-paths.
Support both groups in setting up complete life-paths and then move on to letting them
present them to one another.
5. Presenting the life-path of women/men in the past (45 minutes)
Once both groups have set up their life-paths, the group that has set up the life-path of the
past can start their presentation. The presentation should last no more than 30 minutes.
Suggest that different members of the group present the successive life stages and
transitions and the traditional practices that accompany them.
When they have finished, ask questions to encourage them to share their traditions and
memories:
Which were the best times for men/women on this traditional life-path?
What are they proud of?
What were the hardest challenges?
Encourage the facilitator candidates who prepared the life-path of the present to ask
questions and to give feedback to those who prepared the life-path of the past:
What was new for you as you watched this presentation?
What were you most impressed by?
When all has been presented and all questions have been answered, thank the group for
sharing this valuable knowledge.
Tea break (20 minutes)
6. Presenting the life-paths of women/men in the present (45 minutes)
Now it is the other group’s turn. Invite them to come forward to present their life-path, as they
have lived it so far – and as they envision future life stages and transitions. The presentation
from this group can also include reflections about what is currently difficult for them, and what
is likely to be difficult in their futures. Again, allow a maximum of 30 minutes for their
presentation.
At the end of the presentation, ask the members of the group:
Which are the good times for women/men on this life-path?
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Which are the challenges?
Encourage the members of the other group to ask their questions and give feedback to those
who presented the modern-day life-path:
What was new for you as you watched this presentation?
What were you most impressed by?
When all has been presented and all questions have been asked and answered, thank the
group for their presentation. Tell them that after the lunch break they will compare the two
life-paths.
Lunch break (60 minutes)
7. Comparing the two life-paths (30 minutes)
Now mix the groups so that you have two new groups with some facilitator candidates who
worked on the traditional life-path and others who worked on the modern life-path. One
trainer sits with each group. Ask the groups to choose a representative who will present the
results of their discussion to the big group.
Ask the groups to compare the two life-paths and to discuss the most important differences
between them.
1. Which of the customs and traditions on the life-path of the older generation still seem
appropriate and useful and should be appreciated and continued?
2. Which of them appear potentially harmful and should be reconsidered or abandoned?
For the second question, make sure to highlight son preference and unsafe childbearing
practices. It is very important that the facilitator candidates are personally convinced that
something needs to be done about these two practices.
After 15 minutes of discussion, ask a representative from each group to present the result of
the discussion to the big group. You can help them with this presentation. A good way to
provide feedback to the group is to stand in the middle between the two life-paths, reporting
on the differences between them, highlighting both the positive traditions and those that can
be harmful and should be overcome.
8. Group work: Organising objects for the life-path exercise (10 minutes)
Remind the facilitator candidates that the life-path exercise involved the use of traditional and
modern objects to signify life stages and life transitions in the past and present. When they
facilitate the life-path exercise in communities, they are responsible to provide a selection of
such objects for participants to use.
Ask the facilitator candidates if they felt any objects were missing during the life-path
exercise earlier that day. Are there any objects that should be added to the current list
(Annex 3)? Encourage them to be realistic in their selection: any objects on the list should be
easily available in their community.
One trainer should make notes during this discussion and read the final list out loud so that
the facilitator candidates can confirm that the list is both realistic and complete.
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9. Energiser activity
Explain that you would now like to do a little energiser activity with all of them, to recharge
their batteries for the last two exercises of the day.
Ask everyone to stand in a circle. Each of them should make eye contact with another
facilitator candidate in the circle. As soon as they have established eye contact they should
start walking towards and then past one another so that they take each other’s former places
in the circle. As they do this, they have to maintain eye contact until they have reached their
new place in the circle. From the new place in the circle, they should again establish eye
contact with someone else and start exchanging places with them. The important thing is that
everyone needs to take care not to bump into anyone else whilst moving across the circle.
Whoever bumps into another facilitator candidate must leave the game.
As the number of facilitator candidates shrinks, the circle should become smaller and the
remaining candidates should move faster. The trainers can encourage them to speed up if
they don’t move fast enough. Continue the game until only one or two pairs are left in the
game.
10. Group work: The reasons for traditions that can harm women’s health and
family wellbeing (30 minutes)
Explain that you want to take a closer look at two of the traditional practices that were
discussed during the life-path exercise because they can be particularly harmful to women
and families: son preference and unsafe childbearing practices.
Ask the facilitator candidates to form two groups. Each group will discuss one of the two
practices. One trainer will sit with each group. Give each group a stack of cards.
Each group should have a pin board covered with paper. The top of group 1’s pin board
should be labelled ‘Son preference.’ The top of Group 2’s pin board should be labelled
‘Unsafe childbearing practices.’ The paper on each pin board should be divided into two
columns: the first column should be labelled “Reasons” and the second column should
remain blank for now.
In group 1, ask the following:
Why do some parents prefer to have sons over daughters?
Explain that many of them will know such cases. The families will have good reasons for this
preference. Ask facilitator candidates to name all the reasons they can think of for son
preference and to write each reason on a card.
In group 2, ask the following:
Why do some women not receive any health care during their pregnancies and
deliver at home, without assistance by a trained health worker?
Again, let the facilitator candidates name all the reasons they can think of for unattended
pregnancies and deliveries. Write each of these reasons on a card and hang the cards on
the left-hand side of the pin board under the heading ‘Reasons.’
When the facilitator candidates have finished discussing and hanging up their cards, the
trainer with each group should invite them to look at the pin board. Tell them that there are
clearly quite a lot of reasons why families prefer sons (group 1) and why women do not
receive health care during their pregnancies and deliveries (group 2).
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Tea break (20 minutes)
11. Group work: The harmful consequences of son preference and unsafe
childbearing practices (30 minutes)
Explain that you now want to look at the harmful effects which these practices can have. The
facilitator candidates should remain in the same two groups, but this time group 1 will look at
unsafe childbearing practices and group 2 will look at son preference.
As in the previous exercise, one trainer sits with each group and brings along a stack of
cards. The groups will continue to work with the pin boards from the previous exercise. At the
top of the right-hand column on each pin board, write ‘Consequences.’
In group 1, ask:
What are the harmful consequences of unattended pregnancies and deliveries for
women, their babies and whole families?
Conduct the exercise in the same way as the previous one. The group members should
name all the consequences they can think of while the trainers write them down, one
consequence per card. Hang the cards up on the right-hand side of the pin board.
Each time they name a harmful consequence, ask the facilitator candidates if they know of
such a case and let them share the story.
In group 2, ask:
What are the harmful consequences of son preference for women’s health and family
wellbeing?
Let the group members name all consequences they can think of and write them down, one
consequence per card and hang them up on the pin board. Each time that they name a
harmful consequence, ask the participants if they know of such a case and let them share
the story.
At the end of the exercise each group’s pin board should be full. You, the trainers, now point
out that the pin boards show two sides of a situation in which many families are trapped:
there are deeply-held reasons for certain practices, on the one hand, and harmful
consequences, on the other. Say that you will discuss possible ways out of this trap on the
following day.
Ask each group to choose a volunteer who will present the results of this exercise, and the
previous exercise, at the start of the next training day.
12. End-of-the-day exercise (15 minutes)
Ask everyone to come together at one end of the room. Invite all facilitator candidates to start
walking around in this part of the room and to move from one person to another without
stopping until you clap your hands. At that moment, everyone should turn to the person
standing closest to him or her, so that you have pairs of two facilitator candidates facing one
another. These pairs should now talk for five minutes, exchanging their views about the best
and the weakest part of this training day.
After five minutes, thank everyone for sharing their views.
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Before closing the training day, explain to the facilitator candidates that they have a
homework assignment: They should read and review the section of the facilitator manuals
on Dialogue Session 2 (p. 20) and be prepared to present it the following morning.
Day 4
Goals of the day
At the end of this fourth day, the facilitator candidates have a good understanding of:
1. How to facilitate the third Dialogue session on customs and traditions and their effects
on family health and wellbeing.
2. How to facilitate the fourth Dialogue session, in which the women’s and men’s
Dialogues are joined.
Health worker
Identify a health worker, such as an experienced Lady Health Worker or Lady Health Visitor,
who is well informed about the effects of unattended pregnancies and deliveries, and of
multiple, closely-spaced births on women and families in the community. Invite her to join you
for the first part of the morning session.
Ask the health worker to talk about the effects of unattended pregnancies and deliveries and
of having many children in succession, with only short gaps in between. She should speak
about real cases which she has encountered in the community and explain the
consequences of these for women and families. The health worker should also be willing to
answer questions from the facilitator candidates and to correct any misconceptions they may
have about women’s reproductive health.
Required materials
Paper rolls, cards and markers
Pin boards and pins
Several sheets of brown paper glued together (width: 3 meters)
A ball
Two sets of drawings on laminated A4 sheets of the following four Community Partners (a-d)
and four Dialogue groups (e-h):
a. A local government representative
b. A religious leader
c. A health worker
d. A teacher
e. A young man
f. A young woman
g. An older man
h. An older woman
Exercises
1. Opening (5 minutes)
a) Song or prayer
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b) Warm welcome by the trainers
c) Give an overview of the objectives of this fourth day of the training
2. Recap: Facilitating Dialogue Session 2: Life-path exercise (15 minutes)
Remind the facilitator candidates of the homework assignment they were given at the end of
the third training day and ask them to open their facilitator manuals to page 20. Ask for a
volunteer to explain how he or she would facilitate the life-path exercise in the second
Dialogue session, describing each step of the exercise in turn. Check that the facilitator
candidate goes through the elements of the exercise correctly and add or clarify information
as necessary.
Then, ask for a second volunteer to describe how he or she would lead the next exercise:
comparing the two life-paths. Again, listen carefully to make sure that the exercise is
described completely and accurately.
These are some aspects to highlight in the discussion:
In this exercise, the aim is that the two generations listen to one another and show
interest in each other’s presentations.
If the participants can be encouraged to include short role-plays, songs and poems,
the presentation will be more lively and interesting.
The facilitators can be models for the participants and show their interest in both life-
path presentations.
During the life-path presentations, it is important not to pass judgements about the
way things were done in the past or about the way they are done today. This is the
moment to acknowledge how the two generations have lived or live their respective
lives.
When the facilitators compare the two life-paths and identify traditions which the
younger generation does not want to continue, it is a better moment to talk about the
harmful effects these traditional practices.
However, it is also important to highlight positive customs and traditions so that the
older generation feels that their cultural heritage is appreciated and valued.
3. Presentation of reasons and harmful consequences (25 minutes)
A second trainer should now briefly remind the facilitator candidates what they did at the end
of the previous day. Use the two pin boards to review each of the steps of the exercises
where they discussed the reasons for traditional practices and the harmful effects they can
have on the health and wellbeing of women and families.
Ask the volunteer from the first group (identified at the end of the previous training day) to
come to the front of the room and to stand next to the pin board about son preference.
Start with the “Reasons.” Have the volunteer read out, one by one, the cards where the
group members recorded the reasons for son preference. Once the facilitator candidate has
read out all the cards, ask group 2 if they have any questions or would like to add a reason
that the first group has not thought of.
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Then move on to “Consequences.” Ask the volunteer to read out each of the cards listing the
harmful effects of son preference. Once he or she is finished, ask group 2 if they have any
questions or would like to add a reason that the first group has not thought of.
Then do the same for the group that discussed the reasons for unsafe childbearing practices,
using the second pin board. Start with reasons and then move on to consequences. Allow
group 1 to ask questions or to add reasons or consequences that the second group has not
thought of.
At the end the exercise, thank the facilitator candidates for sharing all they know about the
reasons for and harmful consequences of son preference and unsafe childbearing practices.
4. Learning more from a health worker (20 minutes)
Now invite the health worker to the front of the room. Explain that you have invited her so
that she can talk about the effects of son preference and unsafe childbearing practices which
she encounters in her daily work in the community. In her contribution, the health worker
should refer to the problems which the facilitator candidates have already brought up on their
cards. She can bring them to life by giving real life examples of these problems and she can
also talk about other problems which the facilitator candidates did not mention on their cards.
After 10-15 minutes, invite the facilitator candidates to ask any questions that they may still
have about the effects of the two practices.
When all questions have been answered, thank the health worker for coming to this session.
Ask her to let the facilitator candidates know how they can get in contact with her if they still
have questions or concerns about these or related topics.
Tea break (20 minutes)
5. What communities can do to address son preference and unsafe
childbearing practices (45 minutes)
Now come back to what you already mentioned when both groups prepared their pin boards
the previous day: it seems as if many families are caught in a trap. On the one hand, there
are many reasons for son preference and unsafe childbearing practices. On the other hand,
there are the many harmful effects that these practices can have on women’s lives and on
whole families. In this exercise you want to think about ways to help these families out of this
trap.
Divide the big group once more into the two previous groups, with a trainer joining each
group. For each group, arrange the facilitator candidates’ chairs in a half circle facing the pin
board they filled with cards in the previous exercise. Both groups need a stack of cards,
markers and a set of drawings of the Community Partners.
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Spread the drawings out on the floor in front of the pin board so that all can see them.
Explain that in change processes in other communities, it has been shown that there are
particular groups of people and particular leaders who have important roles to play in order to
make change happen. These groups and leaders are represented by these drawings. They
are referred to as Community Partners, because it is with their help that constructive change
can happen in the community.
First, ask the facilitator candidates if they can think about any other group or leader who
would need to get involved to bring about change in relation to son preference or unsafe
childbearing practices in their communities. If someone proposes an additional group or
leader and the others agree, write a card for this group or leader and place it next to the
drawings on the floor.
Now ask the groups to discuss what exactly each of these groups, or leaders, could do to
help end the practice. Remind them not to forget the reasons for the practice, which they can
see on the pin board in front of them.
Group 1 will discuss:
What exactly could these different groups or people do to help end son preference?
Give the group members enough time to think about each of the groups or leaders and to
come up with some actions. Write each proposed action on a card and place the card next to
the drawing of the group or leader until there are several cards under each drawing.
Group 2 will discuss:
What exactly could these different groups or people do to help end unsafe
childbearing practices?
Make sure to ask them what they would like the health workers to do to encourage women to
have safe, assisted pregnancies and deliveries.
When the groups have come up with all the actions they can think of, turn the pin boards
around, pin the drawings up and then pin all the proposed actions below the respective
drawings.
Who are Community Partners?
Community Partners are people, or groups of people, who can influence whether
traditional practices which can have harmful effects are continued or whether they are
abandoned in a community. They are called Community Partners since it is only with their
help that change can happen.
Community Partners can vary from community to community, but will usually include
representatives of local government, religious institutions, the education system and the
health system.
In addition to the Community Partners, members of the four Dialogue groups – older men,
older women, younger men and younger men – also have a role to play in bringing about
changes in the community.
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6. What to do first about son preference and unsafe childbearing practices (15
minutes)
When all the drawings of the Community Partners, and all the actions proposed for them, are
up on the boards, thank the groups for generating so many good ideas for what could be
done to prevent the harmful effects of son preference and unsafe childbearing practices. Tell
them that it is possible that all of these things could be achieved over the next few years, but
that in any change process it is important to set priorities.
Ask each group to select a small number of actions – no more than two actions per group or
leader – that they believe are very important and can realistically be achieved in the next
three months.
Allow each group up to 15 minutes to discuss and to prioritise their actions, moving the two
prioritised cards up so that they are right below the respective drawing of the group or leader.
The other cards should be moved further down.
When the groups have completed this task, thank them for the important work they have just
completed. On the pin boards they have mapped out a pathway towards overcoming son
preference and unsafe childbearing practices in their communities.
7. Introducing pledges and special requests (10 minutes)
Congratulate the facilitator candidates once more on the way they prioritised the actions for
the different Community Partners. Explain that they will facilitate this same process with
participants in the communities in Dialogue Session 3.
Tell the facilitator candidates that after the fourth Dialogue session there will be a Public
Meeting to which the community as a whole and representatives of the Community Partners
will be invited. At this meeting, the Dialogue participants will share what THEY are prepared
to do to overcome the harmful consequences of son preference and unsafe childbearing
practices. These are their pledges.
But to achieve their objectives, the Dialogue participants will also need the support of the
other groups and the leaders. To get this support, they will put special requests to them.
Pledges and special requests
Pledges and special requests come from the participants’ ideas about what they, as a group,
could contribute towards change in their community, and what they would like other groups
(e.g. the other sex, the other generation, the teachers, or the health workers) to do.
Pledges are about “What we commit to do to make change happen.”
Special requests are about “What we are asking [a specific group] to do so that change can
happen.”
At the Public Meetings which are held after the Dialogue sessions have been completed, the
participants publicly declare their pledges and state their special requests. In this way the
whole community, including its leaders and other important persons, are made aware of what
needs to change and how they can support these changes.
Point to the pin boards with the drawings of the groups and leaders. The priority actions
which the Dialogue participants will have identified in Dialogue session 3 are the basis for
their special requests to the Community Partners (health workers, teachers, religious leaders
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and local government representatives) and for their pledges – that is, what they themselves
are prepared to do against son preference and unsafe childbearing practices.
8. Presenting priority actions as pledges and as special requests (30 minutes)
The pledges and the special requests that are shared at the Public Meeting need to be
presented clearly and respectfully. In this exercise the facilitator candidates can observe and
practice how to present them to the different groups and leaders.
You, as trainer, now show the facilitator candidates how a pledge could be formulated. To do
this, choose one of the four groups on the pin board which are themselves part of the
Dialogue process, for example the older men. Select one or two of the actions that were
formulated for the older men and phrase them as pledges. In a little role play, present these
pledges to the facilitator candidates as if they were representatives of the community at the
Public Meeting:
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here today and for listening to what we would
like to share with you. Following the discussions we had in our Dialogue sessions, we, the
older men, would like to make this pledge: We will talk to our sons to encourage them to take
their pregnant wives to a health facility so that they receive the health care that pregnant
women need! We know how important healthy women are for our sons and their children and
their families, so we will do all we can to ensure that our daughters and daughters-in-law
receive proper health care!”
Next, choose one of the four Community Partners to also show them how to formulate a
special request, for example the school teachers:
“Respected school teachers! You have an important role to play in our community because
you make sure that all our children, boys and girls, get an education. We would like to
request your support in ensuring that particularly our girls can develop their full potential. Can
you please show them how important they are for our community and can you encourage
them to study hard so that they can achieve whatever they want to achieve in their lives. This
is our special request to you: Help us make our girls strong and proud. Thank you for
listening to us.”
After the trainer has finished presenting the special request, ask the facilitator candidates
what they observed. Be sure that they comment upon the three characteristics of a
successful special request and write them on a flip chart:
Address the community or the specific group or leader respectfully and tell them
why, as a group or as a leader, they are important for the community.
Phrase your pledge or your special requests politely.
Thank the group or leader for listening to you.
Now let the facilitator candidates form eight pairs, by counting off to eight. Assign one of the
eight groups on the board to each pair and give them five minutes to prepare their pledge (for
the older men, younger men, older women and younger women) or their special request (to
health workers, religious leaders, teachers and local government representatives). Also tell
them that one of the two of them should then present the pledge or request before the big
group.
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Then let all groups present their pledges and special requests in this way. After each pledge
or request ask for feedback. What did the facilitator candidate do well when presenting the
pledge or request? What could have been better?
Thank everyone for formulating and putting forward these pledges and special requests.
Lunch Break (60 minutes)
9. Introduction to Dialogue session 4 (10 minutes)
Start by reminding the facilitator candidates of the three objectives of the Dialogue process:
Strengthening the relationship between the younger and the older generations in their
community.
Keeping useful customs and traditions alive.
Helping their communities overcome customs and traditions with harmful
consequences for women and families.
Explain that in the community, in Dialogue session 3, they will facilitate all the exercises
which you have been doing with them starting yesterday afternoon up until now:
Looking at the reasons for son preference and unsafe childbearing practices.
Looking at their harmful consequences.
Planning what could be done about them.
Formulating pledges (for actions they can take themselves) and special requests (for
actions that the four Community Partners could take).
At the end of Dialogue session 3, each generational group in their Dialogue will nominate two
speakers who will be responsible for presenting their pledges and special requests, first to
the Dialogue participants of the other sex and then at the Public Meeting.
In Dialogue session 4, you want to come back to the first two objectives: improving the
relationships between the two generations and keeping useful traditions alive. You will do
this in two groups, one representing each generation, where you will formulate some more
pledges and special requests.
11. Group work: What we want to pledge to the other generation (45 minutes)
Divide the facilitator candidates into the two generational groups in which they worked when
they did the life-path exercise. One trainer sits with each group.
Explain that they will do this exercise the same way with the Dialogue participants in
Dialogue session 4. Ask the group which represents the younger generation to discuss the
next two questions as if they were the younger participants in the Generation Dialogue:
What have you learned from the older generation and what do you appreciate about
them?
Which of the customs and traditions they spoke about would you like to keep alive in
your community?
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Ask the group which represents the older generation to discuss these two questions as if
they were the older participants in the Generation Dialogue:
What have you learned from the younger generation and what do you appreciate
about them?
Which of the hopes and visions they spoke about would you like to support in your
community?
On the basis of their discussions, ask both groups to agree what they want to pledge to the
other generation in order to maintain the good relations between them which the Dialogue
sessions have started:
What are you, the younger/older generation, prepared to do to help strengthen good
relations and dialogue between younger and older men/women in your community?
What are you, the younger generation, prepared to do to keep valuable customs and
traditions alive?
What are you, the older generation, prepared to do to support the young generation’s
hopes and visions?
Find a volunteer in each group who is prepared to present his or her generation’s pledges to
the group representing the other generation. Remind the volunteers to think about the way
they present these pledges. Here, too, it is important to address the other group respectfully,
to speak clearly and to phrase the pledge politely.
Tea break (15 minutes)
13. Presentation: How to join the men’s and the women’s Dialogues (30 minutes)
Start by explaining the reason for joining the two Dialogues. Over the past four weeks, both
the women and the men have been working on the same topics in their Dialogue sessions.
The two generations have begun to grow together in this process and this has made them
stronger. Now it is time to bring the women’s and the men’s Dialogues together so that they,
too, can join forces and present their arguments to the community in a strong and convincing
manner.
The joint session between the female and male Dialogue participants should take place in a
room that is large enough to accommodate all of them (48 Dialogue participants and eight
facilitators) and which can be divided by a partition.
Ask all facilitator candidates to open their facilitator manuals to page 30 and take them
through the exercises of Dialogue session 4. Ask one facilitator candidate to read the first
and second exercise out loud, then check whether it has been understood and provide
additional explanations if needed. Continue in the same way for all other exercises of
Dialogue Session 4.
14. End-of-the-day-exercise (15 minutes)
Ask the facilitator candidates to stand with you in a large circle. Have a ball with you. Ask
who would like to begin with a brief feedback on today’s training day and explain that the
feedback should not be longer than one statement. Throw the ball to that person and ask him
or her to throw it to the next person when they have finished, continuing in this way until
everyone has had their say. Thank everyone and close the training day.
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Note for trainers:
In the evening of this fourth day, prepare your assessment of each of the participating
facilitator candidates on the basis of the assessment form for facilitator candidates in Annex
4.
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Day 5
Goals of the day
At the end of this fifth day, the facilitator candidates understand:
1. The aims of the Public Meeting and how to organise it.
2. The aims of the follow-up period and Mini-Dialogues and how to organise them.
3. Their tasks and responsibilities as supervisors during the follow-up period.
4. How to organise the second Public Meeting and the Community Consultations.
5. How to monitor Dialogue sessions and the follow-up period.
Required materials
Flip chart paper and 20 markers
Flip chart with steps of the Generation Dialogue process
Flip chart on supervision in the follow-up period
Flip charts with the dates for the next steps
Copies of monitoring sheets for Dialogue sessions and follow-up supervision meetings
Exercises
1. Opening (5 minutes)
a. Song or prayer
b. Warm welcome by the trainers
c. Give an overview of the objectives of this fifth day of the training
2. Review of the Generation Dialogue process up to the first Public Meeting (10
minutes)
With the help of the flip chart where the steps of the Generation Dialogue process are listed,
review with the facilitator candidates what you have covered over the past few days: the
preparatory talks with the community leaders, the initial Community Consultations and
Dialogue sessions 1-4. Remind the participants that in the fourth Dialogue session, which
was covered in yesterday’s training session, the female and male participants of the
Generation Dialogues are brought together. They jointly agree what they want to pledge and
which special requests they want to put to the different Community Partners, who should play
a role in overcoming the harmful effects associated with son preference and unsafe
childbearing practices.
After the fourth Dialogue session, the Generation Dialogue process continues with the
following steps:
The first Public Meeting
The fifth Dialogue session
The follow-up period with Mini-Dialogues
The second Public Meeting
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The second Community Consultations
By the end of this fifth and final training day, the facilitator candidates will understand each of
these steps and know what their roles and responsibilities are in relation to each of them. In
the next exercise, you will start with the first Public Meeting.
3. Explain the reasons for the Public Meetings (10 minutes)
Explain that the main aim of the Public Meeting is to share the spirit and the results of the
Dialogue sessions with the whole community in order to motivate as many community
members as possible to support the proposals for positive change that the Generation
Dialogue participants present to them.
The community as a whole, including its leaders, are invited to the Meeting to be informed
about the Dialogue process that has been going on in their midst. They see how the
participants, who are now known as Dialogue Champions, have overcome the silence and
lack of interest and respect between the generations. They hear what these Dialogue
Champions are committed to doing in order to improve the way younger and older people in
their community get on, respect and talk with one another. They also learn what the Dialogue
Champions are prepared to do to find ways of respecting the community’s traditions while
overcoming the harmful effects associated with son preference and unsafe childbearing
practices.
Representatives of the Community Partners that were discussed in the third and fourth
Dialogue sessions are also invited to this meeting so that they can hear the special requests
that the Dialogue Champions put to them. If they wish, they can publicly respond to them
right there at the meeting.
At the end of the meeting, it is announced that over the next three months, the Dialogue
Champions will continue their Dialogue activities in the community and that everyone is
invited to join in.
It is also announced that there will be a second Public Meeting in three months’ time to
review the developments that have taken place in the meantime.
At the end of this presentation, ask the facilitator candidates whether they have any
questions about the reasons for and context of the Public Meeting.
4. Group work: Agreeing on a time and place for the meeting and whom to invite
(25 minutes)
Divide the facilitator candidates into two groups, so that those who come from the same
community are in the same group. A trainer sits with each of the two groups. Ask the groups
to appoint someone who will present the results of their discussion to the big group. Then
discuss:
The venue and how to prepare it (a suitable venue will be proposed by the trainers,
but the facilitator candidates need to agree how the room should be set up and
decorated to serve the Public Meeting’s purpose).
On which day of the week and at what time the Public Meeting should best be held (it
is important to find a time at which both younger and older members of the
community are available to attend).
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Who should be invited as representatives of the different community groups and
leaders (it is important to think of actual people here, with names and positions, and
to calculate numbers, including the 48 Dialogue Champions, the eight facilitators and
the two trainers).
After 20 minutes of group discussion, let the representatives of each group present their
results.
5. Jointly reading and discussing: The programme of the first Public Meeting (10
minutes)
Ask the facilitator candidates to open their manuals to page 40 and to read with you through
the section “What should happen at the Public Meetings.” Then discuss with the big group:
Which other activities (e.g. music, poems, role-plays, poetry recitals) could be added
to the programme of the meeting to make it attractive for the community to attend?
Thank the facilitator candidates for their ideas and ask them to remember these for the
Public Meetings that they will have to organise in their communities in about two months.
6. Presentation on Mini-Dialogues (10 minutes)
Explain that during the three-month follow-up period, the Dialogue Champions should try to
maintain and spread the spirit of dialogue in their community. Alone or in pairs of one
younger and one older participant, they should visit households, schools, mosques, youth
clubs, women’s and men’s clubs, and private homes in order to involve more and more
community members in the Dialogue process. The settings which are chosen should be
culturally appropriate and may be different for men and women.
In these meetings, they should start discussions about:
The importance of relationships between the younger and the older people in this
community, how they listen to one another, and their experience of entering into
dialogue with members of the other generation.
The importance of customs and traditions: which of them still seem useful and which
of them can have harmful consequences.
The reasons and the harmful consequences of son preference and unsafe
childbearing practices.
The specific pledges and special requests that were made at the Public Meeting.
These conversations are called Mini-Dialogues.
All participants of the Dialogue sessions should hold at least one mini-dialogue per week.
When they meet a group of community members for the first time, the main aim is to interest
the family in the Dialogue process and to establish trust. It is not a good moment to start
talking about more sensitive topics like son preference. Once trust has been established, the
facilitators can meet the same group again and then perhaps start to speak about this issue.
Generally, it is a good idea to start Mini-Dialogues on the topic of the relationships and
mutual listening between younger and older members of the community and the positive
experiences that the Dialogue Champions themselves have had in this respect.
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7. Role-play by the trainers: Demonstrating an initial Mini-Dialogue (15 minutes)
Explain that you will now show them how to conduct a first Mini-Dialogue with one family.
As trainers, you will play a younger and an older Dialogue Champion who jointly visit the
household of the younger Dialogue Champion in a rural community. Use some chairs to set
up a typical family scene in a rural compound and ask two or three participants to join you in
the role-play, taking the following roles:
Elder female member of the family, such as a mother-in-law or grandmother-in-law
Younger female member of the family, such as a sister-in-law or daughter-in-law
Ask all other facilitator candidates to follow the Mini-Dialogue as observers. Then start the
role-play:
a. Introduce yourselves as participants of the Generation Dialogue initiative.
b. Ask everyone how they are today in order to create a good atmosphere before you
start to talk about the topics of the Generation Dialogue.
c. Explain that many people in this community said in the Community Consultations that
there should be more respect and listening between younger and older people. Both
younger and older people often feel that they are not listened to by members of the
other generation. How do they see this? In their families, do the younger and the
older people listen to each other?
d. Share your own experience of spending time and engaging in discussions with the
other generation over the course of the Dialogue sessions. Also, tell them about the
pledges and the special requests that were made at the Public Meeting for more
respect and listening between the generations. What do they think about these
pledges and requests? Is this something they can do in this family?
After some discussion with the household members, interrupt the role-play. Ask the
observers what they saw you do. These three steps are important to point out:
1. Introductions and friendly ‘warm-up conversation.’
2. Asking what family members think about the fact that both generations often feel that
the other generation is not listening to them.
3. Sharing their own experience of discussing with and listening to the other generation
and sharing the pledges and special requests that were made at the Public Meeting.
Tea break (20 minutes)
8. Practicing initial Mini-Dialogues (40 minutes)
Now ask two facilitator candidates to conduct a Mini-Dialogue in which they demonstrate the
three steps you pointed out to them before the tea break. Ask two or three other facilitator
candidates to role-play the family members in the house they have come to visit.
After 5-7 minutes, interrupt the role-play and let the facilitator candidates give their feedback
(observing the guidelines for constructive feedback.)
Be sure that all facilitator candidates have understood the three steps of an initial Mini-
Dialogue.
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9. Presenting and practicing follow-up Mini-Dialogues (30 minutes)
Now explain that after such a first Mini-Dialogue, when a good contact has been established
with the members of the household, the same two Dialogue Champions can come back to
engage them in a discussion of the tradition of son preference, or the tradition of unsafe
childbearing practises, and of the harmful effects that these can have on family welfare and
on women’s health.
You, the trainers, now show such a follow-up Mini Dialogue about son preference with the
same facilitator candidates role-playing the members of the household. In the role-play be
sure to show the following three steps:
1. Introductions and friendly ‘warm-up conversation.’
2. Explaining that, during the Dialogue session, one important topic was the tradition of
son preference. What do they think are the reasons for this tradition? What harmful
effects can this tradition have on the health and wellbeing of women and families?
3. Sharing the pledges and requests regarding son preference that were made at the
public meeting and asking what they think about these.
At the end of the role-play, ask two facilitator candidates to also conduct such a follow-up
Mini-Dialogue. Tell them that they can decide if they would like to bring up the issue of son
preference or the issue of unsafe childbearing practices. Allow them a few minutes to agree
how they want to approach the conversation, then start the role-play.
At the end of the role-play, ask the observers for feedback (according to the guidelines for
constructive feedback). Be sure that they discuss the three steps for follow-up Mini-
Dialogues that are outlined above and that everyone has understood these and the
difference between initial and follow-up Mini-Dialogues.
Finally, explain that in Dialogue session 5, they will practice such initial and follow-up Mini
Dialogues with the Dialogue participants, too. Ask them to open their facilitator manuals to
pages 36-37 and show them the Exercises 4 and 5 which cover these topics.
Lunch break (60 minutes)
10. Discussion: Supervision meetings in the follow-up period (30 minutes)
Explain that during the three-month follow-up period, the facilitators will meet the Dialogue
Champions once a month to provide supervision and support.
Invite all of them to imagine a first meeting with the 24 Dialogue participants one month after
the final Dialogue session. Most of the Dialogue Champions will have done four Mini-
Dialogues in the meantime. What do they think should happen at the supervision meeting?
Let the facilitator candidates brainstorm some ideas.
The following are important points they should name:
Exchanging views on how the Mini-Dialogues are working: What is going well? What
is difficult?
Providing support and advice on how to deal with difficulties.
Providing praise for the work that has been done.
Monitoring the work that has been done (checking the record books and filling in the
supervision record sheet).
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Planning the Dialogue Champions’ activities for the next month.
Once all these points have been addressed, present a possible programme for such a
supervision meeting and note the bold words below on a flip chart:
1. Welcome: Warmly welcome all Dialogue Champions.
2. Four groups: Divide the large group into four smaller groups of both generations, so
that each facilitator candidate sits in a circle with three younger and three older
participants.
3. Number and type of Mini-Dialogues: Going around the circle, invite each participant
to briefly report from their record books how many Mini-Dialogues they held and with
whom. Take note of this on your record sheet for supervision meetings (Annex 7).
4. Results and achievements: Next, going around the circle, invite each participant to
report on results and achievements of these Mini-Dialogues and in relation to the
pledges and special requests. Take note of this on your record sheet. Praise them for
their achievements!
5. Difficulties and challenges: Go around the circle a third time, asking what kind of
challenges and difficulties they have encountered. Take note on your record sheet.
Together with the rest of the group, try to find a way forward. Where difficulties are
more serious, say that you will discuss them with the other facilitators during the
break.
6. Support with challenges and difficulties: While the Dialogue Champions take a
ten-minute break, meet with the other three facilitators and jointly discuss the more
difficult challenges and what you want to recommend to the Dialogue Champions who
encountered them. After the break, share what the other facilitators have suggested
as way forward.
7. Planning for the next month: Discuss with your group what they are planning to do
in the coming month. Before closing the supervision session, praise them once more
for their commitment.
8. Completion of record sheets for supervision meeting: After the meeting, one of
the facilitators completes a record sheet for the supervision meeting.
Ask all facilitator candidates to open the facilitator manual to page 43 and ask one volunteer
to read the section on “What to do in the monthly supervision meetings.”
Afterwards, ask if there are any questions and respond to them. Explain that you will present
the monitoring sheets in the next exercise; for the moment the facilitator candidates should
focus on how to do the supervision.
11. Group work: Understanding record sheets for process monitoring (45 minutes)
Ask the facilitator candidates to go to the annex section at the end of their manuals. Point out
that there are specific record sheets for the documentation of the successive steps of the
Generation Dialogue process, i.e. for Dialogue sessions (Annex 5), Public Meetings (Annex
6), and for the supervision meetings in the follow-up period (Annex 7).
Divide the facilitator candidates into three working groups. Assign one type of record sheet to
each working group.
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Ask the groups to jointly read their record sheet and to discuss amongst themselves whether
it is clear:
What information needs to be recorded.
When and by whom it should be filled in.
To whom it should then be submitted (see front page of each record sheet).
Invite them to ask you for help if they are not sure about any part of the record sheet.
Move between the working groups and make sure that they have all understood their
respective sheets.
After 10-15 minutes, or when all groups appear to have gone through their record sheets,
ask them to explain their record sheet to the rest of the group.
Allow some time for questions and answers regarding the record sheets.
12. Next steps and dates (5 minutes)
On a flip chart, note the dates for the next steps in the Generation Dialogue process:
The preparatory talks with community leaders
The initial Community Consultations
The first Dialogue session
Ask all facilitator candidates to note these down. Also explain when and where the individual
assessments will take place at which the core facilitator teams and the back-up facilitators
will be appointed.
13. Summary and final feedback round (45 minutes)
Explain that you have now come to the end of the theoretical part of the training for facilitator
candidates. It has been an intense week with many interesting discussions and useful
contributions from all of them. Review one last time the many different things the facilitator
candidates learned over the course of the week (use the flipchart with the programme
presented on day 1).
Ask all of them to contribute to a last round of feedback: At the end of this week, what would
they like to share with the trainers and with the other facilitator candidates?
As trainers, you have the last word in the feedback round. Thank everybody for their hard
work and their commitment to the development of their communities.
Before ending the session, give each facilitator candidate a copy of an evaluation form
(Annex 8) and request that they complete the form before leaving. As trainers, you are
responsible to ensure that all forms are completed and turned in. The forms should then be
submitted to the Project Coordinator at the implementing organisation.
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Assessment of facilitator candidates and selection of core teams
The selection of the four male facilitator candidates and the four female facilitator candidates
who will form the two core facilitator teams, and the two facilitators who will be back-up
facilitators in each community, should happen after the five-day facilitator training workshop.
A representative of the implementing organisation and the trainer should meet individually,
for about 20 minutes, with each candidate and present their assessment of the candidate’s
skills and capacities. At this time they also tell each candidate whether he or she will be in
the core team, a back-up facilitator or neither of the two for the time being.
This can happen directly at the end of the fifth training day or at a later date, according to
everyone’s availability. If it happens directly after the training, the trainer needs to have
already filled in the assessment forms (Annex 4) on the evening of the fourth training day and
to have discussed his or her impressions with the representative of the implementing
organisation.
In the assessment session, the trainer can start by asking the facilitator candidate to suggest
the score that they would give themselves for the skill or capacity in question and then share
his or her own assessment. Comparing the candidate’s assessment with the trainer’s
assessment will allow the trainer and the representative of the implementing organisation to
find out how realistic the candidate is in his or her self-assessment and how open he or she
is to constructive criticism.
On the assessment form, every skill or capacity should be given a score that indicates the
extent to which it was shown:
0 = never shown
1 = rarely shown
2 = sometimes shown
3 = often shown
4 = consistently shown
The skills and capacities to be scored are:
1. Understands concepts and exercises quickly
2. Takes responsibility and leads in group work
3. Is respected and listened to by other facilitator candidates
4. Listens to other facilitator candidates
5. Is able to facilitate group discussions
6. Ensures that everyone in the group is heard
7. Supports others
8. Speaks to the big group in a loud and clear voice
9. Is able to explain the Dialogue approach, its methods and principles
10. Is able to listen actively and to teach others how to do so
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11. Shows good dialogue skills and can teach them to others
12. Relates respectfully and appreciatively to the other generation
13. Is committed to implementing Generation Dialogues
14. Is available for the implementation of Generation Dialogues
15. Listens to feedback and learns from it
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Standard elements of Dialogue sessions
As you guide and supervise facilitator teams who conduct Dialogue sessions for the first
time, make sure that they remember and implement the following standard elements.
Who facilitates the Dialogue sessions?
Four Generation Dialogue facilitators are required to facilitate a Dialogue session. A trainer
supervises them during each Dialogue session when they implement their first Generation
Dialogue. Facilitators who have successfully conducted all Dialogue sessions under
supervision can conduct Dialogue sessions independently, i.e. with periodic supervision only,
in further communities.
If one of the facilitators has another urgent commitment or is sick, one of the two back-up
facilitators can step in and replace him or her.
What needs to be prepared before every Dialogue session?
On the day of the Dialogue session, 45 minutes before the participants arrive, facilitator
teams should:
Make sure that all materials needed for the session and copies of the session record
sheet (Annex 5) are prepared and ready.
Make sure that the room is tidy and clean. Organise cushions, chairs or charpois on
which participants can sit comfortably.
Arrange for lunch to be prepared and served for participants.
Read the goal and the description of the session in the trainer’s manual and go
through all the exercises in the manual to make sure that the members of the
facilitation team remember how to facilitate them.
Agree who will take the lead for which exercise and what the other three facilitators
will do to support him or her.
Agree who will take notes on the Generation Dialogue session record sheet.
What are the standard elements of every Dialogue session?
At the start of the session, facilitator candidates should:
Warmly welcome the participants as they enter the room.
If participants bring “guests’, kindly explain to them that only the selected Dialogue
participants can take part in these sessions and make sure that the guests leave
again.
When all have arrived, start the session with a song or a prayer.
In all but the first Generation Dialogue session, ask one or two participants to give a
short summary of what happened in the previous session. Make sure to ask a
different participant each time.
Check feedback from the community: After the weekly sessions, the participants
should share what they heard and did with their families and friends. In all but the first
Generation Dialogue session, ask the participants whether they have shared last
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week’s discussions with their families and friends in the community and what these
people have said to them. Did any of them have some new ideas? Or some strong
reactions?
At the end of each session, facilitator candidates should:
Ask the participants to give their evaluation of the session:
o If there is enough time left, ask all participants to say one thing they learned in
this session, with the first participant standing up and saying something, the
next one joining him/her and holding his/her hand, and so on until they all
stand in one circle holding hands.
o After sessions that were especially long, simply ask two volunteers from each
generation to say what they thought was the most interesting thing they
learned in this session.
o As another variation, ask one younger participant to ask two or three older
participants for their feedback on the day, and one older participant to
interview two or three younger participants in the same way. The young
participant and the older participant who did the “interviews” should then stand
in front of the group and present what they just found out from the other
generation.
Before the participants leave, remind them to tell other community members about
the Generation Dialogue session and to get their views on the issues that were
discussed.
When the participants have left, sit down together with the other facilitators and
evaluate each exercise of the session. The member of the team acting as M&E
facilitator should fill in the Generation Dialogue session record sheet.
Tidy up the room and collect and pack up all the things you will need again in next
week’s session.
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Why and how to conduct Public Meetings
Why are the Public Meetings held?
The aim of the first Public Meeting is to share the spirit and the results of the Dialogue
sessions with the whole community, and to motivate as many individuals as possible to
support their goals.
At this meeting, the Dialogue participants act as role models for the other community
members. They show them that it is not only possible, but also rewarding for both
generations to enter into dialogue and to work jointly on the challenges they face.
The Public Meeting is also the moment to present pledges and special requests to the
community at large and to Community Partners with a specific responsibility, such as local
authorities, religious leaders, teachers and health workers. The more people hear the
pledges and special requests, the more they will follow whether these are put into practice,
and the more likely they will be to attend the second Public Meeting.
Both the first and the second Public Meeting should not last longer than two hours. They
should be scheduled at a time and place that will allow as many community members as
possible to attend. The Public Meetings can be held in the same place as session 4 of the
Dialogue process, when the male and female participants were all together in a large room
with a partition.
Who should be invited to the Public Meetings
1. The community at large, including both sexes and all generations.
2. Representatives of the local government, religious leaders, teachers and school
directors, and representatives of the health services.
3. Representatives of youth groups, women’s and men’s associations.
4. Respected elders.
What should happen at the Public Meetings
The first Public Meeting
A local government official who supports the Generation Dialogue and a representative of the
implementing organisation can welcome everyone and present the objectives of the Meeting:
Sharing what the participants learned from each other in the Dialogue sessions.
Through their Dialogue, the participants learned to appreciate many of their
communities’ customs and traditions, but they also agreed that some of these
traditions should be adapted to today’s world.
Presenting what the younger and the older participants commit themselves to doing
differently as a consequence of the Generation Dialogue process.
Presenting how they believe others could contribute to positive changes in the
community.
Following this opening, the speakers nominated by the Dialogue participants present what
they learned from each other and how they want to continue this constructive dialogue
process:
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1. What we learned from the other generation
2. Older generation: How we want to support the younger generation’s hopes and
visions
3. Younger generation: How we want to keep important traditions alive
4. Both generations: What we pledge to do to maintain the constructive dialogue with
the other generation
Next, the speakers present the pledges and special requests related to son preference. One
speaker from each Dialogue group should present:
5. What they pledge to do to help overcome the harmful consequences of son
preference
Between them, the speakers should also present:
6. What they are asking the four Community Partners to do so that the harmful
consequences of son preference can be overcome
Finally, the speakers present the pledges and special requests related to unsafe childbearing
practices. One speaker from each Dialogue group should present:
7. What they pledge to do to help overcome the harmful consequences of unsafe
childbearing practices
To end the presentation, the speakers should also present:
8. What they are asking the four Community Partners to do so that the harmful
consequences of unsafe childbearing practices can be overcome.
To make the presentation more lively and colourful, the following can be included:
Suitable proverbs and poems
Short role-plays
Local music and songs
Representatives of local government, mosques, health services and schools to whom the
participants made requests can be invited to respond to these right there at the meeting.
Towards the end of the meeting, a representative of the implementing organisation can
remind everyone of the shared vision of positive change to which all of them can contribute
and also remind them that:
They have a good chance to achieve this change in the coming three months.
The Dialogue participants will be in contact with them during this time.
There will be a second Public Meeting in a few months so that they can jointly assess
whether the pledges and special requests have been put into practice.
After the meeting, one of the facilitators should fill in the record sheet for Public Meetings
(Annex 6), noting down, amongst other points, which Community Partners attended and how
they responded to the requests.
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The second Public Meeting
The second Public Meeting is ideally held in the same place at the same time of day. The
same people should be invited to attend.
Representatives of the different Community Partners (e.g. local government, health services,
schools) can be invited beforehand to speak at the meeting, so that they can report on how
they have responded to what was asked of them at the first Public Meeting.
The Dialogue Champions should report on the changes and positive developments that they
have seen in the community over the past three months. They can talk about conversations
they had with families and they can report on actions taken by leaders and community
members.
They should also present how they have done the things they pledged to do at the first Public
Meeting.
At the end of the Meeting, the Dialogue Champions and motivated leaders can announce
any new initiatives that have emerged from the Generation Dialogue process, and invite
community members to join these initiatives.
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Annex 1. The steps of the Generation Dialogue approach as graphics
Graph 1: Starting a Generation Dialogue project: training and first two Dialogues
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Graph 2: Process for 2nd and 3rd Dialogues
65
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Annex 2. Discussion guides for Community Consultations
Initial Community Consultation
This is a sample discussion guide for initial Community Consultations in a Generation
Dialogue process focused on childbearing and family planning. The sections of the text
marked in yellow are topic-specific and can to be modified for use in Generation Dialogues
focused on other issues.
Introductory remarks
Today we would like to learn from you about the relations between younger and older people
in your community: what works well in these relationships and whether there are issues that
you are concerned about.
We would also like to learn from you about the customs and traditions that your community
values and how these are passed on from generation to generation. We are particularly
interested in customs and traditions related to childbearing and to planning families.
1. Relations and listening between the older and the younger generation
In this community, how do younger and older people get along with one another?
What is good about their relationship?
What are the concerns about their relationships?
In this community, how do younger and older people listen to one another?
Are younger people interested in what older people have to say and do they listen to
them?
Are older people interested in what younger people have to say and do they listen to
them?
(Only for the older generation) Have these relationships changed since you were young?
How?
What would you like to change about the relationships between the younger and the older
generation?
2. Customs and traditions in the lives of young people approaching adulthood
What are the main customs and traditions which play a role in the lives of young people
approaching adulthood?
Why does the community regard these customs and traditions as important?
Do these customs and traditions have any harmful effects on the lives of young women and
men? Which are these?
What could be done to protect young women/young men against these harmful
effects?
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(Only for the older generation) Have these customs and traditions changed since you were
young? How?
3. Practices related to starting a family and child spacing
What do people in your community think about when newly-married couples should start a
family and have children?
What are your views about these expectations?
What is good about it?
What is problematic about it?
How would you like to change it?
(Only for the older generation) How have expectations changed since you were
young?
In your families, how is it decided that a couple should start having children?
What are your views about this way of planning a family?
What is good about it?
What is problematic about it?
How would you like to change it?
(Only for the older generation) How has this changed since you were young?
In your families, how is it decided how much time should pass after a child is born before
women get pregnant again? About when they should stop having children?
What are your views on this way of planning pregnancies?
What is good about it?
What is problematic about it?
How would you like to change it?
(Only for the older generation) How has this changed since you were young?
What is your view on the services that health workers provide to women or couples who wish
to plan when they have children (family planning)?
What is good about them?
What is problematic about them?
4. Practices related to care for women during pregnancy and delivery
In your community, what kind of healthcare do women traditionally receive when they are
pregnant?
What are your views on this kind of healthcare for pregnant women?
What is good about it?
What is problematic about it?
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How would you like to change it?
(Only for the older generation) How has this changed since you were young?
Where do women deliver their children and who assists these deliveries?
What are your views on this way of delivering babies?
What is good about it?
What is problematic about it?
How would you like to change it?
(Only for the older generation) How has this changed since you were young?
What is your view on the services that health workers provide to women in your community
during their pregnancies, at deliveries and in the weeks after their deliveries?
What is good about them?
What is problematic about them?
(Only for the older generation) How has this changed since you were young?
In your view, what would need to happen to ensure that more women seek professional
health care during their pregnancy, when they deliver and after they have delivered?
Closing remarks
At the end of the discussion, thank all participants for sharing their views. Explain to them
that these views will be very helpful for the Generation Dialogue sessions that will be held
over the course of the next six weeks. Also explain that you would like to talk to them again
in a few months to find out whether there views about any of these topics have changed.
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Follow-on Community Consultation
This is a sample discussion guide for a follow-on Community Consultation in a Generation
Dialogue process focused on childbearing and family planning. The sections of the text
marked in yellow are topic-specific and can to be modified for use in Generation Dialogues
focused on other issues.
Introductory remarks
Some months ago we gathered together to discuss the relationship between younger and
older people in your community. We also spoke about the customs and traditions that your
community values, particularly in relation to childbearing and family planning, and about the
way these are passed on from generation to generation.
Today we would like to speak to you about these topics again.
1. Relations and listening between the older and the younger generation
In your families, how do you see the relationships between the different generations, specifically between young people and their parents and grandparents?
What is good about it?
Are there any aspects that you are concerned about?
Are the younger people listening to the older people?
Are the older people listening to the younger people?
Has anything changed since we last met?
2. Customs and traditions in the lives of young people approaching adulthood
In your community, which customs and traditions play a role in the lives of young people approaching adulthood?
Why do you think that your community regards these customs and traditions as important?
Do these customs and traditions have any harmful effects on the lives of young women and men? Which?
What could be done to protect young women/young men against these harmful effects?
Since we last met, has anything changed in the way people think about or speak about these customs and traditions?
3. Practices related to starting a family and child spacing
What do people in your community think about when newly-married couples should start a
family and have children?
In families in your community, how is it decided that a couple should start having children?
In families in your community, how is it decided how much time should pass after a child is
born before women get pregnant again? When she should stop having children?
What is your view on the services that health workers provide to women or couples who are
interested in family planning?
Since we last met, has anything changed in the way younger and/or older people think about
or speak about family planning?
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4. Practices related to pregnancy and delivery
In your community, what kind of healthcare do women traditionally receive when they are
pregnant?
Where do women deliver their children and who assists these deliveries?
What is your view on the services that health workers provide to women in your community
during their pregnancies, at deliveries and in the weeks after their deliveries?
In your view, what would need to happen to ensure that more women seek professional
health care during their pregnancy, when they deliver and after they have delivered?
Since we last met, has anything changed in the way women receive services when pregnant,
during delivery, and after giving birth?
5. Perception of Generation Dialogue and its effects
Have you heard about the Generation Dialogue sessions that have taken place in your community? What have you heard about them?
How have the Generation Dialogue sessions and the discussions between the generations affected your community?
If any positive developments are mentioned: How can it be ensured that these positive developments continue?
Closing remarks
At the end of the discussion, thank all participants for sharing their views.
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Annex 3. List of traditional and modern objects
N.B. The following lists of traditional and modern objects were developed as part of a Generation Dialogue in Pakistan. They are highly specific to the cultural context of Pakistan.
The list of traditional and modern objects must be discussed and adapted anew for each
Generation Dialogue process. It is important that, among the traditional and modern objects
selected, there are objects which relate directly or indirectly to the issue being addressed by
the Generation Dialogue. The objects used in the life-path exercise help to structure the
discussion of men’s and women’s lives in the past and the present, including difficulties faced
by men and women at different stages of their lives.
Men’s Dialogue: List of traditional objects
Honey mixed with green tea (ghutti)
Swaddling cloth (ooray) and band (siznee)
Religious amulet
Ring
Kohl (surma)
Traditional sweets
Musical instruments (e.g. dhol)
Colourful wall hanging (decoration for baby boy)
Slingshot
Marbles
Kite with roll of string
Chewing tobacco (gutka)
Handkerchief
Hookah
Oil for hair
Pistol/gun
Fashionable clothes
Sandals
Agricultural tools
Walking stick
Chewing tobacco (naswar)
Turban/cap
White chaddar (sheet)
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Men’s Dialogue: List of modern objects
Disposable diapers
Vaccination card
Johnson’s baby products (e.g. powder, baby shampoo)
Stuffed animals
Pushchair (stroller)
Ball
Building blocks
School books
Video games
Modern dress: shorts, t-shirt and nice slippers
Kite with roll of string
Mobile phone with headphones
Eyeglasses
Tablet or laptop computer
Cologne
Tight pants, t-shirt and colourful boots
School books and school bag
Sheesha
Cigarettes
Helmet (motorbike)
Women’s Dialogue: List of traditional objects
Herbal medicine/Ghutti
Mustard oil for infant’s body and head
Kohl/Surma
Pacifier (dummy)
Cloth diapers
Homemade dresses
Traditional cradle
Handmade dolls, toys made of clay, marbles
Islamic books
Henna (mehndi)
Black Burqa (Shuttle cork style)
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Paraat (utensil for kneading flour)
Traditional wedding dress and dupatta
Handmade embroidery on clothes and sheets
Paranda (decoration for braided hair)
Walking stick
Silver ring or bangles
Women’s Dialogue: List of modern objects
Disposable diapers
Vaccination card
Johnson’s baby products (e.g. powder, baby shampoo)
Teddy bear
Pushchair (stroller)
Stylish dresses and shoes
School books
School uniform
Chaddar/Hijab
Mobile phone
Modern clothes
High-heeled shoes
Sunglasses
Accessories, including hair accessories
College or university certificates or papers
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0 =
Ne
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ow
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1 =
Ra
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ow
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2 =
Som
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3 =
Oft
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4 =
Consis
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Annex 4. Assessment form for facilitator candidates
Name of facilitator candidate:………………………………………………………………………………….
Name of trainer :……..………………………………………………………………………………………….
Date and place:………………………………………………………………………….…………………………
Indicate the extent to which the facilitator candidate demonstrated each of the following capacities
over the course of the training:
0 = never shown
1 = rarely shown
2 = sometimes shown
3 = often shown
4 = consistently shown
Capacities needed to become an effective facilitator:
1. Quickly understands concepts and exercises……….. ……………………………………….
2. Takes responsibility and leads group exercises ……………………………………………….
3. Is respected and listened to by other facilitator candidates……………………………………
4. Listens to other facilitator candidates…………………………………………………………..
5. Is able to facilitate group exercises……………….…………………………………………….
6. Makes sure that all group members are listened to…..……………………………………….
7. Supports others if needed..………………………………………………………………………
8. Speaks loudly and clearly………………………..………………………………………………
9. Is able to explain the Dialogue approach, its background and its principles……………….
10. Shows listening skills and is able to explain and show them to others.......………………
11. Shows dialogue skills and is able to explain and show them to others ……………………
12. Is able to relate positively and respectfully to members of both generations…………….
13. Is committed to promoting dialogue between the generations….…………………………….
14. Is available for the implementation of the Generation Dialogue…..……………………….
15. Listens to feedback and changes behaviour accordingly…………………………………
Trainer’s signature Facilitator candidate’s signature
Annex 5. Record form for Dialogue sessions
Date: Community:
Facilitators’ names: Number of older participants: Number of younger participants: Participants’ sex: Session number:
Feedback from the community: (At the beginning of the session, what did participants tell you about the reactions of their peers and family members when they talked to them about the topics discussed in the previous Dialogue session?)
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Report on exercises (Only report on the ‘bigger’ exercises. In the second column, note down how participants responded to the exercise and
anything interesting they said. In the third column, note any difficulties you encountered with an exercise and suggestions for changing it to avoid these difficulties in the future.)
Exercise number
How did the participants respond? Did responses differ by participants’ age?
Were there any difficulties with this exercise? If yes, should it be changed, and how?
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Exercise number
How did the participants respond? Did responses differ by participants’ age?
Were there any difficulties with this exercise? If yes, should it be changed, and how?
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Other observations:
a) Atmosphere: How was the overall atmosphere and the spirit of the Dialogue session?
b) Conflicts/tensions: Were there any conflicts or tensions between Dialogue participants? If yes, what were they about?
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c) Positive interactions: Were there any positive interactions or memorable connections formed between Dialogue participants? If yes, what
were these about?
d) Time management: How was the time management? Was there enough time to do all exercises?
Annex 6. Record form for Public Meetings
Date of the meeting
Community
At what time did the meeting
start?
At what time did the meeting end?
How many people attended?
(Of these, how many were
women and how many were
men? How many were older and
how many younger?)
Which authorities and prominent
guests and leaders attended?
Where was the meeting held?
Describe the site and include
photographs
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What was the programme of the
meeting?
List all pledges and requests and
who made them
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What did the authorities and
leaders say in response to the
pledges and requests?
How would you describe the
atmosphere and the audience’s
reactions?
Any other observations?
Annex 7. Record form for supervision meeting
Date: Community: No. of supervision meeting: Facilitators: No. of older participants: No. of younger participants: Participants’ sex:
Report on Mini-Dialogues Number of Mini-Dialogues held in households: Positive results of Mini-Dialogues in households:
Difficulties encountered in Mini-Dialogues in households:
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Report on pledges and special requests: For each Community Partner’s pledge and special request, note down the developments that Dialogue participants have observed.
Community Partner and their pledge or special request
Developments that participants observed
85
Other observations
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Annex 8. Questionnaire for facilitator candidates: End of facilitator training
Date: Facilitator Candidate’s Sex:
Community:
Thank you for sharing your opinions about the facilitator training. By completing this short
questionnaire, you will help the organisers of the Generation Dialogue to learn about the
strengths and weaknesses of the training and to improve it in the future.
1. Following your participation in the facilitator training for the Generation Dialogue, how
confident are you that you:
Not at all confident
A little confident
Somewhat confident
Confident Very
confident
a) Understand the principles of the Generation Dialogue?
1 2 3 4 5
b) Understand the steps of the Generation Dialogue process?
1 2 3 4 5
c) Can organise and facilitate Community Consultations?
1 2 3 4 5
d) Can facilitate the five Dialogue Sessions?
1 2 3 4 5
e) Can organise and facilitate the Public Meetings?
1 2 3 4 5
f) Can organise and facilitate the supervision meetings?
1 2 3 4 5
2. What aspect(s) of the facilitation training did you find most useful? Why?
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3. Did you find any aspect of this training workshop difficult or unclear? Please explain.
4. Thinking back to the week, how satisfied are you with each of the following aspects of
the facilitator’s training?
Not at all satisfied
A little satisfied
Somewhat satisfied
Satisfied Very
satisfied
a) The programme for the workshop? 1 2 3 4 5
b) The trainers’ facilitation style? 1 2 3 4 5
c) The facilitator’s manual? 1 2 3 4 5
d) The logistics (organisational aspects) of the workshop?
1 2 3 4 5
e) The venue? 1 2 3 4 5
5. How could the facilitator training be improved in the future?
6. Do you have any other comments you would like to share with the organisers?
Thank you for your time and participation!
88
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