Online Peer Assist Experiments

Information

We are experimenting with doing online Peer Assists for KM4Dev in this group. We will run a couple of experiments, then debrief our learnings. We decided to use the NING group and then report out on the full KM4Dev list. Everyone is welcome to join!

Members: 22
Latest Activity: Dec 14, 2020

Introduction to Our First Peer Assist

Our first peer assist will be with Yennenga. Our guest peer assist facilitators will be Alejandro, Bonnie, Catherine, Ednah, Johannes and Nancy. Our goal is to both offer Yennenga a peer assist, and to consider how to do peer assists online. For more about peer assists, check out this entry in the KS Toolkit: Peer Assists.

We think we will start addressing one question at a time, using the comment wall. So we'll post each question, then ask everyone to ask any clarifying questions on that first question. Then we will offer ideas and experiences on that question. Following, Yennega will post what she learned and will do next. Then we'll move on to the next question. At least that is the plan. Here is Yennenga's situation and questions:

To sum up the situation :

Imagine 6,000 illiterate women living in villages across west Africa (Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal). Some grow crops, others transform agriculture product, others are craftmakers or small sellers. Although they work really hard, they earn very little wage from those activities.

Three years ago, those women gathered into a network; the aim is to strengthen and share their experiences in three main areas : microfinance, environment, and women's empowerment. A team of local facilitators help them. But their facilitation capacities have to be strengthened.

Three months ago, I joined that rural women network, in order to help them better manage the knowledge production and sharing. I would like to start with five actions.

1. To capitalise, map and profile the job of "local facilitator" and then Produce a toolkit for the facilitators (what and how?) Facilitated by: Catherine

2. Identify and train some of the women in KM (success stories recording and telling for example). Facilitated by: Alejandro

3. Identify and train local trainers in agriculture products conservation and transformation techniques. Facilitated by: Bonnie.

4. To set up a monitoring and evaluation tool that will help assess the evolution of the members of the network. Facilitated by:

Can KM4Dev change the lives of those 6, 000 women? How do I help do all that, in a sustainable and profitable way for the network? I have a voice recorder, a digital camera, a laptop and a skype account. How do I do that, to be able to develop their autonomy in KM4dev and make my presence unnecessary after two years?

Resources

This group does not have any discussions yet.

Comment Wall

Comment

You need to be a member of Online Peer Assist Experiments to add comments!

Comment by ALEJANDRO BALANZO on April 29, 2013 at 11:15pm: And well, I think we are getting to the topic of the facilitators role, which to this point might be relevant to answer the question about what to bring in the toolkit...

So I want to add a question to keep profiling: what are the expectations about facilitators? what does each organization expect? do they differ? what does the network expect?

Comment by ALEJANDRO BALANZO on April 29, 2013 at 10:55pm: We are not getting bored!

Comment by J. Yennenga KOMPAORE on April 29, 2013 at 4:05pm: Thank you for your ideas Catherine. I find them really interesting and very practical. I take a good note of all that.

.............

I'm wondering whether I haven't been too ambitious by asking 5 questions. Maybe people are getting bored!! Maybe we should just start to raise the maximum contributions for this first question and plan a deadline to close the contribtions. Although I'm still willing to go through all the 5 topics, I'm also already so grateful for what came up !

Comment by Catherine Fisher on April 29, 2013 at 3:44pm: Lets keep this discussion going a little longer! I am again stepping out of facilitator mode to share a few ideas : )

In terms of mapping and profiling the role of the local facilitators, I thought this might happen by asking the facilitators for an example of when their work was going well - this might help to document what is currently happening as a starting point for thinking about what might happen in future. Asking when their work has gone well might bring up examples of the kinds of changes that they have seen as a result of their work or processes they have used in thier work. A discussion of lots of examples of local facililators working at their best will help map the role!

Another way of doing this (similar to Nancy's suggestion) is by lending local facilitators a camera (if necessary) and asking them to take pictures during their work - a bit like a photostory which are then discussed together.

As for what is in the toolkit box - I think this depends on how metaphorical the toolkit is! For example the KS toolkit is a collection of ideas and approaches that could be used, so is quite metaphorical - while also being highly practical. My physical facilitators toolkit contains post it notes, masking tape to stick things to walls, different coloured marker pens, pictures that can be used for ice breakers, something to make funny noises to bring a session to an end.

The content for both metaphorical and phsyical toolkits will vary by context and is probably best determined by the people who are going to use it!

Comment by J. Yennenga KOMPAORE on April 26, 2013 at 6:11pm: I totally agree with you. In fact, what our peer-assist discussion brings is "processes ideas". I have discusses the content with the aliniha local facilitators. But the "how" was the missing part. So let's say it's just perfect that we are dealing with that here.

The other point is that, by putting together all your ideas, I 'm visualizing more and more how a facilitation session can look like, with content + tools/methods to deliver that content.

The question is still which are the items the local facilitators should find in their toolkit box?

Comment by Nancy White on April 26, 2013 at 5:06pm: So I think we are getting some toolkit ideas. Do we have anything more to discuss around capitalizing, map and profile the role of local facilitators? One thing that happened on a call I was on this morning reminded me that so often we focus on the content, but the processes, especially the processes for socializing content, are really important. Can you reflect on that a bit in terms of your group, Yennenga?

Comment by J. Yennenga KOMPAORE on April 26, 2013 at 3:58pm: Awsome ! Today's ideas harvest is really great !

Comment by Nancy White on April 26, 2013 at 3:51pm

Ah, perfect! I just had a good email exchange with a woman who was asking the same thing. Funny, too, that I referred her to this peer assist! Here is what I replied:

First of all, you might want to join in on the peer assist we are doing via KM4Dev regarding the work of Yennenga who is working in rural W Africa and -- guess what -- working with low literacy audiences and wants to do KM/KS. So this issue WILL come up and it would be great if you wanted to be part of the conversation http://www.km4dev.org/group/online-peer-assist-experiments

Second, and much more generally, there is an emerging body of work on using visual methods in participatory development. If only I did a better job tracking these resources! LOL

Here are some starting points:

1. Join the RosViz10 group on facebook and ask this question... look back through the group archives as there are a TON of links and I think some very relevant. None of us have harvested them, alas! https://www.facebook.com/groups/122858401095871/

2. Some links: (just from googling)
http://library.uniteddiversity.coop/Measuring_Progress_and_Eco_Foot...
http://netmap.wordpress.com/ (kinesthetic -- Eva has done this negotiating water rights in rural Ghana and elsewhere!)
http://www.c-changeprogram.org/sites/default/files/C-Bulletin-2.pdf

2. Some ideas -

using sheets of paper, start by drawing the desired outcome. Then draw the steps to get there. YOu can add text, add audio or video interviews to complete. In the end, you could even do a play that acts out the plan through its implementation.
Use a "river of life" method and bring stacks of magazines with pictures to help illustrate their ideas. The basic method is exploration of past, present and desired future. There is a how to on the http://www.kstoolkit.org and I also think on your internal toolkit, right Roxy?
Story tell it.

I also think the supporting processes to let the stories and plans come up are important. Lately Im' very inspired by the ideas and practices from http://www.liberatingstructures.com -- look at the "drawing together" exercise in particular. But any of them help elicit that knowledge that you note is already present, but just needs releasing and processing by the group

Comment by J. Yennenga KOMPAORE on April 26, 2013 at 3:36pm: Think it's also time for me to think about what can be on those cards for illiterate people...