Comments to: crs@uvm.eduReviewed as of 4/20/98
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EXERCISE EIGHT
Identifying Your Role in Capacity Building
Number of people: one to many
Minimum time: 20 minutes each person in
discussion group (see
step 1 below)
Materials: paper and pencil
PROCESS
1. If in a group setting, form discussion groups of three or four
people. Each person will be in the spotlight for 15 to 20 minutes.
One other person should take notes on what the "spotlight person"
says (for his/her own future reference).
2. The "spotlight person" should answer the five groups of
questions. If the others want to make suggestions, they should
wait until the speaker has had his/her say about an item.
3. If the discussion group is made up of members of the same group,
they could individually answer the first two items and discuss
items 3, 4, and 5 together as a group.
QUESTIONS
1. What are the assets (strengths) you could bring to the jobs
described above--initiator of training, training coordinator,
facilitator, resource person. Consider each role separately, if
you like. Keep in mind your past experience, your personality,
your style of relating to people, your role and influence in the
group.
2. What help would you need from other group members in order to
carry out each role?
3. What resources does the group have that would help to carry out
training? (Example: a budget that could be used to pay
facilitators or resource people, lots of talent within the group--
ripe for skill sharing, a commitment to training, etc.)
4. Who do you think would be your strongest allies for training
within the group? What sort of support might you get from them?
5. Based on your answers to these questions, what action do you
need to take?
I, ___________________________ (being of sound mind and body), do
commit myself this __th day of _________, 19__, to take the
following action to implement a training program in________________
__________________________________________________________________.
This activity would ideally be done in a support group with
trainers from other citizen organizations. It could also be done
alone or with a committee made up of those members of one citizen
group who are concerned about its training needs.
SOURCE: Beyond Experts: A Guide for Citizen Group Training, by
Duane Dale et al., Citizen Involvement Training Project, University
of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1978.
SETTING TIME FOR TRAINING
Somewhere along the way you need to get your group to consider when
it wants to hold training sessions. Likely times for training
might include:
þ When several new members join the group
þ When a new project, requiring new skills, is beginning
þ When someone with special skills steps down from an
office or leaves the organization
þ Whenever a learning need is identified
þ On a continuing basis (monthly workshops, for example),
addressing the most pressing learning needs of the
moment.
Training activities in an on-going group do not need to happen at
workshops; they can take place as planned parts of regular
meetings, or as spontaneous additions to work sessions. (The
training coordinator can't pre-plan these spontaneous training
sessions, but ought to be ready to seize an opportunity that arises
and call for a discussion, role play, or other activity that will
meet the need of the moment.) Individual learning can, of course,
take place between and during every meeting of the organization.
A group that is ready to make an on-going commitment to training
will need to explore the preferences of its members for different
workshop times and lengths, and select a schedule in keeping with
those preferences.
Comments to: crs@uvm.edu
Reviewed as of 4/20/98