Online Peer Assist Experiments

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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?

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Comment by Nancy White on May 1, 2013 at 3:48pm: On a slightly different level, I thought you would enjoy this blog post by a friend about the non linearity of learning facilitation! http://www.johnniemoore.com/blog/archives/003205.php?utm_source=feedly

Comment by Nancy White on May 1, 2013 at 3:47pm: This concrete example is great! It really helps ground me a bit more. And Women's Empowerment as a topic along with the need for visual practices reminds me of a great tool developed by another KM4Dev member, Eva Schiffer, called NetMap Toolbox. You could use the paper social networking exercise with women to help them map out their connections in their organization. If you have a hub/spoke model, you can tell the story of the failures when something happens to the one leader. If a map has multiple hubs, you are demonstrating how others can pick up leadership and work around the loss of one node. It is also a great way to show how sharing leadership taps into each leaders' own network, spreading the network from node to node. The link is here: http://netmap.wordpress.com/case-studies/ I'll also ping Eva and see if she has a moment to join us.

In the end, the netmapping surfaces the stories which make the points of your theme, without being abstract or "telling someone else what to do." The messages emerge from the stories of women talking about their own networks. And the tool itself becomes part of their toolkit. Does that make sense?

Comment by J. Yennenga KOMPAORE on May 1, 2013 at 3:01pm: Here's is an example of the content I've created with the aliniha KM team last week. Alltogether, there are 12 content sheets on 12 themes. 4 four women empowerment. 4 four Environment. 4 four social microfinance.

What we are bringing on our ning peer-assist will help design and tailor the the best methodology and tool to deliver those contents and capture knowledge.

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

Women empowerment :
1.1. The basic principles for a women's organization
1.2. Moving at the pace of the group (steps up)
1.3. Developing leadership in the group
1.4. Enhance every woman and recognize her merit
........................................
Developing leadership in the group

Explanation of the sub-theme
When in a group there is a large number of leading the group is more likely to achieve its objectives. It is important to prepare the notes forming the maximum number of women leaders. Every woman can develop its leadership if it is engaged in the work they do, if they put it in confidence and give her the opportunity to express her potential in the group.

MESSAGES
• MESSAGE 1: everyone can become a leader
• MESSAGE 2: the more leaders there are in a group, the more the group is dynamic if there is a good internal organization; Otherwise, there is leadership conflicts
• MESSAGE 3: The leader is the engine of the group, that she is listening and speaking / acting on behalf of the group. She works for the group.

Bad practices
• First unfortunate experience: a leader who does not listen, who does not delegate, who does not consult, who decides alone will gradually be abandoned by his members.
• Second unfortunate experience: it happens after the death of some leaders, the association also dies.

Best practices
• First Practice: when an association managed to develop leadership within it and there are many leaders, the association can go further by empowering those that emerge. For example, allow them to create new groups where they can communicate and develop a sense of leadership.

Additional sheet (pedagogy): how to create interest and attract the interest of women during an animation session????

Comment by J. Yennenga KOMPAORE on May 1, 2013 at 2:06pm: What you're saying makes me think of tha way a local facilitation session might end : with the stories telling part.

Comment by Nancy White on May 1, 2013 at 4:14am: When I think of knowledge capture, I'm reminded that time after time, people often don't value their own knowledge. So first there is the process of telling stories, other people validating and adding their own experiences. Then you can distill out the key bits. If that makes any sense!

Comment by J. Yennenga KOMPAORE on May 1, 2013 at 1:19am: I also do like the idea of "local knowledge capture"'s function.

Comment by Nancy White on April 30, 2013 at 10:33pm: Capture, make meaning of, share and apply local knowledge --> that would be my addition!

Comment by ALEJANDRO BALANZO on April 30, 2013 at 9:12pm: well that is great: so this is should be a toolkit to 'capture' local knowledge. Am I right?

Comment by Nancy White on April 30, 2013 at 4:10am: This blog post from my friend Viv seems to resonate with this conversation

http://vivmcwaters.com.au/2013/04/24/facilitating-for-engagement-in...

Comment by J. Yennenga KOMPAORE on April 29, 2013 at 11:55pm: So let's go ahead!!

The aliniha network expects that in each country, facilitators have the same toolkit to facilitate sessions on : environment protection- women empowerment -social microfinance.

Each organization expects that its expertise be capitalized and included in the toolkit. Each organisation has a given experience but its not written/conceptualized. So it's difficult to share that experience. There's a real demand on producing content based on their experience: how they have been working for years, learning and improving practices on the field.