Training for Trainers on Organisational Development
The Training for Trainers took place from the 15th to the 22nd of May in Poggio Mirteto (Italy). The aim of this training was to increase the capacities in the regions to perform Organisational Development trainings. This would somehow increase the muscle in the movement to strengthen IVS organisations. The participants represented networks and organisations from around the world as Alliance of European Voluntary Service Organisations, Solidarités Jeunesses, Egyesek Youth Association, ACI Costa Rica, YAP Italia, Astovot Togo, NVDA, SCI Sri Lanka, Siijuve ICYE Mexico, VSA Thailand, Volunteers for Peace Vietnam, Southern African Workcamps Cooperation (SAWCA) and Fundación Ses. The training was hosted by YAP Italia and it was framed in the Steps to the Future project that we are developing with the support of Erasmus + and EYF.
Over the week, the participants went through the sessions, some of them dedicated to start designing the contents and approach of a MOOC, including some audiovisual recording. The training also allowed them to build a participatory diagnosis of their organisations using the Organisational pentagon model.
The trainers of the Training for Trainers were Oriol Josa, Coordinator of global and local initiatives and campaigns, and Matina Deligianni, Déléguée Nationale chez Solidarités Jeunesses.
After the training, Trainers from America, Asia, Africa, participated in on-field trainings with European organisations. In the first part of the training exchange, an expert and a trainee provided a 3 days training on organisational development to an European organisation. In the second part of the training exchange, trainees stayed for 7-10 days in the host organisation, doing a professional exchange in order to strengthen the strategic needs discovered in both parts during STEP trainings.
Background – previous work
STEP to the Future follows the 2017-2018 project STEP to Change, which brought organisational development training and impact measurement to 20 organisations in 4 regions, allowing the building of a global and regional diagnosis on the State of the Art of the International Voluntary Service movement. The experience was very successful and through STEP to the Future, CCIVS aims at expanding and consolidating the empowerment process in the 4 regions.
On the other hand, we needed to recognise that we needed to reach many more organisations (reached 20 out of 200) worldwide, and that, despite providing a good training, participants did not reach a level of expertise that they could become multipliers.
Finally, we had a good quality diagnosis, but the diagnosis implied the need to build strategies: global, regional. And also some particular strategies which would support members to adress specific crucial needs: outgoing for some, incoming, long term devpt programmes,… These elements were the basis for the construction of the STEP to the Future project.
We expect that through the participation of members, we will achieve both an important empowerment, increase of capacities and opportunities within the organisations, and also an empowerment for the movement, consolidating the CCIVS capacity in every region to train and monitor the members well-being.
Future Step
The project aims also at widening the scope of trained organisations, and has 2 presencial trainings (Thailand, Nigeria), to train 5 more organisations in Asia, and 5 more in Africa, that will take place in September 2019. Considering the challenge to reach the 200 members, and accepting that presencial trainings led by CCIVS as the centralised body is unrealistic, 2 measures were proposed:
- 1st, to develop an online tool which can be useful for IVS organisations who cannot attend the presencial trainings, to join an OD training through and online course (the MOOC).
- 2nd, to support trainers who want to apply for funds to host and lead an OD training through their organisation; the project facilitators will give advise and support to those who are willing to write applications.
Finally, the project envisages that, after the Training for Trainers there will be bilateral visits of IVS orgs to European organisations, responding to strategic opportunities identified in STEPS 1, so that there will be a chance that some organisational/networking development strategies can be explored between matching partners.