This Facilitator’s Guide accompanies the Handbook for Investigators in the Office of the Ombudsman and the Malawi Human Rights Commission for Training in cases involving VAWG, SGBV, HP and SRHR violations. It is meant to be a practical guide to facilitate the training of trainers so that the training can be replicated across the institutions.
Whilst individual training styles may vary, basic principles of adult training remain the same. The Guide therefore equips the facilitator with the skills and material resources necessary to conduct a training whilst also recognizing that a degree of flexibility may be required in the training approach to suit the needs of the audience and circumstances.
The Facilitator’s Guide was piloted at a training workshop in Mangochi from 4-6 June 2021and has been modified following this pre-testing experience. The most significant to the training was the time factor. Participants participated very well and shared a lot of experiences which meant a lot of time was spent reflecting on those issues in addition to the material presented. This is in line with the adult learning principle that the participants in adult training are the greatest resource as they have hands on knowledge and experiences from their work. Experiential learning should therefore always make room for this. As a result, it may not be possible to do every activity in the Guide and the facilitator should read in advance and choose to do only selected activities for each session.
The pre-testing also highlighted the need for the participants to have the actual gender related laws and to read through relevant parts as many have not used the laws before. The laws were available and going through them greatly enriched the training experience.
How to use the Facilitator’s Guide #
The present training curriculum is designed to help develop within investigators in the Office of the Ombudsman and the Malawi Human Rights Commission the knowledge and skills required to respond in an effective and appropriate manner to violence against women and girls (VAWG) sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) and harmful practices (HP). This includes understanding the role, function and mandate of the institution to develop innovate ways to respond to and investigate acts of violence and using available resources to meet the needs of survivors using international human rights standards and survivor centred approaches.
The ideal time period for conducting the training is 3 days, taking into account work pressures and adult training constraints. However, this is an ideal and the trainer or facilitator must take time reflecting on the material to consider the audience and decide how much time to devote to the training. The time indicated for each session is simply for the purpose of guidance and planning. Depending on group dynamics and need, sessions can be made shorter or longer. It is left to the discretion of each facilitator to identify the unique professional development needs of each group and to plan the training accordingly. There are at times, a number of activities presented in the Facilitator’s Guide and the trainer or facilitator must decide which ones will create the most impact as not all of them can be completed in a three-day program. If all of them are to be done, the length of the training program must be increased to 4 or 5 days.
The accompanying Handbook provides a great deal of general and specific information that will help facilitators shape the training they will deliver. The facilitator should be well versed with the content of the Handbook because the training is based on the Handbook. The facilitator will have to make presentations based on the Handbook. This requires prior preparation and if possible, slides for PowerPoint or written on flip chart are necessary. These have not been provided because it is in summarizing what is in the handbook that the facilitator will gain familiarity and confidence to train on the material in the Handbook. This guide simply provides assistance on how the content in the Handbook is to be presented in a training workshop, so as to bring out the practical skills necessary.
The Facilitator’s Guide includes all the Handouts that will be used for the training such as the case studies and instructions. These will be found at the end of every session.
Adults learn best when there are ample opportunities to participate, so a number of different small and large group activities are suggested at different stages of the curriculum. Facilitators can choose the activity most appropriate for their needs.
At the beginning of this Guide, guidance is provided to the facilitator on how to conduct the training, with some useful tips and checklist to ensure that the training is conducted in a practical and effective manner. The key emphasis is on advance preparation which is necessary if the training is to be successful and provide the desired impact.
At the back of the Guide, there is a pre-course evaluation and 2 post-course evaluation forms to be handed out to participants at the conclusion of training (Annex 1 and 2).