IEBC AND PARTNERS CONDUCT BRIDGE TtF WORKSHOP IN NAIVASHA, KENYA
9 January 2017
As Kenya prepares for the forthcoming general elections in August 2017, the Electoral Commission has stepped up its efforts towards building the capacity of its staff to promote long term professional development. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in partnership with UNDP have conducted a successful ten days Bridge ‘Train the Facilitator’ Workshop in Naivasha, Kenya.
The Bridge training held at Sentrim Elementatia Lodge along the shores of Lake Elementata between 10th-21st December 2016 was attended by a total of thirty one participants; twenty nine from IEBC and two from Office of the Registrar of Political parties.
The Workshop was officially opened by the Chief Executive Officer of IEBC Mr. Ezra Chiloba together with the UNDP Country Technical Advisor Mr. Joram Rurambe in the company of IEBC Director Voter Registration and Electoral Operations, Immaculate Kassait and Manager Electoral Training, Anne Nderitu. Mr. Chiloba thanked the UNDP and Bridge Partners for the good gesture in enhancing capacity of the Commission’s staff. He hailed the Bridge TtF as a milestone in building capacity of election managers in Kenya.
The training was facilitated by the lead facilitator Ms Rindai Chipfunde Vava, who is an Accrediting Bridge facilitator from Zimbabwe assisted by a team of Kenyan Bridge Workshop facilitators: Jacqueline Osiemo, Charles Maina, Anne Nderitu and Leonard Okemwa. Participants expressed overwhelming satisfaction with the methodologies and content of the Bridge course.
“l arrived filled with expectations to grasp diverse facilitation skills. The training exceeded my expectations. It was a transformative and life changing experience” Juliet, a participant said.
“This is the best electoral training that l have ever attended in my many years of service to the EMB. It was quite rich in adult training skills, training methodologies and relevant content’, Peter, a participant also observed.
The participants learnt how to work effectively in teams, adult learning skills and participatory facilitation methods, how to foster positive learning environment, cross-cultural communication and a variety of evaluation techniques while adapting bridge materials.
At the end of the course, all participants were certified as ‘Train the Facilitator’ (TtF) Complete. The participants have now put their focus on graduating to full accreditation as workshop facilitators. They promised to roll out BRIDGE Module trainings in Kenya. In her remarks while officially closing the Workshop, the IEBC Deputy Commission Secretary in charge of Operations, Ms Betty Nyabuto congratulated the TtF Complete graduands and thanked UNDP and Bridge partners for enhancing Commission’s effort in training.