BRIDGE TtF in Accra – Ghana

30 June 2009

Facilitation Team:

Four BRIDGE facilitators participated in the preparation and delivery of this workshop:

  • Rushdi Nackerdien (International IDEA – South Africa)
  • Theophilus Dowetin (International IDEA – Ghana)
  • Ossama Kamel (Consultant – Egypt)
  • Sibongile Zimemo (Semi-accredited – South Africa

Sibongile gained her full accreditation as a BRIDGE facilitator after co-facilitating this workshop.

Participants:

Twenty-three participants from twelve countries participated in the workshop. Ten out of the twenty-three were women, the countries represented were:

  1. Benin
  2. Cape Verde
  3. Ethiopia
  4. The Gambia
  5. Ghana
  6. Liberia
  7. Nigeria
  8. Rwanda
  9. Sierra Leone
  10. Tanzania
  11. Uganda
  12. United Kingdom 

 

Group Activity

Most of the participants are from EMBs with few exceptions. The combination of different country experiences and cultures added a lot to the success of the workshop. Participants exchanged lots of information, experiences and practices among themselves and with the facilitators as well. Not all participants had the same level of command of English language, but that did not affect the communication among participants.

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The Training Topics and Workshop Agenda:

The training workshop followed a typical structure of a TtF workshop. With 10 training days and 23 participants divided into 11 pairs, the agenda followed the following framework:

  • DAY 1 & DAY2 – Introduction to BRIDGE, methodology, KU, LO of TtF, Learning Styles and Training challenges and techniques. 
  • DAY 3 & DAY4 – First set of pairs presentations 
  • DAY 5 & amp; DAY6   – Preparation for the second set of pairs presentations
  • DAY 7 & DAY 8 – Second set of pairs presentations
  • Day 9 – BRIDGE Implementation, developing a plan for BRIDGE implementation in participants’ counties, and participants’, Presenting the BRIDGE implementation plans, Individual evaluation
  • DAY10 – Introduction to BRIDGE website, final group oral and written evaluation, closing ceremony and certificates.  

The Training Materials:

The materials in the participants’ folders included the following materials:

  1. Facilitation Manual.
  2. BRIDGE Implementation Manual.
  3. Participant’s Workbook.
  4. BRIDGE version 2 Brochure

The facilitator’s notes for all BRIDGE 23 modules were printed and made available to participants.

Evaluations by Participants:

An end of workshop evaluation form tackled a number of areas that would prove useful in terms of evaluating the workshop. The form was not an anonymous questionnaire. It consisted of certain open ended questions, as well as rating scales. All 23 participants completed the evaluation form.

Rating Scale Evaluation:

A scale of 1 to 5 was used to rate the workshop content in terms of usefulness, where 1 is least useful and 5 is most useful. The scoring translated as follows:

    Workshop content 1 (Least useful) 2 3 4 5(Most useful)
    Learning BRIDGE facilitation skills       4 19
            18% 82%
    Facilitation of your 1st BRIDGE activity     2 6 15
          9% 26% 65%
    Conducting your icebreaker/energizer     4 8 11
          17% 35% 48%
    Writing your own BRIDGE activity     2 4 17
          9% 17% 74%
    Facilitation of your 2nd BRIDGE activity       3 20
            13% 87%
    Completing your participant handbook   1 2 14 6
        5% 9% 60% 26%
    BRIDGE workshop and resource materials       6 17
            26% 74%
    BRIDGE implementation in your own country     2 7 14
          9% 31% 60%
    Networking with colleagues from other countries     2 7 14
          9% 31% 60%
    In your context                 
    Usefulness of BRIDGE in your work       5 18
            22% 78%

It is worth noting that most of the participants found their 2nd presentation to be more useful than the first one (87% vs. 65%). That reflects that they benefited from the feedback given after the first set of presentation as well as more self-confidence. More emphasis should be given in the future workshops to the workbook. Only 26% of the participants found it to be most useful and one participant gave it 2 over 5 (the one question that had a score of “2” in the whole evaluation).

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