8.3. Environmental Education
8.3.5. Guidelines for training
Some guidelines for training sessions and workshops in communities include:
● Schedule the training at a time and place convenient to the participants.
● Facilitators should be assigned to run the training.
● Documenters should be assigned to record the training and important results and recommendations.
● Local and outside resource persons can be assigned to discuss/facilitate some topics during the training.
● Information should be presented in an accessible and easily understood format to broad audiences to raise awareness about the aquatic environment.
● Start from what people already know; dig for indigenous knowledge and add scientific knowledge when this can complement existing knowledge in a useful way.
● Facilitate sharing of indigenous knowledge between older and younger generations or between original community residents and more recent migrants.
● To explain new ideas and concepts, look for similar situations or concepts outside fisheries but within the everyday life experience of the community.
● Choose for each subject or topic the most appropriate method or form of training and the most suitable trainer.
● Technical terms should be explained and expounded on by using simple words.
● Use both formal (training sessions, workshops, lectures) and non-formal (small groups, exchange visits, peer-to-peer discussion, plays, one-on-one contact) educational methods.
● Non-formal methods are found to be best as they permit participation and interaction and encourage personal contact between the experts and the community, between peers (such as fisher-to-fisher), and among the stakeholders themselves (Box 8.9).
● Evocative processes can be effective in encouraging active participation from the participants.
● The sharing of indigenous knowledge can play a key role in effective non- formal education programmes.
● Be creative. Games, acting and role playing can all be used in training and are fun (and, therefore, are remembered).
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Box 8.9. Exposure/Study Trip.
A good example of an informal training is an exposure trip to a site that is somewhat more advanced (for instance in terms of participatory resource management) and that can serve as an example. The exposure trip provides first-hand knowledge regarding co- management and resource management. The exposure trip can also establish linkages with various NGOs and resource user organizations. Also the invitation of a fisher-man or -woman from such a site or organization to share with the group or community can be an effective way to raise confidence and bring in new ideas and inspiration. Communication and sharing among peers is often more effective than the transfer of knowledge or experience between persons with a different cultural, educational or professional background. Exposure can help to develop a vision or clearer direction (inspiration). The experiences of the people on the site can serve to guide the process (avoid mistakes, imitate successful processes); it can also help to realize that others have or had the same type of problems as experienced by the community members but they were able to overcome them. Feedback and reflection sessions should be conducted after the exposure trip to assess the participants’ learnings and insights. These lessons are vital for sustaining the momentum created by the activity.
Source: Juinio-Menez et al. (2000).
● Games can be used to explain resource management issues.
● Lectures alone should not be used. This is the form academically trained people are most familiar with and they will often automatically apply this method themselves. Be creative and try to think of other, more participatory ways to transfer knowledge or discuss a topic (Box 8.10).
● Use as many visuals as possible. Photos and videos add to learning.
● Realize that skill building requires practical exercise and repetition for a person to become skilful.
● Drawings, posters and slides can be very effective in meetings, training sessions and workshops for mostly illiterate people. Be aware that villagers can interpret pictures in a different way than was intended by the person who made the drawing. Posters that are going to be used repeatedly should be pre-tested for a small group of people from the target group before being reproduced and used on a larger scale.
● Whenever possible, all examples should depict local settings and situations to make the topic easier to appreciate.
● In general, we remember more of something when we have been more involved, or when more of our senses have been involved.
● We remember:
● ● 10% of what we read;
● ● 20% of what we hear;
● ● 30% of what we see;
Box 8.10. The Importance of Training and Capacity Building in South Africa.
Experience with co-management in South Africa highlights the importance of incorporating a capacity building component into the co-management process. There is a necessity for the resource users to obtain an understanding of the concepts and principles of sustainable resource use. Training and capacity building interventions included teaching basic life skills such as literacy, business and organizational management, including the operation of committees, and the principles of resource management. The most effective process of building capacity is through ‘learning-by- doing’ that involves resource users in research and monitoring activities. Arranging exchange visits between communities engaged in co-management or wishing to embark on co-management seemed to be particularly effective.
In several of the cases in South Africa, failure to allocate sufficient time and resources to developing institutional and human capacity was identified as one of the main obstacles to implementing effective co-management. Lack of effective community structures and skills training was considered to be a contributory factor to the failure of one project. Building requisite human and organizational capacity among communities and government departments at various levels was found to be an integral component of a co-management process in South Africa.
Source: Sowman et al. (2003).
● ● 50% of what we hear and see;
● ● 70% of what we say;
● ● 90% of what we say and do.
● Small group meetings where there is a high level of participation by the participants can be supplemented by an occasional more formal presentation.
● Ensure that all materials needed for the training are available in advance.