NGO support toolkit (English)  >  Technical support  >  Mechanisms 

Training and workshops

Training and workshops are ideal when there is a shared training need among a group of people, NGOs or CBOs. Many of the resources that are developed to deliver technical support, are designed with a training or workshop format in mind. Thus, this is a convenient and cost-effective way of providing technical support.

Traditional training usually involves a one-way flow of information from trainer to learner, however workshops are structured to create more horizontal exchanges of information between participants. Workshops are designed on the premise that better learning occurs when people actively participate in the learning process and are encouraged to share information, learn from each other and work together to solve problems. Participatory approaches are used to facilitate active participation through activities such as role-plays, drawing, case-studies, and small group work.

Workshops are particularly suited to situations where the skills and experiences of participants themselves can best inform the training and can be brought out by a skilled facilitator. The workshop format is also used when it is important for participants to have the opportunity to reflect and internalise new information. The training approach is used when there are particular skills, methodology or approaches that participants wish to learn from an external resource or trainer.

Often, the most successful workshops will have a balance of externally provided information and participatory exercises to allow people to discuss and reflect upon the new information. Additionally, bringing fieldwork into a workshop can enrich the learning process and allow participants to see theory being put into practice. For example, a workshop on advocacy may involve participants practising advocacy work with the local media, religious leader or politician.

Although workshops can be an effective way to provide technical support to relatively large groups of people, they are not adequate as a means on their own and should be integrated into a comprehensive process of ongoing mentoring and support.

The training of trainers is a common method of technical support used by NSPs. The advantage is that, by investing in a relatively small number of people who go on to train others, a much larger number of technical support providers will eventually reach the community. The investment in developing the skills of local technical support providers must include follow-up, supervision and support to ensure that they have the power and resources to maintain a high quality of technical support.

Issues to consider

• When developing a pool of local technical support providers and resource experts, attention must be given not only to their skills and knowledge but also their ability to support others. NSPs will need to budget for resources and incentives to encourage them to go on and train others. For example, NSPs could provide an opportunity for less experienced trainers to build their skills by working alongside a lead trainer.
• Incorporating field work and project visits into training can greatly enrich the learning process. However, this has to be balanced against the ethics of using community members to ‘practice on’, if they have little to benefit from it.
• The potential for creating institutional rather than individual learning through training can be improved by inviting more than one person from each organisation.
• Compromises may have to be made on the number of participants attending a workshop. There may be more people that could benefit from the workshop than the number that would be ideal for the planned activities.
• Workshops can be planned with a certain amount of flexibility to give participants more control over the structure and content of the workshop.
• Participatory activities are not always the best way of training. Some people find it much harder to participate in group discussions than others. Sometimes participants prefer to take a break from such activities to just ‘sit and listen’.
• Workshops can be supportive environments for participants to practice presentation, training and facilitation skills themselves. Much can be achieved by providing participants some coaching to facilitate sessions themselves.

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