YGOAL’s role as facilitator in Voice Linking and Learning is a big challenge because it entails creating a safe space for the grantees for open dialogues and learning. They had to make the space available for them to talk to one another, and recognize their differences, without discrimination or judgment. This is where dialogue comes in where empathy and listening to one another are championed. Their approach was to put to heart the co-creation process with the grantees, employ the consultative approach when designing events or activities, and actively and wholeheartedly engage themselves in the process, see what works, identify opportunities for collaboration, and share the learnings. It was important for all players to feel being part of the entire process, because in the end the objective is for everyone to take ownership of the community, which is how linking and learning can be can be sustained beyond Voice. To help achieve this, YGOAL immersed its board members, the YGOAL staff, and pool of consultants on the principles, advocacies, and processes of Voice to mainstream inclusivity and safe space within the organization and external manpower support to ensure familiarity and understanding of Voice and valuable and substantial outputs. From the start of YGOAL’s journey with Voice, Linking and Learning was a developing process. In its initial stages, its focus was on training the implementing team and the grantees on inclusive facilitation methods. In 2019, YGOAL introduced “unconferencing” which seeks to empower participants to create their own thematic discussion points, manner of information dissemination, and behavioral knowledge design for mutual and optimal learning experience. It promotes the principles of “Leave No One Behind”, “Nothing About Us Without Us”, and “Putting the Furthest Behind First”. These principles are at the core of linking and learning and ensure that the project deliverables of Voice grantees are anchored on inclusive development. It values collaboration among grantees to further their advocacies and ensure sustainability of initiatives and reforms, even beyond the grant given by Voice.
11
Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease