Adopting inclusive language
“In one of the initial learning events held in Gulu in the Northern part of Uganda in December 2018, rightsholders and grantees demonstrated that they can take charge of their capacity strengthening process. One of the Voice grantees, Global Forum for Development (GLOFORD), shared their practical experience in conducting community-level advocacy with the rest of the grantees which opened their minds about best practices in community-level advocacy and through a practical exercise, grantees
emerged empowered to take on community advocacy in their respective programmes. At that moment, my approach changed from a teacher/ presenter mode of transmission to a true facilitator; guiding the team and asking critical questions along the way that allowed for self-reflection, learning and unlearning.” - Blog by Edith Nantongo, Linking and Learning Facilitator, Strategic Links, Uganda
Several and mentorship interventions have been organised by the Voice team. Since 2018, the facilitators have been supported to prepare for the diversity in the room, helping them to appreciate differences among rightsholders and to create enabling spaces where participants can share freely. Further, Voice has adapted more inclusive language and facilitators have greater awareness how to communicate in a more empowering way. For instance, referring to those that we aim to serve as rightsholders instead of target hands-on training
groups or beneficiaries, and replacing the term ‘victims of domestic violence’ with ‘women affected by or survivors of violence and exploitation’. The effort is to always engage with sensitivity and respect, emphasise people’s dignity, inner power and their right to be, and recognise the potential and experiences that everyone brings. 8 This has improved the quality of Linking and Learning activities and has fostered more active participation by rightsholders and grantee partners.
Linking and Learning: A requirement? A burden? Or a value-adding process?
We enthusiastically introduced Linking and learning to grantee partners as a part of their journey with Voice anticipating they would be as excited as we were. While they initially expressed interest, many organisations wanted to focus on implementing their projects and expressed the ‘extra’ gatherings and activities on linking and learning as somewhat a burden. As mentioned above, based on early reflections, we needed to change the way linking and learning were introduced to grantee partners, making it a worthy experience rather than a vague idea. We needed to show through experience how it can support the organisation’s work and how having a good and fun time together can open horizons and enrich our practices. One of the countries with considerable initial resistance to the Linking and Learning process was Nigeria. This was partly because of
the proposed activities, as well as the strong focus on project outputs. It was perceived as a burden rather than an opportunity. Grantee partners started their own WhatsApp group and strongly opposed what was offered by Voice. A palpable tension was noticed in the room during the first national Linking and Learning event. The then Linking and Learning Facilitators entered into dialogue with a number of grantee partners to find a way forward which would work for them. They conducted a survey and discussed the outcomes in an open and vulnerable way. Grantee partners clearly wanted more say in the process and a different approach, as shown in the guidelines resulting from the dialogue. Some of the challenges experienced in the words of the respondents were:
Figure 17: Capacity strengthening of Voice team and finking and learning facilitators at the Mindful Inclusion Workshop in November 2019
Attaining improved facilitation skills
Through sessions targeting facilitators, their skills in fostering rightsholder led learning have improved greatly. New tools such as un-conferencing and open space work were introduced and applied during the various learning events held in the ten Voice countries, enabling participants to lead and bring their stories their way. As some participants shared after the first global lndaba learning event, No one is voiceless. Everyone has something to say, something worthwhile, some truth of their own - from the power of their own several learning
experience - that has meaning and value. Experiential learning has been largely applied resulting in empowered rightsholders and grantee Partners taking the lead in mutual capacity strengthening in areas such as storytelling, photography, and social media advocacy. A testimony of one of the facilitators below illustrates the transition that they themselves went through on witnessing grantee partners in action:
Limited space for participation of rightsholders
Lack of clarity and implementation about the concept of community of practice (CoP),
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Clashing of the linking and learning event with grantee partners’ own planned programmes.
8 Some quotes might show different use of language than we currently envision as programme like “to empower others” or “target groups
Internet connectivity challenges
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