FINAL REPORT Identifying Best Practices Program: Women's Only

FINAL REPORT Identifying Best Practices Program: Women’s Only Workshops Future Generations Arunachal (FGA) February-March 2009 Submitted by Betsy Taylor Consultant to Future Generations International Summary From February through the first week of March, I had the privilege to work with FGA in conducting “Women’s Only Workshops” in three new sites: Yazali (Feb 7-11), Koyu (Feb 21- 24) and Mechukha (March 1-3) circles. This report summarized best practices that we discovered while conducting these initial WOWs. For more details, please see the Appendices: Appendix 1: WOW components – p. 32 Appendix 2: WOW assessments – p. 33-26 Appendix 3: WOW descriptions – p. 37-42 Appendix 4: WOW timelogs – p. 43-47 Appendix 5: Fieldnotes – p. 48-113 Appendix 6: Data Report – p. 114-131 Appendix 7: Maps – (retrievable upon request) Goals As I understand the goals of the Identifying Best Practices Program, these WOWs were the initial stage of an important scaling up of FGA work: o To open three new sites which can become self-reliant Learning and Doing Centers using the SEED-SCALE model for community empowerment and sustainable development-- in the first phase, to serve about a dozen villages; in following phases, to empower these villages to reach out to other villages in the site area o To identify best practices in SEED-SCALE from the old sites, which will provide the substance for training programs in the new sites o To develop sustainable Monitoring and Evaluation Systems to identify, improve and share best practices within and among sites and with partners1 1 Many NGOs speak of Monitoring and Evaluation Systems to describe their internal systems for tracking the effectiveness and outcomes from projects and programs. However, Future Generations might want to consider the Identifying Best Practices Program (WOW), Future Generations Arunachal - Betsy Taylor (2009) General description Outcomes from these WOWs ranged from very good to excellent, although diverse challenges were faced (see Appendix 2 “Wow Assessments” for evaluations of each WOW). A total of fifty-eight women from about 21 villages participated. Women left with 6 week workplans-- including plans to form a total of about 20 Action Groups. Training topics were in health, community empowerment, women’s roles, action group formation, SEED-SCALE principles of Future Generations. In each site, we identified four women who might have potential to be Trainers. If at least half of these can complete train the trainer programs this year, we can nurture six or more strong leaders to be Best Practice Trainers for at least 36 new villages in 2010 (and perhaps more) for a total coverage area of about 5 dozen villages. In 2011, these villages can set up Best Practices Training in more villages, with the possibility for the coverage area to double every several years (if adequate support systems can be developed). We pre-tested diverse participatory action research methods for gathering data that can be used for: a) empowerment through the SEED process b) monitoring and evaluation systems for FGA. We gathered qualitative data on participants’ understanding of common diseases, community assets and problems, 10 year development goals, leadership, benefits of large and small families, government services (for results Appendix 6 “Data” and Appendix 7 “Maps”). The WOW trainers that I call Master Trainers in this report brought various skill sets: including very experienced VWWs with rich experience in community empowerment in old sites--Palin, Ziro, Sille--as well as FGA staff who received training for the “pregnancy history project” in 2008. In addition, we had two VWWs without this level of “master training”, but who were good in health demonstrations and discussion of action groups and VWW roles. The WOW FGA teams were: Yazali circle=Biri Mema, Amko Tassar, Rina Punyo; Koyu circle = Hano Meena, Anyak Mize, Oyir Ering, Rina Punyo; Mechukha = Hage Yamang, Kago Yam, Oken Tatak, Hano Meena. Naku (family name?) provided excellent support in driving, logistics and social networking. Key observations: FGA volunteers and staff are impressive. I found a wealth of thought, work ethic and developing skills that can be the basis for rapid scaling up of FGA programs--to “achieve in two years what took 11 years in the old sites” (in Dr. Kanno’s words). Everyone involved in FGA is to be commended for these successes--the village volunteers, FGA staff, FGA Executive Director and members of the FGA Master Coordinating Committee. Many challenges have been faced and overcome. I look to the future of FGA with hope. The WOW is a good methodology but needs improvement. The Pregnancy History method is a powerful but narrow method. It works very well when it works. But, if it is not implemented properly, it will not achieve its goals. It is like a traditional Adi hanging notion of “Monitoring and Learning Systems” from the important work by Ruth Alsop, Mette Bertelsen and Jeremy Holland on empowerment (see Chapter 5 in their book Empowerment in Practice: from Analysis to Implementation, Washington DC: The World Bank, 2006). This is a model for making the research and evaluation units a dynamic part of an organization’s ongoing learning process. It involves clear identification of “essential data” needed to track outcomes and impacts, and, good systems to transfer this data rapidly among all stakeholders to shape decision-making about action programs. 2 Identifying Best Practices Program (WOW), Future Generations Arunachal - Betsy Taylor (2009) bridge -- it is a powerful and flexible tool for quickly getting across difficult terrain, but if you step off of the straight and narrow path, you are in trouble. There is something special in training of village women by Master Trainers who started as village volunteers years ago, and, then became experienced leaders through their FGA work. The example and teaching by people like Hage Yam, Biri Mema, Amko Tassar-- were deeply inspirational. Village women attended to them with rapt interest--saying, again and again, “We want to be like them in a few years”. Success stories from the old sites are the best way to communicate the principles and possibilities of FG work. Concrete details of successes and failures from past FGA work can be conveyed by photos, videos, sharing of stories. However, direct communication from people who lived the stories is most powerful. This exemplifies the goal of scaling up by identifying best practices. The SEED methods which we pre-tested work well for empowerment--except for the “free-listing of diseases” (which is ok as a group exercise but too time-consuming as an individual exercise--although individual questioning produces the most reliable results). The SEED methods which we pre-tested can generate qualitative data that could be an important part of FGA Monitoring and Evaluation Systems. To do this, I would recommend that FGA pick the indicators that they are going to track, identify which method gets the best data and is cost-effective (in terms of staff training & time for gathering, inputting and analyzing data). Once this SEED toolkit is developed, it would need to be used systematically--done in the same way, in all WOWs, at fixed intervals (yearly?)--so that one can track the impacts of FGA projects on how people think about empowerment, leadership, development, illness, etc. Based on our experiences, I would recommend the following as a SEED toolkit that is used regularly that could be started right away (but this is only a recommendation--as FGA will have to balance multiple factors): Variable Indicator Method Analysis Empowerment People’s understanding of Listing of Anthropac (software which will their communities assets resources & can track changes in clustering in and problems problems in their “freelisting”). I gave FGA this village software. It’s hard to learn, but easy to use once you know how. People’s understanding of Listing of “leader Anthropac what are the qualities of a qualities” good leader Equity People’s view of who is Listing of “equity Anthropac most vulnerable in their vision” village and what they need Understanding People’s understanding of Freelisting of 10 1) for individuals: this question of illness main diseases in could be asked in repeat Baseline development their village Survey 2) can also be done as a group exercise in WOW People’s dreams for the Listing of what Anthropac future they want to see in their village in 3 Identifying Best Practices Program (WOW), Future Generations Arunachal - Betsy Taylor (2009) 10 years People’s ability to plan Workplans Quantitative analysis of what goals people set & success rate in achieving Based on our experience, I think there are several other qualitative methods which can be used as empowerment tools in WOWs and also generate rigorous data. However, these others would take a little more work to develop staff training & a reliable toolkit for gathering & analyzing data. The methods are: photovoice, stories, drama, village mapping. I have lots of ideas about this, if FGA wants to do this, plus there are many exciting international examples of these methods being systematically used for the dual purpose of a) empowerment b) NGO Monitoring and Evaluation systems. Key components of WOW The WOWs are a package of interventions that are integrated into a resource-efficient methodology for scaling up -- using community volunteer energy and 3-way partnerships.2 After reviewing what the WOWs were able to accomplish and the self-evaluations by participants and the FGA teams, I would suggest that a successful WOW has the following six key components: 1. Group facilitation for empowerment using the “pregnancy history method”. Women share their stories. This creates group unity, empathy and warmth as they listen to each other. Listening to the women’s stories, WOW trainers can adapt training to local conditions, and, help the women see the connections between their unique life stories and FGA training.

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