Trainings are the most common activity in Africa. You can have a training on pretty much anything from code of conduct of teachers to agricultural practices to water related diseases. Name a topic and there you have it: a training.
Who can be trained? Anyone: teachers, students, communities, medical staff.. anyone.
How long does a training last? it depends: from one day up to five days, sometimes even longer but it gets too expensive... and now the most important question: do people like trainings?
Ahh hard to say; in order to answer this question a few things have to be considered.
First of all let's talk about SITTING ALLOWANCE, my favorite. Basically the sitting allowance is a small fee that people request from whoever organizes the training to be paid to them just for sitting. yep, no kidding. I love it when they start using the weirdest excuses like "you know I was supposed to work these days so I should get a sitting allowance..." What to say? I usually go with the easiest: "you know you're not supposed to be paid when learning. just be grateful that you are given this opportunity blablabla". The first times are hard but then you get used to that, it kinda becomes like an automatic response.
Second of all: food. I mean every respectable training needs to have good food, drinks and refreshment. Admit it! Who hasnt gone to a meeting or a conference just for the food? Here it's not different: the better the food, the higher the attendance. It's a classic.
Finally: certificates. A lot of people come to trainings because at the end they will be awarded with a certificate and certificates are good for your CV. I remember a few months back we had a training in a school about school management and code of conduct for teachers. All the teachers were male except for one lady who was pregnant. She looked like she was VERY pregnant but I did not pay too much attention since she did not say anything. Well, long story short we are in the middle of the training and she stands up, saying she has something to do. She goes to her hut, she comes back after an hour with the baby in her arms. SHE GAVE BIRTH IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRAINING. IN HER HOME.
I honestly did not know what to say, I was like ehm congrats, what the hell... speechless.
And she came back cause she wanted to get the certificate for the end of the training. So there you go, yes they care about certificates. A LOT.
What I particularly enjoy about trainings are the reports which come after that. i was reading one today that I had to share. In the "challenges" section this is what I read:
scent of fuel... I was dying! but then again if you come for the food, you need to give a lonely planet review! Every report will talk about food,, they have to!
I guess in a way training reports are the guide for the best NGOs in town.. or at least the ones that serve the best food.
and for the record our food had a scent of fuel only because we carried it in the same car as our fuel tanks.. we are Italians, we would never serve crappy food!
Who can be trained? Anyone: teachers, students, communities, medical staff.. anyone.
How long does a training last? it depends: from one day up to five days, sometimes even longer but it gets too expensive... and now the most important question: do people like trainings?
Ahh hard to say; in order to answer this question a few things have to be considered.
First of all let's talk about SITTING ALLOWANCE, my favorite. Basically the sitting allowance is a small fee that people request from whoever organizes the training to be paid to them just for sitting. yep, no kidding. I love it when they start using the weirdest excuses like "you know I was supposed to work these days so I should get a sitting allowance..." What to say? I usually go with the easiest: "you know you're not supposed to be paid when learning. just be grateful that you are given this opportunity blablabla". The first times are hard but then you get used to that, it kinda becomes like an automatic response.
Second of all: food. I mean every respectable training needs to have good food, drinks and refreshment. Admit it! Who hasnt gone to a meeting or a conference just for the food? Here it's not different: the better the food, the higher the attendance. It's a classic.
Finally: certificates. A lot of people come to trainings because at the end they will be awarded with a certificate and certificates are good for your CV. I remember a few months back we had a training in a school about school management and code of conduct for teachers. All the teachers were male except for one lady who was pregnant. She looked like she was VERY pregnant but I did not pay too much attention since she did not say anything. Well, long story short we are in the middle of the training and she stands up, saying she has something to do. She goes to her hut, she comes back after an hour with the baby in her arms. SHE GAVE BIRTH IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRAINING. IN HER HOME.
I honestly did not know what to say, I was like ehm congrats, what the hell... speechless.
And she came back cause she wanted to get the certificate for the end of the training. So there you go, yes they care about certificates. A LOT.
What I particularly enjoy about trainings are the reports which come after that. i was reading one today that I had to share. In the "challenges" section this is what I read:
Challenges in the training
Ø Meals of the first day had
scent of Fuel
Ø Rain could interfere as
the training hall had no ceiling board.scent of fuel... I was dying! but then again if you come for the food, you need to give a lonely planet review! Every report will talk about food,, they have to!
I guess in a way training reports are the guide for the best NGOs in town.. or at least the ones that serve the best food.
and for the record our food had a scent of fuel only because we carried it in the same car as our fuel tanks.. we are Italians, we would never serve crappy food!
