A REPORT ON TRAINING OF 5 COMMUNITIES ON GROUP DYNAMICS, CONFLICT RESOLUTION &MANAGEMENT AND BUSSINESS MANAGEMENT SKILLS FOR WOMEN GROUPS IN THE SISAALA EAST DISTRICT

A REPORT ON TRAINING OF

5 COMMUNITIES ON GROUP DYNAMICS, CONFLICT RESOLUTION &MANAGEMENT AND BUSSINESS MANAGEMENT SKILLS FOR WOMEN GROUPS IN THE SISAALA EAST DISTRICT

PRESENTED BY

MR NAGUMO WALTER-RODNEY AND MADAM GYILKU FELICITAS

INTRODUCTION

This activity seek to train 100 women in 5 communities in the Sissala East District. This was collaboration between the Sissala East District Assembly’s Social Welfare& Community Development Department and TUDRIDEP’s Change Project. The period of training was from 22^nd May to 27^th May 2015. Total number of participants reached out was 84. Training modules were on the following topics:

·         Group Management and Dynamics (characteristics of a group, importance of a group, factors enhancing group dynamics, leadership skills, personality types, roles and responsibilities, organizing and conducting meetings etc)

·         Conflict Management and Resolution (causes of conflict, signs of conflict, effects of conflict, advantages and disadvantages of conflict, conflict prevention etc.)

·         Business Management(Steps in starting a business, Costing, Pricing, Marketing etc)

Participants were involved in all discussions, actively contributed and took part in roll plays effectively.

PARTCIPANT EXPECTATIONS

KONG

·         More projects should be made available for job creation for the youth.

·         Loan facilities should be made available to farmers.

·         More afforestation and education projects should be organized to combat deforestation in the district.

DANGI

·         More help in their gardening.

·         Help in marketing their mango seedlings.

·         Need a ready market to sell their produce.

·         More alternative projects to help earn more income.

WELLEMBELLE

·         Share more ideas concerning better ways of doing their nursery.

·         Idea sharing and open to more training.

SAKAI

·         Additional inputs for their garden

·         Positive ideas to aid their gardening and more support

·         They all expect some fast yielding varieties of crops seeds to be made available since the rains are no longer reliable.

PIENG

·         Promote their activities

·         Availability of market for their produce

·         Other vegetable like onions should be integrated with the mango seedling in the garden to generate more income.

·         More farm input and support is needed

·         Acquisition of loans for expansion.

·         Need for a near source of water supply for their garden.

CHALLENGES

The exercise, even though was smooth encountered some challenges;

·         Poor communication and Timing: Some communities like Wellembele and Sakai had mobile phone reception fluctuations. It was therefore difficult to get the volunteer   and group members informed a head of the meeting. The meetings were therefore organized late and members trickled in as the meetings were on going.

·         Conflict of Interest: All group members had some other activity to carry out at home or in the farm and were therefore jittery at the meeting. We took that into consideration and therefore did not waste too much time at any particular meeting.

·         Lack of Picture Cards: Using role play had a big impact on participants.  Availability of pictures would have been very educative and more visual to grasp the basic concepts being taught.

RECOMMENDATION

The Change project should be expanded to cover more communities. It was also observed that some of the women apart from the group gardening were involved in private gardening. Such women should be given support and education to desist from the use of sticks or trees for fencing. This method plus charcoal burning is fast depleting our already small land cover. Rather more environmentally friendly methods like mud walls and flower fencing or wire fencing should be encouraged. More collaboration with the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development should be encouraged for future mutual benefits each time the need arises.

CONCLUSION

The training was well attended and participants should be commended for their participation in the exercise. Their contribution was very beneficial for the prosperity of the group. In order for these groups to last there should be regular training and visits to monitor their progress.