Lessons
A range of lessons can be drawn from this programme:
a) Training programme: the success of the training programme was due to:
- an excellent design with clear parameters for the training skills;
- participatory techniques and experienced trainers which contributed to effective learning and development of skills;
- mentorship support which played a critical role in developing the skills that were learnt during workshops;
- an approach which promoted enthusiasm and confidence in the participants.
b) Stories are a very useful medium to encourage participants to write, particularly as they are non-threatening and allow reflection on participant’s own experience. The emphasis on stories also meant that the products of the training programme could be published. However stories are not necessarily the best means of identifying best practice and sharing lessons learnt, particularly when the emphasis of the stories is on ‘creative’ writing from a human-interest point of view.
c) Sharing lessons leant requires a strategy and approach to promote identification of lessons, analysis thereof and mechanisms for sharing the lessons across a target group. It also requires a well-targeted dissemination strategy. This objective is not easy to achieve, particularly amongst participants that are learning basic writing skills.
d) Establishing documentary repositories (paper or electronically based) that are effectively used by a range of users requires dedicated support and a degree of planning. The purpose of such repositories needs to be clearly defined. It is unlikely that extensive use will be made of a respository that is limited to stories produced by a group of participants from a writing training programme. The use value is likely to be greater if the materials in the repositories are focussed on particular themes and include reference type materials.
e) Publication of stories concerning community management within the broader media (newspapers and journals) is also difficult to achieve from a range of perspectives: the content of stories may not be aligned to journal subjects or the interest areas of the publications’ readership; a high standard of writing is generally required for a story to be published; quite extensive networking is required with editors which is time consuming and requires constant follow-up; community management within the water sector is a specialised topic with a relatively narrow audience. Publication of stories outside of The Mvula Trust publications should therefore not be a major emphasis of the programme as it may raise expectations beyond what is achievable.
f) Dissemination of stories requires concentrated effort as well as a dissemination plan. The Mvula Trust was able to quite successfully disseminate stories through its internal publications, but dissemination to a broader audience needs to be aligned to other initiatives where the content of the stories is aligned to sector priorities and challenges.
g) Influencing policy, particularly a national White Paper process is difficult to achieve and is unrealistic in the context of a writer training programme, particularly where the emphasis is on basic writing skills. Sharing lessons learnt within the organisation is a more realistic target, particularly where field-based staff are linked up with staff working on policy issues (i.e. Policy Unit). Without clear linkages between sectoral issues and priorities, good analysis and identification of lessons learnt, the stories will not play any role in influencing policy. Stories are also not the most effective mechanism for influencing policy. Position papers, case studies, and reports which identify lessons are likely to be more successful in terms of shaping future policy issues.
