Jo-Jikum recently hosted a workshop in April funded by International Organization on Migration and World Bank. The workshop was a pilot project for our larger Digital Storytelling Program – a program we’ve envisioned which would take over 6 months to complete. This workshop, instead, took 2 weeks.
Our organization has experience teaching and creating workshops in climate change – however this has been limited to day long workshops, or workshops spread over months. From my own observation as an educator, this has resulted in a training that feels disconnected, and a team that isn’t as close as they can be.
Last year, I participated two weeks of training at Training for Change, a nonprofit in Philadelphia which is “a training and capacity building organization for activists and organizers.” I took the “Super T” training, where “participants learn the major principles of direct education, an approach to training groups that is about liberation and empowerment.” I wasn’t able to finish the training, but the skills that I got from those 2 out of the full 3 weeks were enough for me to apply to the creation of this workshop. “Building a container” became an important part of the workshop – a concept I learned during the training which was all about making sure participants feel comfortable with each other, with us as facilitators, and feel empowered with the subject matter. We did this through buddy systems, energizers, small group work, regular check ins, incorporating cultural protocols, and teaching climate change without using the usual presentation styles. Rather than starting off with basics of climate change workshop, we instead had each of them share in small groups what they knew, questions they had, and then we addressed and established important information as a larger group.
Most of the workshop models around Majuro which Jina (our Program Manager) and I have attended tend to focus on powerpoint presentations and passive listening from participants. Games can be incorporated, energizers, but these tend to be focused entirely on waking participants up, rather than having it contribute meaningfully to the process. During our lunch breaks, we had chats with several participants, reflecting on this style. Kumit Bobrae, another nonprofit that is focused on substance abuse, follows a similar model in making sure their presentations are interactive and engaging, especially since they’re working with youth. Youth to Youth in Health, an organization founded by former activist Darlene Keju Johnson, also recognized the need for innovative approaches – she historically used Marshallese song, dance, and skits in her outreach.
As we move forward with growing our organization and our movement I hope there will be more opportunities to learn the best ways to reach our community.
