Module 11
Activities
The support process – How far to support
List of activities:
→The relationship between empowerment and support (Disc) – 45 minutes
→Is providing information enough? (Disc) – 45 minutes
→Who can benefit from a social diagnosis? (Disc) – 30 minutes
→What parts of PSS do you offer? (Disc) – 30 minutes
→Skills needed to develop an action plan (Disc) – 30 minutes
→Readiness to create change and implement a project (Disc) – 30 minutes
→Wrong project or wrong implementation (Disc) – 30 minutes
→The person has blossomed and it is time to let them go (Disc) – 30 minutes
Interactive lectures (ILec)– e.g. power point, guest speakers
Learning games (Game)
Discussion (Disc) – e.g. brainstorming, class discussion, roundtable, small group with report back, case story, pairing,
Individual reflection (Ind)– worksheets, surveys
Simulation (Sim) - Role playing, real-life scenario, panel
Learning by doing (Do)– projects, field visits
Activity: The relationship between empowerment and support (Disc)
Time required: 45 minutes
Learning objectives:To understand the inverse relationship between empowerment and support, and how to adjust PSS support to adapt to the changes happening in the person.
Materials: Flip-chart paper, drawing the graphs below or as handout.
Method:
- The trainer explains that: “We have talked a lot about empowerment and the part it plays in social support. We would like now for you to think about the relationship between empowerment and support, that is, how increases or decreases in empowerment will increase or decrease the support you give. We have different graphs below, and we would like for you to discuss in small groups which graph best represents the relationship between empowerment and support, in the PSS process.’’
ANSWERS:
Top right graph: NOT DESIRABLE Shows that level of support stays the same as empowerment increases. This is not desirable. If empowerment is increasing, support should not remain the same, it should adjust accordingly and decrease to help the person have space to practice empowerment.
Top left graph: NOT DESIRABLE Shows that level of support increases as empowerment increases. This is not desirable. If empowerment is increasing, support should not be increasing, it should adjust accordingly and decrease to help the person have space to practice empowerment.
Bottom left graph: DESIRABLE Shows that level of support decrease as empowerment increases. This is desirable, but not likely to happen in such a smooth and steady manner.
Bottom right graph: DESIRABLE and LIKELY Shows that level of support decrease as empowerment increases, but that there may be some time when empowerment will go back down and support will be needed again. This is a more LIKELY representation of the process, which is not always smooth and predictable and will require the social facilitator to adjust his/her support according to how the person is doing.
- The trainer proposes the following for the group to think about:
Empowerment may be a challenging process with ups and downs and there may not always be a smooth predictable process; it will likely be a ore unpredictable process needing the social facilitator to adjust him/herself to the person as they are slowly increasing their empowerment. That is, a person may experience increased feelings of empowerment followed by feelings of helplessness confusion again.
The trainer asks participants : ‘’How do you continue to adjust/evaluate how the person is feeling, so that the empowerment they have is solid and sustainable before you finalize your support?’’
-Considering monitoring a person and ensure they have a stable period of empowerment of 1-2 months before you finalize your support, or longer period if they experience high levels of instability.
-See how empowered they are in very difficult circumstances, and if their empowerment remains or if they fall back into their disabled feelings. Ensure they overcome 1-2 very challenging situations where they remain empowered before you finalize your support.
Activity: Is providing information enough? (Disc)
Time required: 45 minutes
Learning objectives: To distinguish who is able to take information and meet their needs with that information and for whom providing information is not enough.
Materials: None
Method:
- The trainer asks for 4 participants to role play the 2 scenarios below. In each scenario they need to evaluate whether providing information to a person is enough or if further support will be needed in addition to providing information. The need to see if in either of the two situations, the person is able to display hints of being able to use the information you provide to their advantage.
Scenario 1: Asocial facilitator is meeting with a young man who is interested in developing a CV to be able to apply for IT jobs in the city. The social facilitatorwants to provide him with information on a youth centre that does career/job coaching including practicing for interviews and helping youth develop CVs. The young man seems excited, as you give him the details of the place and the application process, he is clarifying with you the location of the youth centre and if there is a fee to pay to get support there, he is also asking if there is a long wait list, what hours the centre is open and how big the centre is. He is reading over the information you are giving him and seems to listen very carefully to what you are saying.
[This man appears to be asking relevant questions and like he is going to follow-up on the information provided and go to the youth centre, he also seems to have a clear idea of what he wants and the ability to follow through, he seems enthusiastic and motivated. It is likely that providing him with information will be enough.]
Scenario 2: A young man comes to see you, he is bored with his life and not sure what he wants to do. He thinks he may be interested to get a job somewhere and would like to meet other young people. You provide him information on the youth centre. He nods, but does not respond with too much emotion, he does not ask for any more details about the place, he thanks you for the information you’ve given him on a piece of paper, but does not even look at the piece of paper you’ve given him and folds it up. He asks you if you can help him get some new crutches, you tell him there is a local DPO that provides this service. He nods his head but does not ask any more follow-up questions and says if you could get them for him from the DPO.
[The young man does not seem to know how to pursue community resources with the information you’ve provided. Maybe getting information is not enough and he also needs help with TAKING INITIATIVE to do something with the information.]
- After the role play, the trainer has participants sharing their observations of qualities they noticed showed either an ability to use information or a difficulty using information to meet needs.
They may be:
-Asking more questions related to the information provided
-Looking at the information provided
-Confirming information will be used and when
-Good listening skills while information is shared.
- The trainer asks: ‘’What happens if a person does not seem to be able to use the information you provided or seems generally confused about what they’d like to do ? What can you determine about the kind of support the person may need to use information?’’
-Is literacy an issue?
-Does the person understand the information provided?
-Do they need support planning what they can do with information?
-Do they need clarification on how the information will benefit them?
- The trainer summarizes and concludes that: “It is important that asocial facilitator not only provides information to a person, but also sees if the person will be able to use the information or if some more support is needed and if a further interview for a social diagnosis is necessary and helpful. Asocial facilitator does not want to give unnecessary support. However the social facilitator should not assume that people are able to carry something out, as some may struggle with it, not being able to tell us about their difficulties.”
Activity: Who can benefit from a social diagnosis? (Disc)
Time required: 30 minutes
Learning objectives: To be able to determine who would benefit from having a social diagnosis done as part of the support process.
Materials: flipchart, marker
Method:
- The trainer divides the group into pairs. Each pair will work together to discuss about the 4 personspresented below and identify which person would benefit from a social diagnosis and which does not require a social diagnosis.
Person 1: A woman comes to see you, she is well-spoken, very social with other people, and can tell you what she would like to do in her life and what are the barriers she currently faces. She does not have much vocational training or enough money to start her own business, she is wondering how you can help with this.
[This lady likely does not need a social diagnosis, she would benefit from a referral to a Vocational training centre and help to access a grant/loan from a savings group or microfinance institution].
Person 2: A woman comes to see you, who is not clear on her life goals or her needs or her current difficulties. It seems she is mentioning to you a long list of difficulties she is having with her family. She is unable to tell you exactly what she would like to do and why she is there to see you, she just wants her “life to get better”.
[This lady likely needs a social diagnosis, to help her gain some clarity on her situation and prioritize areas where she can address her main needs/goals.]
Person 3: A young man is coming to see you as he has been told by his mother that he should get some support to find a job. His mother has also told him that he could come to see you to get new eyeglasses. He tells you what his mother has said, and also seems to explain that he would really love to be a musician/entertainer but that his mother would like you to help him find a job.
[This young man would benefit from a social diagnosis to help him clarify what HE wants and what his life priorities are and how his own goals can overlap with his mother’s goals or at least how he can learn to value his own goals and life situation.]
Person 4: A 12 years old girl who is blind comes to see you with her mother, she seems to have low confidence and speak in a quiet voice and have very closed/shy body posture. She is not able to answer many of your questions, her mother is concerned that she is withdrawn and has no friends.
[The young girl may benefit from a social diagnosis to understand the possibilities in her life, and to explain to her what she could be creating as goals and what barriers may exist for her now. The social diagnosis will have to be done slowly with a lot of support given to her. ]
- The trainer summarizes that: “People benefit from having a social diagnosis to help them evaluate their life and take a long look at what their situation is. For some people it may be the first time they are doing this and they will be learning many things about themselves. It also helps them choose the most important goals to aim for and the most important barriers to overcome. It is a very broad process and helps a person having a bird’s eye view of their life.”
Activity: What parts of PSS do you offer? (Disc)
Time required: 30 minutes
Learning objectives:To realize what parts of PSS your service offers and who else can help offer other components of PSS.
Materials: paper, pen
Method:
- The trainer explains that: “Not all social services include all the steps of PSS. Some social services only provide information, others will only do social diagnosis with a person, some will help a person choose a project/develop an action plan but stop after that. Depending on the way your service is designed and set up, you may not be offering services through all of the steps of PSS. However, it is good for you to know who else in your area may offer components of PSS that you do not offer, so that if a person needs more support than your service provides, you will know where to direct them.”
- The trainer dividesparticipants in small groups of 4 people. Each group will need to explain which steps of PSS are offered through their service and where people can be referred to in the community for further support, beyond what their social service offers.
- Each group presents their discussion and the trainer helps facilitate a larger discussion, explaining that it is important that we take responsibility to be informed about the services in our community that may exist and how they link with our services and complete the PSS cycle for people who need the whole cycle.
Activity: Skills needed to develop an action plan (Disc)
Time required: 30 minutes
Learning objectives:To analyze the skills needed to develop an action plan and ensure the people we are supporting are able to do so independently if support is to be ended.
Materials:
Method:
- Trainer asks participants to “Think back to activities you may have done in module 10 to develop an action plan for a personal project you had. You’ll remember that you had to have different skills to be able to draft up this plan. Please brainstorm now the qualities a person will need to have to be able to turn a personal project into a good action plan’’.
Possible answers may be:
-To have a realistic idea of what is possible and how much time will be needed.
-To be able to break a large goal (personal project) into smaller steps, with a logical sequence (flow). To know what needs to be done first.
-To know how to start a project, and what steps come next.
-To be able to identify other people who can support the realization of a project.
-To know what resources (money, people, equipment) are needed to achieving a goal.
-To be able give enough time to achieving a project and not try to do everything all at once.
- Prior to ending support with a person who seems to have the skills needed to develop an action plan, it is good to double check that they understand the components of an action plan and have the ability to develop a plan themselves. You may ask them to develop a brief action plan for you, on 1 activity to see if they have the ability to do so. We will ask you to look at the 3 action plans below, each giving an example of one activity, and to determine which one you think would be realistic, measurable, specific and time-bound. You will be asked to determine whether the plan is likely to succeed and is well-developed.
PERSONAL PROJECT 1: To learn how to play the drums within 3 months.
Activity to achieving goal (personal project) / Resources needed
(human, financial) / Persons involved / Time/completion date
- Find a drumming teacher
- Rent/buy/borrow a drum
- Have classes 2 times a week
Money to rent/buy guitar, someone who may loan drum.
Time/location to have drumming class. / Friends, local musicians
local drum maker.
Mother to offer space. Drum teacher. / At 1 month
At 2 months
At 3 months.
[Project seems realistic and well thought out, the activity matches the personal project, timelines seem appropriate, all parts are filled out in a logical manner.]
PERSONAL PROJECT 2: To get a job.Activity to achieving goal (personal project) / Resources needed
(human, financial) / Persons involved / Time/completion date
Talk to people who have jobs
Have them find a job for me to work with them / Friends / Family / This year
[Project seems very vague and does not explain what kind of job the person wants exactly and who/where they will go to get their information. The timeline is also very long and unclear and will make for lack of progress, as none of the activities have a short term goal (1-3months)]
PERSONAL PROJECT 3: Complete a vocational training course (at a VTC) in the next 6 months.Activity to achieving goal (personal project) / Resources needed
(human, financial) / Persons involved / Time/completion date
- To identify the VTC locally.
- Meet with VTC staff to learn about courses and if inclusive.
- See cost of courses and times offered and which most interesting.
- Get funding and apply for a course
- Attend course.
Transportation money, availability of VTC staff
None
Loan/grant for the course
Time/teacher who can train PWD / Social facilitator
VTC staff, social facilitator
VTC staff,
Business person who may want to donate/fund for PWD
Teacher, social facilitator / At 2 weeks
At 1 month
At 1 month
At 2 months
At 3 months to 6 months
[Personal project very detailed and seems realistic. Well developed and likely to succeed.]