The most effective ideas and messages for organizing events and promoting regular migration were born out of Volunteer interactions. That’s why returnees are at the heart of content production and community engagement. By becoming active community members, the Volunteers have the power to transform dominant narratives of failure, to empowering stories of success or overcoming challenges. Leading activities helps returnees reconnect with their home communities and be recognized as role models.
A set of capacity-building opportunities are crucial to support Volunteers’ empowerment. Different trainings should focus on the key concepts of participatory and peer-to-peer approaches. This will not only empower the participants to collectively shape the campaign and its content throughout the project, but also contribute to building a dynamic and autonomous community of returnees.
Step-by-step process on how to implement this pillar:
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Develop a capacity building strategy that includes experienced Volunteers training new Volunteers; skills trainings that are tailored to the needs and interests of the Volunteers; and a curriculum that empowers and equips participants to take ownership of the MaM Volunteer title.
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Conduct a needs assessment with Volunteers to identify skill training needs and interest.
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Organize trainings and ensure all Volunteers have the opportunity to participate. Enable female participation and be mindful of local dynamics to include minorities or disadvantaged groups.
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Organize refresher trainings to ensure knowledge gained is top of mind or to do a deeper dive into specific aspects of a subject.
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Organize specific skills trainings for different groups of Volunteers.
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Conduct pre and post training surveys to assess the knowledge gained during the training as well as to get feedback on the training (in order to improve the next one).
Featured activities:
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Training of Trainers:
Experienced MaM Volunteers (from Phase 1) received a multi-day training of trainers (TOT) on how to become trainers for new incoming Volunteers.
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Training of new Volunteers:
New MaM Volunteers were trained by existing Volunteers, IOM staff and other experts where they learned about the project, and gained skills and experience on community engagement, digital storytelling and digital engagement.
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Skills training workshops
Tailored to the needs and interest of the returnees and the campaign, Volunteers participated in a variety of skills training ranging from public speaking to video editing, fundraising to project management, social theatre to creative writing, and so on.
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Mental health and psychosocial support training
Built into the ToTs, a one-day mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) workshop introduced experienced Volunteers to peer support, communication skills and Psychological First Aid (PFA).
Tips for future implementation:
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Organize trainings with smaller groups to provide more individual attention (when possible).
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Newly trained trainers should be overseen by an experienced trainer when facilitating their first sessions to make sure that the information shared is accurate. It is best when Volunteers co-facilitate trainings in pairs and with the supervision/support from IOM staff.
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Volunteer talents and passions should be identified, and they should be encouraged to develop their skills on that specific subject.
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Engage subject matter experts and/or universities to run trainings and skills workshops.
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Be mindful of the needs of specific sub-groups in order to be inclusive when outlining the schedule of your trainings
“Before joining MaM, I knew I had talent and passion for a lot of things. With my participation in MaM capacity building trainings like article writing, public speaking, content creation and speaking through arts, I have transformed my passion into skills which has helped me get tremendous results.” – Therietta, MaM Volunteer, Nigeria