REGENCY TALKS

This month we sit down with HIV&Me facilitator, Eunice Mwandayi, who speaks of her work and shares some of her training experiences.

I am a trained educational psychologist and have worked for over 20 years in various education sector initiatives in Southern Africa. This includes the training of Tanzanian educators in readership promotion; school psychological services support in Zimbabwe; conducting nation-wide HIV prevalence surveys for the national department of higher education of South Africa; as well as coordination of networking opportunities for NGOs in 12 Eastern and Southern African countries. I joined HIV&Me as a facilitator in January 2010.

To date I have been part of the Unilever program in central Pietermaritzburg (KZN), the Harmony Gold initiative in Randfontein (Gauteng) and Welkom (Free State), the Xstrata program around Brits (North West), the AngloGold partnership around Butterworth (Eastern Cape), the Nedbank partnership in Mafikeng (North West), and the Rand Water training in the Vaal Region (Gauteng).

As an HIV&Me facilitator my responsibilities include promoting program advocacy goals, providing school based teacher training and coaching, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of lesson implementation and teaching quality.

Let me break down my activities further.

Program Launch
This event introduces HIV&Me to the different stakeholders in the implementing district. Attendees include officials from the district’s Department of Education (DoE); educators, management and SGB members from the participating schools; representatives from related agencies working in the district; key community stakeholders and chiefs where applicable; other relevant government departments; and delegates from the corporate partner. This launch provides the platform for program advocacy, DoE endorsement and corporate partner engagement all aimed at introducing both the need and motivation for HIV&AIDs education at schools, as well as the HIV&Me program requirements, logistics, style and outcomes. It is here that the start of the good working relationship is established.

Pre-meetings
Once the launch is complete, one-to-one induction meetings are held at each school respectively to ensure once again that the program requirements are clearly understood and that what schools have contracted into, is honoured. This is an excellent opportunity for the facilitator to establish further rapport with schools before the training, and to better understand the school environment in which the program is to be run.

Training of Educators
The Teacher Training workshop is a full two day training event held on the school premises. This is where the educators, HODs and SGB members engage in the ‘experiential learning’ of the eight HIV&Me lessons. After the lessons each of the Natural Science and Life Orientation educators completes an action plan which sets dates and establishes timeframe goals for lesson implementation with the learners. The second part of the training (usually held 1 week after the Teacher Training workshop) is the ‘Co-teach’ and assesses educator teaching quality and lesson understanding. Here the facilitator joins each educator as they teach one of the HIV&Me lessons to the target grade. After the Co-teach the educator is coached on the quality of the lesson presented. It is also on either the Teacher Training or Co-teach day that learners complete the pre- assessment which benchmarks their knowledge attitude and practice on HIV&AIDS related issues.

Monitoring & Evaluation
This component provides educators with additional program support while at the same time monitoring and tracking lesson implementation. This also enables the facilitator, the educators and the HODs to dialogue around challenges experienced in the course of lesson delivery. Feedback on progress is given to the school principal and to the responsible district education officers who are in a position to address some of the challenges.

Once the lessons have been implemented at the schools, a post assessment is conducted to ascertain shifts in the learners’ and educators’ knowledge, attitude and practice.

Highlights
For me the educator’s change in attitude as measured at the beginning and at the end of the program is wonderful. Some of them do start off slightly sceptical asking questions like “Isn’t this more work?”, “Is it important work?”, “Am I really able to teach this with my limited knowledge and my current workload?” but by the end of the program these concerns are totally resolved.

This change of attitude is largely due to the knowledge and skill based elements of the training which is peppered with open dialogue that addresses the personal fears and concerns of these educators. Perhaps the most unique element is that we take the time to listen and to correctly answer each of their questions which is testament to the nature of the program and the experience, knowledge and quality of the HIV&Me training staff.

I also love the co-teach day where I join the educators in the classroom for the teaching assessment activity. It is so rewarding to see how the learners engage with the lessons through their written and group discussions. The learner centered approach empowers learners to talk out and be creative. Educators often seem surprised by the maturity and creativity of some of their learners.

And when an educator delivers a powerful lesson they are amazed at their own abilities. I often laugh at how nervous the educators are about being assessed and then how they feel after delivering a successful lesson. With the encouraging feedback and coaching that we give, these educators feel proud of their work and seem to experience an element of ownership which catalyses them to continue delivering the lessons with confidence and pleasure.

When we return to monitor the program what often moves me is the desire and practice of some of the educators to take the HIV&Me work into the community. At two schools, from my most recent program, there was a strong commitment to work with the SGBs in taking the program to the surrounding rural villages. At another school in KZN one of the educators was a pastor and included his newly acquired HIV&Me knowledge in his sermons. The often personal stories of educators that help their HIV+ family members to come to terms with and to manage their HIV+ status also touches me.

And of the learners, they seem to want more and more information and HIV&Me lessons because they enjoy them and really seem to want to learn.

For more information:

http://www.regency.org/hivandme.html