Capacity Building with a Counterpart

As I mentioned in the last newsletter, the first goal of Peace Corps is to help requesting countries meet their need for trained men and women. Through PC's framework of community development, this approach centers around collaborating with community members and encouraging them to drive their projects.

Contrary to the image of a volunteer swooping in to "rescue" a village through economic empowerment workshops, the real power lies in partnership and cooperation with the very people residing in the community. This symbiotic collaboration should cultivate an environment of shared learning, experimentation, and growth beyond everyone's comfort zones.

Class 3 of Project Design and Management training - differentiating between needs, desires, and problems.

As I am currently experiencing the first round of Project Design and Management training for the Women's Group, I found that the co-facilitation piece has been the most challenging aspect of delivering the sessions. As some of you may know, I spent many years working as a facilitator, so I arrived in Fiji with a repertoire of techniques and strategies in my toolkit. However, a different context necessitates an entirely different set of tools- tools that can only be forged through hands-on cooperation with a community insider.

Navigating the landscape of language barriers, scheduling conflicts, and the diverse priorities of participants is no small feat. Yet, my most significant challenge is to resist the habit of taking the lead.

In an ideal scenario, a dedicated counterpart would spearhead the bulk of content delivery to the participants. Regrettably, a combination of the urgency to initiate swiftly and a personal aspiration to prove my competence to the group led me to start the sessions before establishing a robust foundation with a counterpart.

The journey so far has introduced me to four different counterparts, all of whom struggled to reach the level of commitment I anticipated. With that said, the responsibility for this disconnect rests squarely on my shoulders for not effectively articulating these expectations.

As we find ourselves midway through the training cycle, my foremost objective has shifted. I am focused on recalibrating my relationship with my counterpart(s), directing my efforts towards coaching, and enabling them to take the reins in delivering more of the lessons.

This unanticipated facilitation challenge has proven to be a valuable opportunity for growth, albeit a challenging one. Successfully turning this situation around promises to accelerate my leadership capabilities, as I hone the art of delegation, communication, and collaborative engagement.