Lesson plans were developed by the consultant, based on the FAO publication "The Group Promotor's Resource Book, a practical guide to building rural self-help groups" (see text box). Certain modifications were made, for instance concerning the legal status in Nepal of user groups, whereby "women groups" will be registered as "women user groups".
FAO 1994: THE GROUP PROMOTOR'S RESOURCE BOOK A practical guide to building rural self-help groups The group promoter (or GP) is a key figure in rural development. He or she has three important tasks: to help the rural poor to form small, autonomous groups, to help group members develop their skills, and to facilitate between groups and development services. This resource book is designed to Guide GPs in all phases of group development. It provides a step-by-step approach to identifying the poor in rural communities, forming groups, linking them in associations and building group income generating activities. It includes detailed suggestions for strengthening democracy within groups and for planning group enterprises. |
The following topics were selected as lesson plans to conduct the training (see also annex A):
1. Features of a successful participatory user group.
2. Basic principles of group formation.
3. How to establish a group, what is needed for a group.
4. What is a constitution, how to make a group constitution.
5. What is leadership, what is participatory leadership.
6. Dealing with individuals.
7. What is a record keeping system.
8. The roles and responsibilities of a management committee.
9. Income generating activities
10. Promoting inter-group association.
11. Participatory monitoring and evaluation.
12. A last lesson module concerns some personal questions and a closing session.
The training courses consisted of 12 lesson plans divided into two days sessions. In itself these lesson plans seem rather meager, they serve mainly as a backbone, while most depends on the actual oral presentation by the trainers.
Trainer's training
Three resource persons were identified as potential trainers (the projects two motivators, and a chairwomen of one of the women groups, see annex B) and provided with a trainers training by the consultant during two days in Chorkate Base Camp. During this trainers training the lesson modules and their presentation were extensively discussed. modified and finalized.
Women group training sessions
A total of 8 women groups were trained in two day sessions in their own villages during the period of 13-28 April 1995 (see table 1). A total of 59 women were trained. all members of their group's management committee (see annex B).
The training sessions were often conducted in the evenings, women being too busy during the day to attend. Despite their heavy workload and resulting tiredness in the evenings, women were very motivated to participate in the training.
The costs involved in the training, including trainers salary, snacks during the training session, and stationary, but excluding cost of the consultant, were about NRs 15,000 (US$ 300), or about NRs 250 (US$ 5) per trainee.
Table 1. Women Group Leadership and Management Training courses organized in the Bhusunde Khola watershed in April 1995.
Place |
Date of |
Number of | ||
Name of the group |
VDC |
Ward No. |
training |
Participts. |
Laxmi Narayan Women Group |
Harmi |
6 |
13 - 14/4 |
7 |
Indreni Women Group |
Chhoprak |
2 |
15-16/4 |
7 |
Arunodaya Women Group |
Chhoprak |
2 |
17 - 18/4 |
7 |
Maheli Chetana Women Gr. |
Chhoprak |
8 |
19 - 20/4 |
8 |
Pragati Women Group |
Chhoprak |
7 |
21 - 22/4 |
8 |
Janajagriti Women Group |
Ampipal |
6 |
23 - 24/4 |
8 |
Janajoyti Women Group |
Ampipal |
7 |
25 - 26/7 |
7 |
Prabhat Women Group |
Khoplang |
1 |
27 - 28/4 |
7 |
The training courses were evaluated by the participating women, the results of which are presented in table 2.
The training courses were highly appreciated, especially with regards to its impact on the beneficiaries, which 91% of the women classify as good or excellent. It is interesting to note that 40% of the participants found the time allocated for the training too short, and only 5% found it too long.
While conducting the training sessions, it became clear that in some cases very able women with obvious leadership capacities could not formally be nominated as chairperson of their women group, because their husband would not allow them to do so.
Table 2. Evaluation of the Women Group Leadership and Management Training by the participants.
Women Group |
Lax. N W.G. Har. 6 |
Indr. W.G. Chh. 2 |
Arun. W.G. Chh. 2 |
Mah. C. W.G. Chh. 8 |
Prag. W.G. Chh. 7 |
Ja. gr. W.G. Amp. 6 |
Ja. jo. W.G. Amp. 7 |
Prab. W.G. Kho. 1 |
Total | |
No. |
% | |||||||||
Rating |
Effectiveness of training | |||||||||
Excel. |
1 |
- |
1 |
3 |
- |
1 |
4 |
2 |
12 |
21 |
Good |
5 |
5 |
4 |
2 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
33 |
57 |
Fair |
1 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
- |
- |
13 |
22 |
Poor |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
0 |
0 |
Rating |
Effectiveness of trainer | |||||||||
Excel. |
3 |
1 |
- |
3 |
1 |
- |
5 |
4 |
17 |
29 |
Good |
2 |
6 |
6 |
- |
6 |
6 |
1 |
3 |
30 |
52 |
Fair |
2 |
- |
2 |
4 |
- |
2 |
1 |
- |
11 |
19 |
Poor |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
0 |
0 |
Rating |
Effectiveness of lesson | |||||||||
Excel. |
- |
2 |
- |
2 |
2 |
- |
1 |
3 |
10 |
17 |
Good |
5 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
3 |
32 |
55 |
Fair |
2 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
- |
1 |
16 |
28 |
Poor |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
0 |
0 |
Rating |
Impact on users (beneficiaries) | |||||||||
Excel. |
2 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
22 |
38 |
Good |
5 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
31 |
53 |
Fair |
-2 |
- |
1 |
2 |
- |
- |
- |
5 |
9 |
|
Poor |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Rating |
Time allocation for training | |||||||||
Short |
- |
2 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
6 |
23 |
40 |
OK |
7 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
1 |
32 |
55 |
Long |
- |
1 |
- |
1 |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
3 |
5 |
V. L |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
0 |
0 |
The leadership development and management training of 59 management committee members of the eight existing women groups in the Bhusunde Khola watershed was overall very well appreciated by the participants.
The training fulfilled a great need to improve the process of women group formation and performance. However, the training courses were also quite short, and should be seen as an initial training, requiring follow up:
1. Regular follow-up visits by the project motivators in order to monitor the group performance, and assist in particular needs, or to bring such needs to the attention of project management.
2. Follow-up training courses in general and specific management skills (e.g.
book-keeping), as well as in specific (to be identified) technical skills.
A limiting factor in any training course, and indeed any activity to be undertaken by the women groups, is the time constraint, due to the heavy workload of the women. Training courses should be conducted as close to the residences of the attending women as possible.
The training also improved the motivation of the participating women to continue with their women groups, and to become more active and effective (as indicated by the 91% rating of good to excellent impact of the training on the beneficiaries in the evaluation).
The FAO publication "The Group Promotor's Resource Book, a practical guide to building rural self-help groups", proved to be a very useful basis for the design of this training course, although some minor modifications were needed to adapt the contents to the local situation.
The 12 lesson plans development by the project can be used for similar training courses of women groups as well as other user groups in the project area and elsewhere in Nepal. However, it should be noted that the selection and training of trainers is of critical importance to the success of such training activities.
