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REPORT ON THE ILO-IPEC TRAINING OF FACILITATORS IN GENDER AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP TOGETHER GET AHEAD FOR

GUARDIANS/PARENTS IN CHILD LABOUR ELIMINATION EFFOR T

REPORT FOR THE TRAINING OF FACILITATORS OF THE ILO/ IPEC MBALE TEAM IN GENDER AND

ENTERPRENUERSHIP TOGETHER (GET Ahead)

Venue: Reliance View Hotel, Mbale

21st – 25th June 2010 Facilitated by: (i) Bbosa Dorothy Katantazi

Consultant IDCC Ltd

Tel. +256-772500762 Email: dorothykatantazi@yahoo.com

(ii) David Mulya Consultant Tel. 256-772437636 Email:davidmulya2000@yahoo.com

(iii) Stephen Opio National Programme Coordinator ILO/WEDGE Tel. 256-772872739 Email:stephenopio@gmail.com

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Acronyms 3 1.0 Executive Summary 4 2.0 Introduction 7 3.0 Training Methodology 9 4.0 Summary of sessions outcomes 9 5.0 Workshop Proceedings 10 6.0 Issues Brought Up 18 7.0 Observations/Strengths of the Training for ILO/IPEC 18 8.0 Challenges 19 9.0 Recommendations for future GET-Ahead Trainings 19 10.0 Conclusion 20 Annexes

(i) Time table for GET-Ahead (ii) List of Participants (iii) Presentations (iv) Back Home Action Plans (BHAPs) (v) Evaluation Forms (vi) Contracts

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Acronyms BHAPs - Back Home Action Plans CL - Child Labour GET Ahead - Gender and Entrepreneurship Together SNAP - Project of Support for the Preparatory Phase

of the Uganda National Action Plan for the Elimination of Child Labour.

IAs - Implementing Agencies IDCC Ltd - International Development Consultants

and Contractors Limited IGAs - Income Generation Activities ILO - International Labour Organization IPEC - International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour NGOs - Non Governmental Organizations SIYB - Start and Improve Your Business NAADS - National Agricultural Advisory Services HHs - House Holds ToTs - Trainer of Trainers

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1.0 Executive Summary This report presents the training proceedings, process, and content and highlights key issues and outcomes of the ILO/IPEC Mbale Training of facilitators in the GET-Ahead tools. The workshop took place from 21st – 25th June 2010 at Reliance View Hotel Mbale. There were twenty participants who attended the Training. The Project of Support for The preparatory phase of the Uganda National Action Plan for the Elimination of Child Labour (SNAP) Organized the GET Ahead (Gender and Entrepreneurship Together) training for Guardians/Parents for Implementing Agencies – (IAS) which included NGOs, Vocational Institutions and Local Government officials from the District Labour Office, Gender and Community Development and from the NAADS. This was towards efforts to enhance Child Labour (CL) elimination. The GET Ahead training was aimed at imparting skills of entrepreneurship to the IAs to enable them train Guardian/Parent in Income Generation Activities (IGAs). It also bears a gender orientation since most of the households (HH) are women led. The primary aim of this report is to provide management and staff with a true account of what took place during the five (5) days Training of facilitators in the GET Ahead. It also delivers a spot on presentation of observations and perceived strengths of the training programme as well as recommendations for management action. The report attempts to summarize session objectives, key issues and outcomes from presentations, group discussions, exercises and demonstrations during the training. The Consultants adopted a number of methods to ensure effective delivery of the training content. The methodologies were highly participatory. GET Ahead Training Programme mostly utilizes an experiential learning and action oriented approach. The facilitation skills for adult learning were passed on as well as knowledge and competence in the subject matter. The GET Ahead content covered included the following; 1. Module One; the Basics of Gender and Entrepreneurship” 2. Module Two; “The Business Woman and her Environment.” 3. Module Three; “The Business Project” 4. Module Four; “People Organization and Management”

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Observations/Strengths of the training for ILO/IPEC • The facilitators noted the interest of the ILO/IPEC leadership team in

equipping their partners with skills and knowledge for the benefit of the parents/guardians in Child Labour affected households. In addition to equip the partners in vocational centres who train the youth (between 14 and 17 years of age) who are withdrawn from Child Labour.

• The GET Ahead training will add value as the impact of the grants offered to the communities will be better utilized in business after the beneficiaries are equipped with GET Ahead skills and are supported in identifying and operating viable businesses.

• The ILO/IPEC team of trainees were committed, participatory and demonstrated a positive attitude towards learning and to the ILO/IPEC mission.

• The ILO/IPEC team appreciated the GET Ahead training and the training methodologies applied, which kept them alert, facilitating learning and equipped them with valuable skills and knowledge.

• During the course of the training, there was an opportunity to test the understanding and ToT skills of the team on the last day. The facilitators noted that ILO/IPEC has a good fiber of staff, who were able to understand the core messages of the training and articulate them.

• There was flexibility as some of the groups volunteered to facilitate their sessions in vernacular. This was very positive since the programme encourages facilitation in vernacular for semi/illiterate groups.

• The training also served as a good motivation strategy tool for the team and did open their eyes to the opportunities in enterprise development as a strategy towards CL elimination.

Main Challenges • Irregular attendance because some participants got interrupted by their

Departmental Heads at the district to attend to office matters. • The SNAP project Field Officer could not concentrate during the GET

Ahead training since he had to do town- running, attend to logistical issues, photocopying and administrative work.

• The training venue was in Reliance Hotel – Mbale, 5 km from Mbale Town. This was inconveniencing in terms of accessing service like photocopying which had to be done in town and yet facilities like transport were limiting.

Recommendations

• ILO/SNAP should include follow – up plans and budget for the GET Ahead training to be able to evaluate impact on the IGAs started and the levels at which the IGAs can influence CL reduction.

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• Participants for future GET Ahead trainings should attend fully and thus

minimize interruptions during the workshop. • ILO/IPEC should utilize the training by supporting the staff to organize and

conduct trainings in GET Ahead for the benefit of their beneficiaries.

• The initial one or two trainings for each pair of staff would be supervised by the GET Ahead Senior Trainers (who conducted this training) for back-up support, quality assurance and eventual certification by the ILO as quality trainers.

• There could be need to train the vocational centre staff in GET Ahead and selected modules of SIYB and equip them as they proceed in reviewing their curriculum to incorporate entrepreneurship.

• The guardians and parents who are starting IGAs may need strengthening in entrepreneurship along the way, after operating for about one year – by training them formerly in GET Ahead / SIYB modules.

Conclusion Overall it was a fruitful and positive training. The training ran well and the objectives of the training were achieved. The team of IPEC trainees was vibrant and they demonstrated a high level of commitment and aptitude which was commendable! The feedback received in terms of their appreciation of the training programme and the team of facilitators (as illustrated in the daily evaluation forms) and in the end of the workshop evaluation was very positive and encouraging to the facilitators. We hope that there would be other opportunities to work and partner with the ILO/IPEC team for the development of our communities in combating Child Labour.

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2.0 Introduction The Project of Support for The preparatory phase of the Uganda National action Plan for the Elimination of Child Labour (SNAP) Organized the GET Ahead (Gender and Entrepreneurship Together) training for Guardians/Parents for Implementing Agencies – (IAS) which included NGOs, Vocational Institutions and Local Government officials from the District Labour Office, Gender and Community Development and from the NAADS. This was towards efforts to enhance Child Labour (CL) elimination. The GET Ahead training was aimed at imparting skills of entrepreneurship to the IAs to enable them train Guardian/Parent in Income Generation Activities (IGAs). It also bears a gender orientation since most of the households (HH) are women led. CL is mainly caused by low family capacity to build livelihood security to concurrently reduce on their demands; thereby resorting to child labour for supplements. GET Ahead training for IAs will enable the facilitators to guide the Guardians/Parents in starting and running IGAs and to consequently reduce family poverty. Improved family incomes will supplement demands to enable the large households cope with their numbers and therefore mitigate child labour. To a great extent, domestic violence, conflicts and other civil disturbances can be due to poverty or efforts to increase wealth. GET Ahead training will fill up this gap by providing entrepreneurship skills to guardians/parents which may reduce family – breakages, disease and /or even death of parents. The more stable the families will be, the less CL as an apportion to generate income which is the major aim of GET Ahead trainings. CL which is a significant social/economic problem in Uganda constitutes a grave violation of children’s right to education, protection and puts at risk the nation’s progress by limiting the potential of the future workforce. Lack of money to pay school fees and/or tuition is the major reason for the school – going age children not attending school. This leads to idleness and the result will be CL related activities of stone quarrying, scrap-metal collection, fishing, smuggling, bird-scaring in rice gardens, etc. GET Ahead training to IA facilitators will play a vital role in building capacity for IGA starting and development of combat poverty child who may have passed formal – education age would be considered for vocational training to gain technical skills thus better engagement in the job-market which means better pay. There were twenty participants who attended the training who were drawn from the ILO-SNAP project – Mbale and Kampala. Including the Vocational Training Centers in Mbale; Local Government Departments Non-Governmental organizations, and Community Based organizations. These organizations were

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selected by ILO-SNAP, Mbale office and invited to represent Child Labour affected project areas in Mbale. The training workshop started on 21st and ended on 25th June 2010

IPEC Mbale Participants during a practical session of the String Ball Network.

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3.0 Training methodology The facilitators at the workshop used adult learning methods throughout the training which are participatory. The WEDGE GET Ahead training package is practical throughout and engages participants in various exercises – demonstrating income generation activities, production, work, skills enhancement, gender issues, business planning and management. There were several role-plays, games, case-studies and field-studies. These methods were chosen because they provide a conducive learning environment for adults which is a bit different from the formal classroom situation. Adults learn best when they do it themselves and can easily pass the skills to others i.e. facilitate parents/guardians to start IGAs. 4.0 Summary of session outcomes Overall, all the sessions were very involving and highly participatory. GET Ahead employs an experiential learning and action oriented approach which facilitates adult learning. Efforts by the facilitators to use the methods outlined in the earlier section, greatly contributed to a lively and focused team. The facilitation skills for adult learning were passed on as well as knowledge and competence in the subject matter – as was tested in the time for trainer session presentations. The GET Ahead content covered included the following.

1. Module One: the Basics of Gender and Entrepreneurship”. 2. Module Two; “The Business Woman and her Environment.” 3. Module Three; “The Business Project:” 4. Module Four; “People Organization and Management.”

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IPEC Mbale Participants during a practical session of a business Model

5.0 Workshop Proceedings Day One The training started at 9.30 a.m. on the first day because we had to wait for participants to form a quorum. There was no official opening ceremony so we went straight into the daily sessions as per the timetable (Appendix I) Ms. Jackie Banya presented the first session which gave a background on Child Labour, SNAP Project in relation to social protection, IGAs and savings. It was informative and addressed relevant and important issues on both the SNAP project and the importance of IGAs in the struggle to mitigate Child Labour. She explained the SNAP Development objectives and emphasized on the elimination of the worst forms of Child Labour (WFCL) in Uganda through support for the preparatory phase of the National Action Plan. Mrs. Banya also elaborated on the multidisciplinary and integrated area-based model of intervention laying the foundation for the establishment of “Child Labour Free Zones.” These child Labour free zones will be created and made available at district level for replication throughout the country.

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The National Coordinator ILO/WEDGE, Mr. Opio Stephen presented the GET Ahead Overview and led participants into self-introduction and workshop expectations. The participants’ self-introduction covered the name, job-Title / Work, responsibilities held at work place and role reversal based on gender. Participants then gave their expectations and their perceived contribution to the training. The purpose of such a way of self-introduction would serve as an ice breaker and also provide information on the participant’s present responsibilities and indicate the mandate at his/her disposal in relation to CL aspects. The role-reversal was intended to reveal gender stereo types as well as gauge the way in which different participants conceive gender. The National Coordinator also led the discussions on the overall aims of GET Ahead Training to the CL program which was mainly to provide an alternative to HHs as an income source as well as enabling parents/guardians to take back the children to school and matching participants’ workshop expectations with the GET Ahead timetable. Participants pledged individual contributions to the workshop. Participants Expectations

• To acquire entrepreneurial skills that can enable one train the women and youth in communities

• Equipped to help women and Youth use their potential in exploiting business ventures

• To understand this GET Ahead; it sounds new • To share experiences about child labour • To acquire skills so that one is in position to train others in

entrepreneurship skills • To strengthen training capabilities and gender mainstreaming • To get knowledge of basics on gender and entrepreneurship • To acquire entrepreneurial skills • To become a better trainer • To get a certificate • How to start and manage the business • The secret behind a successful business • Gain skills in how best to avoid child labour among youths and children • Get knowledge and skills on business entrepreneurship • Get skills and knowledge in GET Ahead ToT • Skills on starting and managing a business/IGA • To learn how to start a viable business • Active participation, attend all sessions and keep time

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Participants’ contribution / pledges • Labour and time • Sharing experiences of child labour and how to combat them • Maximum attention and active participation • Provide information about how my organization contributes to the fight

against child labour • Identify viable activities or IGAs of my community • Time to attend the workshop • Time and active involvement • Contribution in form of experience sharing on issues failing business in

Uganda The introduction on gender and entrepreneurship was led by Dorothy. Participants noted that gender roles can be learned the following definitions were highlighted; Sex: Biological differences between women and men that is universal Gender: Social differences and relations between the sexes that:

• Are learned • Change over time • Have wide variations:

o Within a society o Between societies

Gender values, norms and stereotypes: Ideas on what women and men should be like and what they are capable of doing. Gender roles; What Women and men actually do? Therefore, regardless of one’s sex, men and women can do and succeed in business. The sessions were ably discussed and comparison of the cycle of business was made to that of a person. Participants got excited to learn that a business can be conceived, born (started) and can die when not nurtured (well-managed). David led the discussions on the Business Woman and her Environment leading to discovering the Top 10 traits for business success. In this session, David guided participants through an exercise of making products where they would ensure quality, quantity and time as criteria for identifying business goals.

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The Ten top threats included: To Achieve:

• Opportunity seeking • Persistence • Commitment to work contract • Demand for quality • Risk taking

To plan: • Goal setting • Systematic planning and monitoring • Information seeking

To manage: • Persuasion and networking • Self confidence

The final sessions of the day was when Mr. Opio took participants through a session on “SMART” Goal setting. Participants realized that business is all about setting goals and struggling to achieve such goals through good management and carrying out activities in the set time. The SMART Concept was explained in detail as follow s: S Specific M Measurable A Achievable R Realistic T Time Bound

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Day Two On the second day, participants played a role-play on the “Business woman and her Environment; she is not alone.” Participants learnt that it was important to separate family/personal affairs from business and understood the relationship between a business and its environment. The surrounding environment may determine the success of a business or it may cause negative impact and lead to the ‘death” of the IGA. Participants discussed different ways to deal with both business and the environment. They were guided through an exercise to do Business mapping so that they can be aware of the social, economic and cultural environment in which their beneficiaries would operate as entrepreneurs. The purpose was to enable the IA facilitators guide parents/guardians to take note of all aspects that may affect business success when starting IGAs. The networking concept demonstrated during the String Ball Network exercise was appreciated. The team had to tell a short story each before throwing the string – ball to another participant. The stories were related to business and there was a lot of experience - sharing and passing on information about both official and private individual activities. As IA facilitators networking is very important GET Ahead entrepreneurship training encourages co-training and for sure it becomes even more effective when an IA facilitator trains for a colleague from a different IA. Networking was noted to be very important business operations, planning and starting IGAs and ensures perfection since one can be able to compare with other IAs. In the Business Idea Generation exercise participants generated over 30 business ideas and managed to select the three most suitable business ideas through group work by following criteria of skills, demand and resources. These were potential business ideas which can be undertaken by the different households in the project area. This exercise encourages IA facilitators to help parents/guardians to generate and think about IGAs (be creative). With the evidence above participants confessed that it could be easily worked out to help beneficiaries to start IGAs and combat poverty which is one of the causes of Child Labour. The Business idea generation exercise was followed with the Business screening exercise where a more detailed criteria was used including:-

• Available equipment • Financial resources • Competitors • Competencies and • Access to raw materials.

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The second day was crowned with introduction to marketing sessions in a case – study of a woman who did not study the market before starting an IGA. Participants recommended that to ensure success of any IGA a good market study must be conducted. After this session, IA facilitators got guidelines to go out to the surrounding business community and carry out a mini-market study. The groups visited Maluku, Kamonkoli and Naboa Road respectively.

Day Three On the morning of the third day, participants presented their findings from the study to the plenary. The study was carried out in 3 groups. The businesses e.g. studied were Hair Dressing, Diary Farm and Food Vending; The findings from the mini - marketing study were in 4 major areas namely:

• Personal Profile of entrepreneurs • Market information (Supply and Demand) • Product information and • Competitors’ information

Participants agreed in general, that it was possible to start and run an IGA. The respondents included both the entrepreneurs and some customers. Participants got more convinced that despite the challenges of lack of market, competition and low turn-over the entrepreneurs they visited continued in business. They noted, too, that the entrepreneurs did not employ children but instead they (entrepreneurs) worked very hard to raise income to meet family demands including school fees for their children, rent and medical costs. The findings generated active discussions and excitement about starting IGAs. The exercise was practical and real-life. Entrepreneurs in the business community said they made sales daily of not less than UGX 5,000/= this was of great encouragement to participants who in turn pledged not only to facilitate parents/guardians to start business but would also attempt to start business/IGAs themselves. Subsequently two exercises were introduced i.e.

• How to sell with success and • All it needs to sell a product or service.

These addressed factors that influence selling; Participants noted that customer care and product quality played a major role in effective selling. The better the quality the higher the sales. The inputs of production were also discussed. In the mid-morning and the afternoon participants did Exercise 20 which was the SCAMPER model. This exercise was intended to stimulate creativity and

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innovativeness to produce/make or use one type of product/raw material to make different products. Participants made several products from maize-grain, ground-nuts, Irish-potatoes etc. which could be sold and generate income. It was exciting to have very many different businesses from simple items. Participants had one hour to be guided on how, session presentations and Back Home Action Plans (BHAPs) were to be prepared. Participants were to present the (BHAPs) on the last day as a sign of commitment to implement and practice the entrepreneurial skills learnt during the GET Ahead training (copies of the BHAPs are attached)

Day Four The fourth day was to address the Business management topics namely Finance including; Money management, Costing and Record Keeping. During the afternoon, the topics addressed people, organization and management. These kept participants alert. The participants were introduced to basic record keeping tools and to working as a team. Participants admitted that even the low-education entrepreneurs can manage their IGAs profitably when they were introduced to basics in business management. Entrepreneurship support institutions and network o rganizations The day was ended with presentations from institutions and services for women entrepreneurs. Participants from AIs which have IGA services programs and entrepreneurship support organizations/networks volunteered to conduct the presentations. The objectives of this session were to:

• To create awareness and inform women entrepreneurs of the existence, roles and functions of support institutions and programmes

• To create opportunities to enable participants to expand their own business network

The different institutions articulated their mandates and the team discussed ways in which CL affected households could benefit from each of them.

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Day Five On the last day Friday 25th June 2010 participants did session presentations to practice facilitation skills, test their understanding of the content covered in the five days and application of the co-training method. The trainers gave feedback to participants’ performance using the Feed back form from the GET Ahead Training of Facilitators’ tool. The filled forms were given to respective groups that presented for future reference and improvements. Some of the groups made their training presentations in vernacular since some of their beneficiaries could not understand English. The workshop was ended on a high note when participants graduated and each got a certificate of attendance. The closing was officiated by Reverend Watenga who represented the Deputy CAO, Mbale District. Reverend Watenga pledged continued support to the SNAP project and commented that communities needed programs that change their lives positively. He noted that the GET Ahead training had value for that. He committed the District to continue partnering with SNAP in its work in Mbale District.

IPEC Mbale Participants during a practical session of the SCAMPER Model

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6.0. Issues Brought Up • The four Vocational Training institutions which attended the GET Ahead

training pledged to integrate entrepreneurship in their vocational training curriculum.

• IA facilitators consented that the GET Ahead training addressed the real entrepreneurship training needs so it could help parents/guardians to improve incomes reduce possible occurrences of Child Labour.

• IA facilitators admitted that the GET Ahead content could be trained even in vernacular to address the target group in the CL affected families since it was in very simple English and translation was very easy.

IPEC Mbale Participants during a practical session of the SCAMPER Model

7.0 Observations/Strengths of the training for ILO/ IPEC

• The facilitators noted the interest of the ILO/IPEC leadership team in equipping their partners with skills and knowledge for the benefit of the parents/guardians in Child Labour affected households and for the partners in vocational centres who train older youth who are getting out of Child labour.

• The GET Ahead training will add value as the impact of the grants offered to the communities will be better utilized in business after the beneficiaries

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are equipped with GET Ahead skills and are supported in identifying and operating viable businesses.

• The ILO/IPEC team of trainees was committed, participatory and demonstrated a positive attitude towards learning and to the ILO/IPEC mission.

• The ILO/IPEC team appreciated the GET Ahead training and the training methodologies applied, which kept them alert, facilitating learning and equipped them with valuable skills and knowledge.

• During the course of the training, there was an opportunity to test the understanding and ToT skills of the team on the last day. The facilitators noted that ILO/IPEC has a good fiber of staff, who were able to understand the core messages of the training and articulate them.

• There was flexibility as some of the groups volunteered to facilitate their sessions in vernacular. This was very positive since the program encourages facilitation in vernacular for semi/illiterate groups.

• The training also served as a good motivation strategy tool for the team and did open their eyes to the opportunities in enterprise development as a strategy towards CL elimination.

8.0 Challenges:

• Irregular attendance because some participants got interrupted by their Departmental Heads at the district to attend to office matters

• The SNAP project Field Officer could not concentrate during the GET Ahead training since he had to do town- running, attend to logistical issues, photocopying and administrative work.

• The training venue was in Reliance Hotel - Mbale which was 5 km from Mbale Town. This was inconveniencing in terms of accessing service like photocopying which had to be done in town and yet facilities like transport were also a limiting factor.

9.0 Recommendations

• ILO/SNAP should include follow – up plans and budget for the GET Ahead training to be able to evaluate impact on the IGAs started and the levels at which the IGAs can influence CL reduction.

• Participants for future GET Ahead trainings should attend fully and thus

minimize interruptions during the workshop. • ILO/IPEC should utilize the training by supporting the staff to organize and

conduct trainings in GET Ahead for the benefit their beneficiaries.

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• The initial one or two trainings for each pair of staff would be supervised by the GET Ahead Senior Trainers (who conducted this training) for back-up support, quality assurance and eventual certification by the ILO as quality trainers.

• There could be need to train the vocational centre staff in GET Ahead and selected modules of SIYB and equip them as they proceed in reviewing their curriculum to incorporate entrepreneurship.

• The guardians and parents who are starting IGAs may need strengthening in entrepreneurship along the way, after operating for about one year – by training them formerly in GET Ahead / SIYB modules.

IPEC Mbale Participants during a practical session on Team management

10.0 Conclusion Overall it was a fruitful and positive training. The training ran well and the objectives of the training were achieved. The team of IPEC trainees was vibrant and they demonstrated a high level of commitment and aptitude which was commendable!

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The feedback received in terms of their appreciation of the training programme and the team of facilitators (as illustrated in the daily evaluation forms) and in the end of the workshop evaluation was very positive and encouraging to the facilitators. We hope that there would be other opportunities to work and partner with the ILO/IPEC team for the development of our communities in combating Child Labour.

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IPEC Mbale Participants after a practical session on Team Management

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IPEC team during the GET Ahead Training of facilitators

Footnote; Please note that original copies of the following Annexes have already been submitted to ILO SNAP Project:

(1) Daily Evaluation Forms, Final Evaluation Forms, Participants’ Daily Evaluation Forms (2) Participants’ Back Home Action Plan (3) Participants’ Daily Attendance lists