TOPS Curriculum Development Summit

Meeting Objectives 1.Provide a forum for knowledge sharing among NGOs working in food security in order to improve their curricula design and behavior promotion materials. 2.Identify essential elements and key guidelines for design of curricula and behavior promotion materials that can be communicated and used by food security implementers. 3.Decide on next steps for improving food security design and behavior promotion materials.

Survey of Practitioners 22 people responded 50/50 primary design person vs. selecting topics and supporting field staff 42% food security, 37% child survival, 26% both Average rating by respondents: 7.5 for their organization’s skills; 7.8 for their own skills

Organizations Responding ADRA International Concern Worldwide CORE Group Curamericas Global Food for the Hungry Handicap International International Medical Corps JSI Mercy Corps Partners in Health Unisa Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Individual consultants

Processes used: For development: – Multiple lists of steps provided For pretesting, adapting and evaluating: – Focus groups or pretesting with target audience – Trainings adjusted with experience / cascade For adoption and use: – Training of trainers – Involving all stakeholders from the beginning – Observations

Graphic Images Existing images Local artists Graphic designers on staff or US-based consultants On line sources Challenges: – “Mostly related to the development of new visual aids” – “Identifying affordable artists who can work according to a time schedule”

Challenges Staff capacity (especially at field level) Lack of formal training and guidance for standardizing skill sets across countries and contexts Time available Adaptation to local context Need to limit content Resistance Expense

How did you learn? Self taught; on-the-job Mentoring by colleagues Observation Professional background Jane Vella’s workshops (2 respondents) Books and short seminars (1 respondent)

What skills do you use? Adult learning and participatory methodologies Communication and behavior change; social marketing Needs assessment; evidence-based research; analysis Collaborative approach Good understanding of the audience; deep understanding of local culture Developing objectives Identifying and chunking relevant content; Prioritization

What skills do you use? (cont) Choosing appropriate methodologies for content Ability to take complex ideas and simplify them for the low-literate learner Ability to tell stories and give analogies to simplify complex ideas Facilitation Good writing skills – clear, thorough training sessions with clear steps Design skills

Advice to others: Less (content) is more – Practice, Practice, Practice Vary learning activities Simplify and repeat often Training should be very detailed Pretest as much as possible Importance of contextualization Start with well written, agreed upon learning objectives

Advice to others (cont): Content knowledge is not as important as knowledge of learner needs and adult learning principles Be clear on what you want the trainees to DO with the information Make sure the resources are there (time and money) Don’t reinvent the wheel

This presentation was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of Food for the Hungry and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.