To the Workshops!

With the first stage of our project complete, Laura, Alexa and I along with a new team member from France, Emanuela (she doesn’t have an African name, yet) have been working furiously to put our mediation training materials together for our workshops coming up on the 21st, 24th, 26th and 28th of August.

The findings of the research have been interesting, albeit unsurprising, which I suppose is good news. Based on what we have gathered from the field we will be focusing on one other topic of interest beyond mediation skills alone: Transparency and how it relates to corruption on all levels. It is our hope that this short module combined with mediation theory and skills training will help to improve the work of the councils we have visited (i.e. reduce the amount of tribalism, favoritism and corruption on the local council level).

Obviously we don’t intend to come right out and say HEY YOU, CORRUPT GUYS, WHY DON’T YOU QUIT IT (although most days I’d like to) we will simply present theories, skills and research that will (hopefully) push them to look critically at their own work. Also, we like to think that by educating community members on these issues they will then serve as a sort of check on the council system.

Plus, knowing that Global Conscience is interested in their (the councils) work and is watching them may help to straighten them out a bit. We understand we can’t make the council system perfect, but we hope that this is only the first step in a continuous initiative and that this project will not end with our departure.

We’ve got plenty of hard work and long nights ahead of us this coming week. All printed materials had to be in today and we must arrange all the ‘goodie bags’ (don’t get excited now, these are things like name tags, pens, and notebooks, no candy and no key ring bottle openers with the GCI logo on them…though, that’s not a bad idea considering all the drinking these councils do). We’ve also got to handle simple things like room arrangement, food, invitations, placards and big issues like not sucking.

All and all, whatever we were doing at the beginning of the summer is nothing compared to what’s in store for us this last month. Wish us luck, do not envy us the headache we will have after our first workshop and above all: Damn the man, save the empire!