I know many empowerment organisations use community forums as a way of empowering large number of people with different demographics. With such groups it is easier to lose focus and if one has not prepared the content well, the impact of the event will not be felt that much. This is because of the dynamics of the group as well as the amount of content to be covered.
With this in mind, one of our partners at the coast Haki Centre @Lore had developed a guide that could help the facilitator/ Paralegal on how to conduct the session. This was a best practice that we wanted to build on in order to help the rest of the partners around the country be able to have consistency in the way the handle the sessions. We also wanted to make the material as interactive as possible for the participants to get them engaged in the process. This informed the use of cartoons and other infographics.
We developed a 14 paged flip chart that looks like this below:
We have began with the roll out sessions where I took the paralegals through the content and brain stormed how to make the sessions as interactive as possible.
Nubian Rights Forum Session on how to use the materials
The Nubian Rights Forum team has begun using the materials in their sessions and they at times during the session call on community members to explain what they see on the charts and how it relates to their own personal experience of seeking documentation.
Nubian Rights Forum paralegals @zena @Zahra and @Naima_Rajab watching a partisipant lead a session.
This has generated discussions with the participants and also stakeholders who participate in the sessions as seen in the photos below:
An Nubian Rights Forum client explain her experience of vetting and applying for an Identity card.
A Nubian vetting elder responding to the challenges raised by the participants in the meeting.
It was a very challenging task to develop the material with a lot of back and forth with the designer to simplify the content but worth every effort. The hardest part was simplifying laws for the local people to easily understand. Do you have such experience of simplifying the law? What was your experience? How did you manage to do it? We made two versions one in Swahili printed as flip charts and the English versions printed as booklets for the paralegals to carry around to refresh their knowledge of the content before the meeting and also before going for out reach. Feel free to download the materials in the links below. Share with me your experience of community meetings. Do you have printed materials? Do you use audio visual materials? If yes how was the process of the content development? I would love to hear from you. @lauragoodwin @aishakhagai @fatimaadamu @kanchikohli
English- CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS IN KENYA