In January 2020, Rotarians who were part of the team to train people in Sierra Leone completed their training. Pictured above are the graduates from the Women’s Program Class. Photos provided by Real Provencher of the Magnolia Texas Rotary Club (sitting on bottom row, 3rd from the right with a blue shirt).
Graduates from the Youth Program Class.
The letter below is from Real Provencher after the training was completed:
To all of our supporters:
We’ve just returned from Sierra Leone. Our team of six trainers and facilitators, five of whom are volunteers from Mediators Beyond Borders International, completed the training phase of our project over an 18 day period. We opened applications on Nov 10th and closed them on Nov 30th. We received 324 applications and accepted 29 for the Women’s Program and 32 for the Youth Program. The training was well received and we believe participants made significant progress in developing leadership and conflict resolution skills. As part of the program, each student committed to initiating a project in their respective communities. I’m including a link to a 4-minute video that highlights the projects that six participants in the Women’s training program intend to initiate in their communities. https://youtu.be/Q1AkFYkHbqM
Our next project phase focuses on peer group coaching. We assigned all 61 participants to one of 11 peer groups. Over the next nine months, our facilitators will conduct monthly peer group coaching sessions in an effort to monitor each participant's progress in initiating their community projects. In addition, the coaches will identify knowledge gaps that may indicate a need for follow-up webinar based training.
In November, we plan on sending two members of our team back to Sierra Leone to evaluate the progress our participants have made in initiating these community projects. In addition, we will make an attempt to evaluate the community’s response to the projects in an effort to measure the impact each participant has had in their community. This effort is an entirely new approach to measurement and evaluation of peace projects. We are truly breaking new ground. We believe the impact our participants have in their communities will determine the success or lack thereof of this global grant project. The execution of this project will span 12 months from inception. It’s the first Peace project that is making an unprecedented effort to measure and evaluate sustainability. Our team is committed to completing the project.
We could not have gotten this far without your financial and emotional support and we thank you!. In addition, we are forever grateful for the countless hours that our team members and members of the Bo Rotary Club of Sierra Leone have invested in making this project a reality. The Rotary Club of Magnolia Texas has recognized their substantial contribution of time, energy and effort by awarding each team member and the President of the Bo Club with Paul Harris recognition for “Service Above Self.”
Yours in Rotary,
Real Provencher, Sierra Leone Project
Rotary Club of Magnolia Texas USA
People Building Peace
