Orphans and Vulnerable Children - CRIN

Some tips on choosing activities

Use activities which fit the educational abilities of the group – they should be easily understood by
everyone. You may need to adapt some of the materials to make them relevant to your particular
group or context, so that misunderstandings don’t occur.

The activities in this manual have been field-tested, particularly in Uganda and Zambia and other
countries, but you need to check and develop situations, for example, case studies or role-plays
that occur in the experience of your participants.

 Read the activities carefully and plan accordingly.

Some of the activities require preparation weeks ahead, for example, case studies.

For some activities you may need to generate other, more appropriate, alternatives.

Remember that training is a process and the activities should have a coherent order.

Later activities should build on earlier ones.

 Pace the course content to suit your participants and

to stimulate and sustain motivation and interest.

This is best done by varying the type and length of activity, the size

of the group and the skills and involvement each activity requires.

Where an activity demands intense concentration, you can start with

a brief energiser or game.

 Keep the length of each session to less than two hours.

Include enough refreshment and exercise breaks.

Consider the time of day. For example, try not to plan theoretical inputs

immediately after a heavy lunch as you may find people falling asleep!

Include times for enjoyment and local cultural activities such as songs and dances.

 Choose activities to meet your specific training objectives.

In this guide we have included a variety of training methods, but please do not choose

an activity because of the method. Choose it because it will meet your specific objectives

for that session and will be suitable for the group. If necessary, adapt the activity so that

it meets your objectives. For example, a simple case study can be turned into a drama,

if you feel the group would understand it better if it were acted out, rather than read.

Training is a

process and

training activities

should build on

each other in a

coherent order

Guide to Mobilising and Strengthening Community-Led Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children Unit 2, Facilitator’s Guidelines^69