Titukulane is a USAID-funded five-year Resilience Food Security Activity, implemented for the period 2019 to 2024. The project supports the implementation of the National Resilience Strategy and operates in Zomba and Mangochi districts, two of the districts of Malawi most impacted by effects of climate change. The target populations of Titukulane are the ultra-poor and chronically vulnerable households who experience food insecurity even during normal agricultural seasons.
As part of this project, a workshop was held for the project staff on August 1st-3rd, 2022. The purpose of this workshop was to train project staff on the importance of documentation and how knowledge management contributes to adaptive management of the different thematic areas towards achieving the overall goal of Titukulane.
The training was facilitated by Fundi Kayamba Phiri (IFPRI), Sam Chibaya (CARE International), and Oris Chimenya (USAID Malawi Communications Specialist). The training participants consisted of technical coordinators and frontline staff: project integration officers and field facilitators. The participants form the District Learning Teams for Zomba and Mangochi districts, who are responsible for documenting stories, photographs and learning from their field-level review meetings.
The objectives of the training were:
o Introduce staff to concepts of knowledge management, focusing on storytelling for change, photography
o Train staff on story telling techniques to build their writing, editing and revision skills
o Train staff to capture good action photographs
o Facilitate practical exercises on documentation
o Refresh staff with the USAID branding and marking
The training included several sessions over the course of three days and commenced with an introduction to knowledge management (KM) and expanded on foundational knowledge by covering in detail the processes and techniques of story and photograph documentation, and how to apply those techniques across the different components of the project. Day 1 sessions focused on increasing participants’ awareness and understanding of KM concepts, tools, and products; the value KM brings to Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSAs); and the ways in which to apply KM in their work. Participants also interacted with standard guidelines on obtaining consent, safeguarding and USAID and consortium branding for knowledge products.
On Day 2, participants delved into understanding what, why and how story and photo documentation is done and how these improve visibility and therefore also effectiveness of the program. Participants learnt how to identify good cases that demonstrate how program interventions are impacting the lives of project participants. Planned visits were also made to nearby project site to interact with project participants and collect data for stories and photographs. The final day of the workshop focused on documenting observations from the field exercise, and to present outlines of how the identified cases can be documented. Participants showcased and explained the meaning of action photographs that were captured during the field exercise and how these can be packaged to promote knowledge sharing and learning. Following the training, Titukulane’s Communication and Learning Specialist has formed a group through WhatsApp for ease of knowledge sharing, discussions around capacity gaps, as well as to provide ongoing technical support, on documentation, to the District Learning teams
To access the training material, click here.
To access the workshop pictures, click here.