DECEMBER 2001

Training of Volunteer Trainers Deemed A Success!

The Hunger Project team of trainers in Bangladesh recently completed a very successful Training of Volunteer Trainers, which was made up of 43 participants, 22 of whom were women.  Upon completion of the training, these volunteer community leaders will be able to lead trainings for women and men from the rural areas who want to become "animators" -- agents of change in their villages. 

The highest priority for The Hunger Project-Bangladesh is to train thousands of villagers, particularly women, as animators.  To accomplish this goal, there must be a sufficient number of well-trained women and men to lead the animator training.

The trainers themselves used this four-day session as a vehicle to expand their own learning, recognizing that "a trainer is always in training."  The trainers came to a new level of realization that society is a reflection of them, that if society is to change, they must change.  As one of the trainers said, "Beliefs don't fall from the sky."  This awareness impacted the training, as participants and trainers alike grappled with societal attitudes and unexamined assumptions about women and men.

A participant in the Training of Volunteer Trainers program interacts with the trainer.

The trainers learned to provide feedback and "coaching" to those in the workshop.

One of the participants interacting with a leader.

Badiul Majumdar, THP-Bangladesh Country Director, makes a point at the training.