SPLM training

I am working in Yei, Sudan - this time in the Community Development vocational training centre in Yei town. I am facilitating the assessment, reporting, and IT content for a 2-week workshop for SPLM Information Officers. SPLM is the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (not the Army) that is now transforming into a political party. Three Information Officers have been flown in from each of the 10 states. Their role is public relations, reporting, and record keeping, so they are being trained on journalism, translation, and information management techniques.

As for the IT part, 25 of the 40 are comfortable on computers - though only 22 speak English. All of our sessions must be simultaneously translated into Arabic. This will be fine for lectures, but I am still wondering how we will do practical computer sessions... We will give extra sessions in the evenings for the beginners, and the ones who are comfortable will learn photo editing, newsletter production, and have practicals in online communication tools. I will also give a session on networking, VSATs, and security.

We are staying at the garden-like Food Security camp in Logobero, just outside of the town - I am accompanied by Monica, my Swedish NPA colleague Goran's girlfriend, who is leading a separate workshop in the tailoring department of the vocational centre.

Better get back to my presentation.... more later!