Last week the TV training team travelled to Nasarawa state (adjacent to the capital). Here we were conducting a three day training workshop for broadcast TV trainers/ training managers and Community Service Organizations, followed directly by a three day HIV reporting workshop for producers and people living with HIV and Aids (PLWHA).
The goal is for the five training managers from the first workshop to lead the second workshop. This workshop in Nasarawa will be the first of eight different states the team will reach as part of the ENR project – the next stop is Cross River state.
Devaan with the camera during the training session
For the TV team, it was Devaan and Nasiru’s first time training, and we were all a bit nervous and curious as to what exactly to expect. The first two days were mostly discussions and activities, and
everything went quite smoothly. On the third day, the training managers were asked to do camera work and present a 20 minute lesson.
Before the camera exercise (the participants were asked to film a vox pop/ man on the street for five minutes each) Devaan individually taught them how to white balance, use the camera, and camera composition. Prior to the training presentations, Nasiru went through two rounds of corrections on their training plans.
During the camera exercise, each trainee chose to stand in one location (the same exact location) and instead of adjusting their position to their interviewee they asked their interviewee to move into a specific part of their frame! When they came back, Devaan immediately noticed all of their footage was blue and asked if they white balanced. They said no, much to her chagrin. “I noticed but I didn’t see anything white to use,” was one CSO trainee’s response. The TV station training managers looked sheepishly and ashamed, “we have no excuse.”
As for their presentations, a senior producer at NTA Lafia (NTA is the Nigerian Television Authority), presented on script writing and did not use any of the knowledge from the session Devaan taught on script writing. He was nervous and inarticulate. Another woman simply gave a lecture for 18 minutes.
It was a disheartening day for the team and we gave very critical feedback to the participants, conveying our feelings. We immediately began drawing up reports about our failure and re-strategizing our entire plans. It was our Country Director who warned me not to jump the gun.
The radio team, who have much more experience training, also happened to be in Nasarawa state for a longer HIV reporting workshop and were there to comfort us. They advised that some people take much longer to warm up before they can really start expressing themselves.
An NTA Lafia trainer gives a training session
The next day, when the NTA producer went up to do a presentation on TV formats, Nasiru and Devaan got into position to assist. But they didn’t need to. The producer was confident, engaging, and was really able to transfer the knowledge and teach well. At the end of the day we were so proud of him and he said, “I went home last night and was up until 1 or 2 am thinking I teach all the time but these people are really trying to get me to do something new. How can I do it?” And he did.
The woman who did the 18 minute lecture continued to be a wallflower and at the end of the day all of us told her we were concerned and disappointed with her progress. She did not take the feedback well and immediately said she would not show up the next day.
Again we were crestfallen. To have one of our trainees give up really hurt us.
The next day, the woman showed up and performed brilliantly. She interacted well with the participants and even taught a session on audience generated content. We were shocked – but happy.
As for the radio team, by the end of their workshop, they had a 30 minute magazine production which involved all the radio trainees – some of whom came into the workshop with no prior radio experience. A PLWH in the workshop (who got to be the presenter through ballot selection) was so excited and he texted our fellow radio trainer, Helen: “I can’t believe the calls and hails I received from friends this evening after the program aired on Precious FM.”
Some people just need a bit of time. Inspiration doesn’t always happen overnight.
Enhancing Nigeria’s Response to HIV and Aids (ENR) is the BBC World Service Trust’s new Pan-Nigerian, DFID-funded project which will focus on lowering the prevalence of HIV in the country.
An aspect of this is to help capacity building at national and state TV stations. This involves creating a TV training team which will then go out and provide training at local stations, including training on HIV reporting and co-producing with the station for several weeks.
Ambika Samarthya, an international trainer based in Abuja reports on the first stages of the three year project.
13 April, 2010 at 8:55 am
I’ve been involved in training for over 15 years now and I’m still surprised by the amount of clueless sheep dipping that occurs in our industry. It really creates a poor impression of training and rarely adds much value.
I have long worked from the principle that people are different and therefore respond differently to training input. For this reason it is essential to know how to help individuals in a group understand that it is ok to develop at their own pace. So long as there is a balance between the investment in time and the progress an individual makes.
Also, I think there is a great need for trainers to better understand the psychology behind behaviour and communication patterns in order to become better attuned to spotting the signs that an individual needs a different approach and then responding in the right way to them.
It’s nearly impossible to create equal successful shift in a group’s learning and so it’s inevitable that some will go further than others, quicker.