Tips for conducting training workshop on “collaboration”

Among your colleagues, counterparts, or community people, there may be a chance to have training workshop for thinking about collaboration. The following tips may help you to have such workshops or seminars where the participants will be able to review their activities and to find out appropriate approach to collaborative community development as outsiders. The article shown in the previous pages of this newsletter can be a reading material for the workshop or seminars.

Exercise 1: “Who are the Stakeholders?”

Question & Instruction:
Choose any one of projects that you are involved. Find out stakeholders who are involved as many as possible. Categorize them. Then, please list up “strengths and weakness” for each stakeholders.

Note:
It is not easy for those who are involved in an activity to find out who are the stakeholders because they tend to think that they are alone and no one will help them. So, it is useful if you will review your own activities and how many stakeholders are involved in and how much chance you may have to receive their assistance.

Purpose of the exercise:
To find out how many stakeholders are involved in an activity, to know possibility of collaboration, and to see difference of characteristics (strength and weakness) among them.

Exercise 2: “Let us start working together”

Question & Instruction:
In any of the activities you are involved, you can try to start collaboration with someone who may help you. Choose one of the stakeholders whom you need to work with, and make plan how to start collaboration. At first, what will you do? What kinds of actions are necessary to build equal partnership? What should be done for involving them from the beginning?

Note:
In this exercise, the participants are requested to think about real process of collaboration. There are various stakeholders, but it is necessary to select one of them whom the participants will be able to construct complementary relations. It is also noted that involving stakeholders from the beginning is very important.

Purpose of the exercise:
To think about concrete process of collaboration, to find out key actions for constructing equal partnership with the stakeholders.

Exercise 3: “Making own principles for collaborative activities”

Question & Instruction:
Select several stakeholders in a local community, and choose any one of important issues for the community. In order to tackle the issue, the stakeholders discuss together and find out way for collaboration. Each stakeholder has own strengths and interests. Find out strategy, activities, division of roles and principles of collaboration which all the stakeholders should follow.

Note:
This exercise can be implemented through role playing style. The workshop participants are divided into several groups which represent each stakeholder. The exercise can also be tried through real situation, i.e. involving various stakeholders in a real community issue. In such case, the results of the exercise can be utilized in actual collaborative activities.

Purpose of the exercise:
To realize differences among the stakeholders, to know how to set up division of tasks and responsibilities, and to find out own principles of collaboration.

By M. Nagahata (i-i-network)