Southbound participatory development communication and information

Two opportunities for you to be trained either as a facilitator or trainer in VIPP during the second half of 2008

The VIPP Core Team has organized two training events for the second half of 2008. Please click on the links below to download PDF files of the announcements for these workshops and their respective registration forms:

Training of Facilitators
This workshop will take place in St. Ulrich, Germany, 20-24 October 2008
Download PDF of brochure
Download Registration Form

Advanced Training of Trainers in Visualisation in Participatory Programmes
This training of trainers will be held in St. Ulrich, Black Forest, Germany from
10-14 November 2008.
Download PDF of brochure
Download Registration Form

New VIPP manual launched!

Southbound, with UNICEF Bangladesh, announce the release of the new VIPP facilitation manual:

Visualisation in Participatory Programmes:
How to facilitate and visualise participatory group processes.

This 204-page book has many colour photographs and illustrations to give visual examples of the main points in the text. It has been written by the original authors of the first VIPP manual (UNICEF Bangladesh, 1993)–Maria Angelica Salas, Herman J. Tillmann, Neill McKee, with Nuzhat Shahzadi, one of the original VIPP practitioners who has used the methods in many countries since the early 1990s.

The manual has been written to reinforce concepts and techniques learned in training of facilitators in participatory group processes and in applying VIPP. It documents the roots and philosophy of VIPP and its many applications over the past 15 years. It describes the role of facilitators and participants and new developments in VIPP materials, the art and craft of visualisation, and steps for effective design and planning of such events.

The manual provides a step-by-step guide to VIPP methods, tools, games and exercises and it captures lessons learned in over a decade of experience in the application of VIPP within many fields around the world. The appendices contain a number of summaries and forms for easy application of VIPP methods, as well as a selected bibliography.

Browse for more information | Click here to order

An invitation to all facilitators of group processes

The publishers of this website invite users to send in their experiences in applying VIPP. Best would be short descriptions of about 400 to 500 words with two or three good quality, digital photos which we can have the rights to use. Send captions and photo credits needed. It would help a great deal if both positive and negative experiences are included in your contributions.

You are also invited to discuss issues related to participatory VIPP processes at our Community of Practice, see below:

VIPP Community of Pratice
Click here to access an interactive facility where you can post questions about VIPP as well as share your experiences in participatory processes. Send your substantial contributions to vipp_practice@yahoo.com.

VIPP-Facilitation Courses in Bangkok

In November 2006, UNESCO (Bangkok Regional Office) organized two training workshops for beginners and for experienced facilitators. The first workshop of three days was attended by participants from different UN-organisations based in Bangkok . They learned and practiced the basics of VIPP-facilitation: visualization, presentation, facilitation and evaluation. The second workshop focused on successes and “bottlenecks” in facilitation during two days of intensive interaction between 14 more experienced participants from Bangkok-based UN staff. The main difficulty and resolution expressed by facilitators was the need to really “practice what you preach”, i.e. start facilitating within your own work spaces, in your own sections and then also apply the facilitation skills to sessions with outsiders. They stated that within each agency of the UN there should exist the motivation, the skills and the visualization material (cards and pinboards) to promote the use of facilitation in day-to-day activities.

VIPP recognized at the World Congress on Communication for Development, Rome

A paper entitled Visualisation in Participatory Programmes (VIPP): Taking stock of its diffusion and impact by Neill McKee, Nuzhat Shahzadi, Maria Angelica Salas, and Herman J. Tillmann, was accepted as one of the key papers at this gathering of development communication experts from around the world. The paper documents the roots of VIPP and details how it has been applied successfully in many communication and education programmes and events in North and Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. VIPP has been applied as a toolkit for participatory planning and training, as well as for partnership building, such as in UNICEF's Sara Communication Initiative for the Adolescent African Girl. In Latin America and Southeast Asia, VIPP has been applied to training on Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) and to programmes which reinforce biodiversity and the indigenous knowledge of ethnic minorities. It has also been used in the creation of many national, regional and local communication plans; curricula development; training; and project planning and review in many public health and social development programmes. For instance, it has become a cornerstone of methodology for the World Health Organization's orientation programme on adolescent health. It was also used in Strategic Planning for the Reduction of Obesity and for Smoking Cessation and Tobacco Control by the National Health Services, UK.

The paper critically looks at both the successes and limitations of VIPP methods and answers questions on how participatory methods can be taken to scale and used at all levels of development processes, not just for community-level projects and programmes, thereby empowering people to act together in more coordinated and purposeful ways. The organizers of the Rome conference will be announcing the publication of key papers soon and we will let you know where to find it.

VIPP Level-1 Facilitators' Training

A training of VIPP facilitators course, Level-1, using the content of the new VIPP manual, was held in Chiang Mai, July 24 to 28, 2006, under the auspices of the IKAP-Network – a movement set up to strengthen indigenous knowledge and biodiversity in Southeast Asia. Eleven participants attended from Thailand, Cambodia, China, Malaysia, Kenya and Uganda. They came to learn how to apply VIPP to a variety of development efforts such as rural development, environmental action and water and sanitation programmes at the community level; gender development, child-to-child education, human rights analysis and programming, and HIV and AIDS prevention initiatives.

UNICEF Avian Flu Program Communication

UNICEF plays a central role in and is the UN focal agency for coordination of programme communication interventions for Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza (AHPI) preparedness and response. While work is underway in most countries affected by the AHPI virus, implementation levels in other regions are still relatively low. In addition, global efforts would benefit from a more systematic approach to evidence-based programme design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. To this end, UNICEF held a workshop from 28 August to 2 September, 2006, in Bangkok, Thailand. The workshop was hosted by UNICEF's East Asia and Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO) and attended by Communication Officers from all seven of UNICEF's regional offices, plus representatives of UNICEF headquarters (NYHQ). It was facilitated by Douglas Storey and Caroline Jacoby of the Center for Communication Programs (CCP), Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The objectives of the workshop were to (1) conduct a peer review of AHPI programme communication resources and initiatives; (2) share experiences to highlight key challenges and lessons learned; (3) prepare Plans of Action to accelerate implementation of activities through March 2007; (4) feed forward/back into ideas and initiatives of NYHQ; and (5) develop guidelines for monitoring and reporting.

VIPP techniques were used in group breakout sessions (and in subsequent plenary sessions) to conduct SWOT analyses of Regional and NYHQ activities and initiatives; to identify and prioritize gaps in programme implementation, monitoring and evaluation; and to brainstorm and prioritize solutions for addressing those gaps. Sessions over the five-day period built on each other. For example, based on Regional Office activities, to date, breakout groups used VIPP in stages to conduct a SWOT analysis; then they selected three priority gaps that could be addressed, and develop action steps for how they would respond to those specific gaps. VIPP techniques were also used to collect ideas that emerged during sessions but were not directly related to the topics of the sessions. This was done to capture important issues and ideas without derailing the immediate purpose of planned sessions. For example, institutional issues around the relationships between Regional Offices and NYHQ recurrently surfaced, as did types of communication materials and tools that were either available or needed. When these ideas surfaced and were noted, they were collected in a “Parking Lot”. A special plenary session on Day 5 then revisited those “Parking Lot” issues and, using VIPP techniques, elicited solutions to relationship issues and prioritized materials development and distribution processes.

Outcomes of the workshop included: (1) an updated catalog of resources and progress on AHPI programme communication; (2) documentation of programme activities and strategies; (3) specific recommendations for strengthening AHPI programme communication at the Country, Regional and Global levels; (4) updated Regional Work Plans for 2006 – March 2007 and reporting guidelines; and (5) strengthened AHPI programme communication peer networks.
- Contributed by Doug Storey, Center for Communication Programs