A REVIEW OF THE JOS GREEN CENTRE’s ADVOCACY AND MOVEMENT BUILDING TRAINING
A REVIEW OF THE JOS GREEN CENTRE’s ADVOCACY AND MOVEMENT BUILDING TRAINING
Over the past few years, there has been a heightened engagement in advocacy. This is largely due to the tremendous changes the world is currently undergoing across several sectors; be it political, climate, gender, etc.
The Jos Green Centre has been at the midst of this, providing capacity building for interested individuals, groups, and communities; and the impact this has made over the past seven years has continually reaped positive results since the centre’s inception.
September 5th-13th 2022 was yet another advocacy and movement building training organized by the center; with a pool of about 25 participants excluding facilitators, it was a time of deep reflection, awakened motivations, and efficient illumination towards great pursuits.
The first two days were termed the ‘provocative sessions’. Participants were exposed to worldview redefinitions and re-imaginative processes. This was achieved through selected provocative quotes, stories, and statistics that left participants in awe of the real decadence of their immediate communities, the nation, and the world at large.
The subsequent two and a half days were used to delve into ‘advocacy and movement building’ properly. Several locally and internationally relevant advocacy movements were reviewed, of which the famous Nigerian ‘#ENDSARS’ was encompassed. These advocacy movements were scrutinized for what went wrong, what was done right, and the possible recommendations participants could proffer.
It was an engaging session for participants as they had to draw, sing, dance, discuss, and make many presentations to solidify their understanding of what was being taught them. This allowed the participant to network, and bond on several profitable levels.
The concluding two and a half days were used for the ‘Live Justly’ study edited by Jason Filleta. The study encompassed ten (10) great advocacy driven stories and examples of people who turned difficult situations around with sustainable solutions.
The rigorous seven-day-long training ended with participants divided into two advocacy groups, ready to pursue Proper waste management and Increased Youth Employment respectively in their immediate community, which happens to be in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria where they were trained.
The centre also encouraged the participants to take seriously their mini projects, and pursue advocacy more strategically with their newly found knowledge and network. The participants were also encouraged to volunteer with the centre if motivated to do so.
Though it was an excellent experience; participants related concerns that bordered on the inconducive nature of the space used for the training at the centre, limited time allotted for group discussions and personal contributions, and some facilitation that needed to be worked upon. The centre was largely accommodative of these concerns and recommendations, and promised to do better in subsequent trainings.
It will be highly admired that one watches out for these newly trained advocates, and support the subsequent projects they will embark on.
The world is in great need of people who are making broken things whole…especially in a time such as this.
cc: Tearfund
Tags: Reviews, Sibiscus Publishing