Skills Workshop in the FW intervention

The Skills Workshop is the first step in the FW intervention. Some qualitative research among young women in Botswana suggests that those who resist transgenerational sex have higher self-esteem, are less susceptible to peer pressure, and have plans for their future. In the Skills Workshop, the young women share personal experiences, recognise their goals, develop skills, develop positive life changing dreams and desires, and plan how to implement them.

Each workshop lasts 3-5 days, depending on the group, and has not more than 30 participants (usually not more than 20). Using a highly participatory approach with activities and games to make points, and almost no didactic teaching sessions, the facilitators take the young women aged 18-24 through a series of activities covering communication and negotiation skills, methods of resisting peer pressure, self-esteem, group working and leadership. During the workshop the young women choose an enterprise they could work towards setting up and sustaining as a group, usually with smaller activities while working towards their larger goals. They make plans for working towards their enterprise.

In some communities, young women of earlier FW groups have helped to facilitate the skills workshops for further groups of young women in the community, or their enterprise has undertaken the catering for further skills workshops, so helping them to generate income.

Return to the Focused Workshop page or to the Interventions page.