Resources to prepare your training sessions

Get to know your participants

In order to be able to design appropriate and relevant training workshops, it is recommended that trainers/facilitators conduct a Training Needs Analysis with their participants. Through this process, the trainer/facilitator can begin learning about the contexts, the expectations, the technical baselines, and the current understanding of the relationships between feminism and technology of their intended/expected participants.

There are various ways to do this process, depending on the time available, access to participants, and resources on-hand. Here we provide guidelines for three different types of Training Needs Analysis:

Note: Conducting a pre-training needs analysis does not mean that the Expectations Check during the first session of the training workshop is no longer necessary. It is advised that any workshop should still include that session to confirm and reaffirm the pre-training needs analysis results.

Ideal Training Needs Analysis

• Preparation time: More than one month
• Comprehensive Training Needs Analysis Questionnaire (Annex 1)
• Baseline Interview Questions (Annex 2)

In this scenario, the trainer/facilitator has ample time to plan and design the training workshop, which means they have the time to connect with the participants, the participants have time to respond, and the trainer/facilitator has time to process the responses.

Given that there is proper lead time for the training planning and design, there are three methodologies in the ideal scenario:

Comprehensive Training Needs Analysis Questionnaire for Participants (see Annex 1 for the questionnaire). In this questionnaire, there are questions about the participants' use of technology and tools, as well as their understanding and knowledge of feminist tech concepts and online GBV, and their expectations for the training workshop. Using this questionnaire, the trainer/facilitator will be able to get a better picture of the needs and realities of the expected participants.

Follow-up Interviews with Participants. Based on the results of the questionnaire, the trainer/facilitator can get a sample of the expected participants to take part in an interview. Ideally, the sample should include all the participants, but a minimum of 50% (depending on the number of participants) should be met. Participants who had outlier/unique responses to specific questions (i.e. the ones with the most experience and the least experience in technology; or the ones with the most knowledge and the least knowledge about feminism and technology; or the ones who have very specific expectations from the training workshop) should be part of the interview process. Usually, these interviews with participants take 60 minutes maximum.

Consultation with Organisers. In this stage, the trainer/facilitator meets with the organisers to share the results of the questionnaire and the interviews, and the proposed training plan and design. Here, the trainer/facilitator also confirms that the design and plan meet the organisers' goals and agenda. It is assumed here that throughout the entire process, the trainer/facilitator has kept in touch with the organisers.

Realistic Training Needs Analysis

• Preparation time: Less than one month
• Use: Comprehensive Training Needs Analysis Questionnaire (Annex 1) OR Baseline Interview Questions (Annex 2)

This scenario is more common. More often than not, a trainer/facilitator has less than one month to plan and design a training workshop due to resource constraints.

Given the time constraints, the trainer/facilitator will need to short-cut the Training Needs Analysis process, and depending on an initial consultation with the organisers, choose between conducting the Comprehensive Training Needs Analysis Questionnaire, or interviewing 50% of the expected participants (see Annex 2 for Baseline Interview Questions).

Base-Level Training Needs Analysis

• Preparation time: Less than two weeks
• Use: 10-Question Training Needs Analysis Survey (Annex 3).

In this scenario, the trainer/facilitator has less than two weeks for planning and designing the training workshop. Here, the trainer/facilitator barely has time to get to know the participants before the training workshop and may distribute this questionnaire at the start of a workshop or as participants enter the workshop. While there are a few ways to make up for this lack of pre-training needs analysis during the workshop itself – Expectations Check, or running a Spectrum of Technology Use Exercise, or the Women's Wall of Technology Firsts, we still recommend trying to have the participants respond to a 10-Question Training Needs Analysis Survey (see Annex 3).

Resources

Annex 1: Comprehensive Training Needs Analysis Questionnaire for Participants

linked here as an .odt document

Annex 2: Baseline Interview Questions

The purpose of this interview is to short-cut the Comprehensive Training Needs Analysis Questionnaire for Participants. So it will cover the general topics covered by the questionnaire, but with less detail. These interviews are supposed to be 60 minutes long. Each set of questions should roughly take about 10 minutes.

1. Tell me about yourself. Your organisation, your role there. Where are you based? Which communities do you work with?
2. What are the challenges you face in your work when it comes to using the internet? Is this a challenge that the communities that you work with face as well? In what way? How are you or your community members addressing these challenges?
3. What internet applications do you use the most? Do you use them for work or for your personal life?
4. Which device do you use the most? What kind of device is it? What operating system does it run on?
5. What are your top concerns about using the internet and the applications that you use? Do you feel like those applications are secure?
6. Can you tell me what your top three expectations are about the training workshop?

Annex 3: 10-Question Training Needs Analysis

1. Name, organisation, position, and description of the work that you do.
2. What kind of communities do you work with, and what are their main issues?
3. How long have you been using the internet?
4. What operating system do you use the most?
5. What kind of mobile phone do you have?
6. What are the apps that you use the most?
7. What are the top three concerns you have about your use of technology and the internet?
8. What are the top three security tools/practices/tactics that you use?
9. What do you think are the top three issues around feminism and technology?
10. What do you want to learn from the training?

Evaluate your training: Training Evaluation Tools

Why evaluate?

• To do it better next time.
• To design follow-up support for participants around the workshop learning objectives.

Process

+/-/delta This is a simple method for participants and trainers to share input. We suggest doing this at the end of a workshop for single-day workshops, and at the end of each day for multi-day workshops. We suggest simple feedback methods for the end of workshops because people will tend to be fatigued, with attention wandering, by the end of a training period. A method like this can be quick and participants can choose to share details based on their preferences.

Ask each participant to consider and share things they think were good, things that were bad, and things that should change.

Depending on the time available and the resources you have on hand, participants can write their responses on pieces of paper and hand them to the facilitator, or you can go around and get each participant to say their responses out loud while a facilitator writes them down.

After everyone has shared, trainers/facilitators sit together, share their own +/-/delta reflections as facilitators, and review the participants' +/-/delta reflections. You can use these to:

• Create a list of learnings to share with other trainers/facilitators.
• Make adjustments to this and future workshops.
• Design your follow-up with participants.

One-week follow-up Follow up with hosts and participants to share any resources from the trainings you are able to share (facilitation guide, slides, handouts, etc.) and any reflections you may have about the workshop and next steps.

Three-month follow-up Follow up with the hosts and participants to ask about the impact of the workshop. This is a good time to ask people if they have implemented tools and tactics, revisited their own strategies, etc., as a result of your training.

 

Intersectionality and Inclusivity

“There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live in single-issue lives.” – Audre Lorde

What is intersectionality?

intersectionality is a framework that recognizes the multiple aspects of identity (such as race, caste, gender) that enrich our lives and experiences and that compound and complicate oppressions and marginalizations.

Here is an example to understand intersectionality in context: Between 25% and 50% of women experience gender-based violence in their lifetime. But this aggregated number hides the ways that multiple oppressions compound such violence. Women of color are more likely to experience gender-based violence than White women and wealth privilege can help to insulate some women from some forms of violence. Bisexual women are far more likely to experience sexual violence than other women. Transgender people are also more likely to experience hate violence than cisgender people. In short, all women may be at risk for gendered violence, but some women are far more at risk.

How do I practice intersectionality in Conversations?

Those of us with identity privilege (example: white, straight, cis, able-bodied identities) can have a harder time including those who are oppressed in our feminism. That is why it is important to focus on creating inclusive, respectful spaces where the lived experiences of all women are valued and understood. Here are 5 quick pointers you can keep in mind to create intersectional and inclusive conversations.

1. Self-reflect and recognize your privileges: Taking up the difficult work of investigating our own privilege is key to intersectional feminism. It is a good practice to look within ourselves and take upon the desire to learn about issues and identities that do not impact us personally. Being privileged doesn't necessarily imply that our existence oppresses another community. What it means is there are certain experiences we don't have to go through because of who we are.
2. Decenter your perspective: It’s important to understand that feminism is about more than ending sexism — it’s also about ending all the interconnected systems of oppression that affect different women in different ways. There are things that our privileges allow us to take for granted - able bodied people don’t always notice ableism, and White people don’t always notice racism. So make an effort to avoid centering feminism around yourself or people of privilege.
3. Listen to each other: On the feminist issues where we hold privilege, it's crucial to listen to the experiences of all women, including those women who don't to see the world through a more inclusive lens You can't walk the walk if you don’t know where the walk goes. So if you are a White feminist, be mindful that you are not talking over or for people of color.
4. Think about the language you use: If you are a non-Muslim feminism, be wary of saying things like “It must feel hot outside in a veil”. Using terms such as #PussyPower can alienate transgender women who may not possess these body parts. These are two examples of the many ways in which the language we use can ostracize women. It is good practice to constantly check ourselves and how we talk about women who do not look like us, or who lead lives different from our own.
5. Be willing to make mistakes and correct for them: Adopting an intersectional framework is not an easy process. So, sometimes despite our best efforts at being inclusive, we may slip up and get called out for our mistakes. Rather than becoming defensive, recognize that being called out is not really about your worth as a person, and that you can apologize and adjust your behavior to avoid repeating the same mistake.
6. Recognize that everyone brings knowledge to the table: Recognizing that everyone brings knowledge to the table helps to lessen the distance between us and challenge the idea that some of us know more than others when really we all know some things more than others. Working together to learn from each other (as the activities in these modules are designed to achieve) helps everyone gain most from this experience.

Additional Resources

• https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/01/why-our-feminism-must-be-intersectional/
• https://www.bustle.com/articles/117968-5-reasons-intersectionality-matters-because-feminism-cannot-be-inclusive-without-it
• https://www.elitedaily.com/women/feminism-inclusive-women/1507285
  
  
  

Notes for Holding up a Healthy Conversational Space

A conversation on gender-based violence can evoke different responses from different individuals based on their personal experiences and privileges. Here are a few pointers to keep in mind while talking about this sensitive issue.

1. All participants do not have the same level of privilege

While the included modules offer many activities and resources, many discussions are not just intellectual exercises for everyone ― people who face discrimination or have experienced violence are potentially dealing with a mental health issue.

2. Importance of Trigger Warnings

Trigger Warnings allow those who are sensitive to the subject of discrimination and violence to prepare themselves for discussing about them, and better manage their reactions. Remember, the key to an effective Trigger Warning is being specific - if a Trigger Warning is not specific enough, it could refer to anything from eating disorders to bullying. Thus, it’s a good idea to follow Trigger Warnings with specialized lists of content. For example, while discussing a case study on partner violence, you could specify beforehand, “A quick heads-up: This discussion contains instances of Rape, Abuse, and Partner Violence. If you feel triggered, please know there are resources to help you.”. For those who need the warning, this helps them prepare for the discussion, and for others, this helps sensitize them to the fact that those around them can find the discussion hard going.

3. Do not pressurize someone to talk about their experiences

Forcing someone to talk about a sensitive event is making someone re-live the experience and all of the negative emotions that come with it. Some people just aren’t ready to open that box of worms. Instead, give people room to explore the trauma and the the time to open up when they are ready.

How to help someone who feels triggered

Even with the best of preparations, sometimes precautions don’t work because triggers are usually individual specific. Here are a few steps you can take to help someone who feels triggered by an ongoing discussion.

1. Recognize

Recognize that your content could be hurtful to someone.

2. Apologize

Apologize for saying something that hurt the person. Remember that the apology is about the person who has been hurt, and not about you. Avoid justifying or defending your words or actions and be sincere about your apology; it is not personal.

3. Empathize

Empathize by trying to understand why the person may be hurt. You can do this by actively listening to the person who is feeling triggered.

4. Rectify

Continue the discussion by avoiding a repetition of the said trigger. Remember that triggered reactions can temporarily render people unable to focus, regardless of their desire or determination to do so. Be open to participants leaving the conversation if they feel uncomfortable. Make sure they have access to help if they need it. It is advisable to have a mental health professional on board for such emergencies at events.

If a professional is not present at the venue, here are a few resources that can enable you to help someone who’s been triggered:

• https://www.rainn.org/articles/flashbacks
• https://www.bustle.com/articles/87947-11-ways-to-help-a-friend-whos-been-triggered-because-it-is-most-definitely-a-real