FPO workshop agenda

Context:

Agenda for participatory workshops to be held in AP and Odisha (DFN focus states) sometime in March. Success for the workshop will be for farmer groups to share a bunch of pain points which will inform our entry point and to agree to work with us closely over the next six months to scope and execute a pilot.

v1.0: See here

v2.0 (developed Mar 4 2022); builds off v1.0, incorporates feedback from Colin and IDEO Field Guide . See below.

AP workshop agenda (developed Mar 11): Link

Based on the material shared by Colin of IDRC I have added some pointers for planning and fecilitaion of the workshop. Although some methdos of feciltation and learning sharing like story telling methods are also explained in the literature but that I have not inlcuded here as already we have mention here mthrods of Card sort excercise.

Pre workshop planning:

This sheet given in the link will be useful to have betetr clarity while organizing the workshop https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10QwpYOrpEPruQrjjXVluaCGsLM-sJ_YxNo1zqAw-oNc/edit?usp=sharing

 Rehearsing the activities ahead of time with someone from the team can help to refine the activities and to find the best order for them.

Setting arrival and departure times may require some flexibility. Our workshop participants are reaching a day before but we should also consider the time of their leaving, Many participants rely on public transport vehicles commute. This flexibiklity will kepp them at ease and they will be freely participating in the workshop.

• Venue:

  • Trupthi Resort

  • Hosted a workshop w Skillgreen at the same location and similar attendees (in that event, focused on Board of Directors and didn’t include farmer members)

  • Should we consider somewhere closer to the farmer groups in order to ensure participants (esp farmer members) will be comfortable and to maximize attendance, esp from women members?

( We should try to include divers officials of divers FPOs like big and small in terms of their turnover or located in remote villages and near the towns that affetcs access to traders and markets). 

• High level flow:

  • Attendees will travel in the morning and reach by ~10am; they will stay the night and return following day given travel time

(We should make them aware of how to reach out to venue , where are their rooms, dining rooms and washrooms. They should also be informed about the meeting rooms and if any preparations they need to do in advance.

Make the participants informed about the technical gadgets/ devises to be used and how to access internet.

This will increase participants access to the venue and keep them at ease.)

• 11am to 630pm

  • 10 to 11am: Breakfast and tea on arrival

  • 11 to 1130 minutes: Ground rules (emphasizing safe space, confidentiality, etc) and Icebreaker

(Note: It is also important to be mindful that each individual has a different pace of processing thoughts, communicating, and developing and executing ideas. This can be a challenge when people who work at different speeds are working together in a group. So the groups need to be formed thoughtfully with the help of people who know the participants

Facilitators should be sensitive about the attitudes of the participants some are vocal some are introvert so need to be vigilant of group dynamics to give them chance to share their thoughts )

Very clearly layout the objective the workshop. We can explain  the significant of the workshop to the participants in simple language. If there are too many objectives we can prioritize 3-5 objectives that we want to achieve.

We should ensure that the topics are not too specific or constraining, that we use simple and relatable language, and that the activities are supported by sufficient and clear instructions. We should try to unpack the topic of the workshop with collaborators/participants and try to list out issues that they come up with.

• 1130 to 1230pm Card sort exercise: “Day in the life” or “Season in the life”

  • The cards would be key steps in the cropping season and participants would arrange them in some way (rank by priority order or leave it more open ended) which could help us hone in on where to focus

  • (from IDEO Field Guide, p57) A Card Sort is a quick and easy way to spark conversation about what matters most to people. By putting a deck of cards, each with a word or single image, in someone’s hands and then asking them to rank them in order of preference, you’ll gain huge insight into what really counts. You can also use the Card Sort exercise to start a deeper conversation about what a person values and why

(Note: Not everyone likes to write.  We can let people express themselves in other ways, like story telling or oral comments

Emphasize to participants that there are no bad ideas, and that the aim is to foster a supportive and encouraging space.

Icebreakers may be used that highlight experimentation can be helpful)

• 1230 to 2pm: Card sorting debrief to identify where are the biggest pain points / opportunities?

  • 2 to 3pm lunch break

  • 3 to 430pm Conversation starters

    • Position the proposed entry points as “Conversation Starters” (see screenshot below)

    • (from IDEO Field Guide, p45): Conversation Starters are a great way to get a reaction and begin a dialogue. The idea here is to suggest a bunch of ideas around a central theme to the people you’re designing for and then see how they react. The ideas you generate for your Conversation Starters are totally sacrificial, so if they don’t work, drop them and move on. The goal here is to encourage creativity and outside-the-box thinking from the people you’re designing for.

(Note: In case people are not sharing ideas by themselves probing may be required. Probing questions might include:

·       What is the motivation behind your idea?

·       What need(s) is(are) being met?

·       Who do you imagine using this, or benefiting the most from this?)

• 430 to 5pm: tea break

  • 5 to 6pm Breakout rooms

    • Rooms for each of the major personas (farmer members for Jattu - 9 , farmer members for Velugu - 12, resource institutions - 4-6)

    • Who is missing exercise - discuss who is currently missing in the room and invite them next time (also encourages current participants to draw on their network)

  • 6 to 630: next steps

Some context:

• Internal vs. external facilitator?

  • Decided that DG team should facilitate bc they have familiarity with the farmer groups already

  • DG team will need some clarity on how to run the proposed exercises (card sorting, conversation primer). DG facilitators will join call w IDEO on March 7.

  • Share the proposed agenda w Skillgreen (who does a lot of FPO workshops) to get feedback?

• Event will be in Telugu

• Recording is intimidating so we will have a dedicated scribe

• Timing Date:

  • Week of March 7 or 14, coordinating w farmer groups

• Payments ()

  • DG to cover cost of transport, accommodation bc reaching location takes 2 hours

• Should we do separate meetings w Jattu and Velugu? No, we will combine

  • We expect Jattu FPO members to be more vocal and encourage Velugu members to speak up (who would otherwise be quiet)

• Roles and representation

  • ~25 total participants (non DG)

  • 3 reps each from 7 FPOs across Jattu (3) and Velugu (4)

  • Ensure representation from each persona/role:

    • For each FPO; 2 farmer members (incl some who have undergone training and are participating in value addition work) and CEO

  • 4-6 staff from each resource agencies (2-3 each from Jattu and Velugu)

  • Aim for gender parity

  • 5 DG staff in-person

    • Facilitator: Narendra (Suri and Kamal support)

    • Scribe: Suri/Kamal

    • Ashok

    • Logistics: Sudha (not attending)

• Continued engagement after this workshop ends; whatsapp group or some other forum for participants to easily share ideas/questions as they come-up over the coming ideas

References

Conservation Starter prompt are the entry point ideas; we can tweak these based on what are highlighted as pain points / opportunities during the earlier session

Miro board

Open

Field Guide to Human Centered Design (IDEO)

Open