Introduction to the Sharing Education and Learning for Life (SELL) Manual
The SELL programme derives very much from the thinking of Paulo Freire and is related to the numerous TFT (Training for Transformation) programmes that have been developed around the world. In West Africa it traces its origins to a programme developed in the north of Nigeria by Maureen Sheehy, Pauline Connolly and Tommy Hayden which was called Ilmin Kowa, meaning Learning for all, in Hausa.
This manual is designed as a guide to support anyone with an interest in supporting young adults to grow as persons, especially persons desiring peace. The material is well planned and laid-out so that it is itself a kind of training manual for those who lead others through the various units of the SELL Programme. Furthermore, the content of the material is very appropriate for those for whom the manual has been written. This is because it is the fruit of years of practical on-the-ground work by the authors with the very kind of people for whom the work is intended. So each part of it has been tested and tried and corrected.
John Paul Lederach in his book “Preparing for Peace” talks about two models of Conflict Transformation – the Prescriptive and the Elicitive. Each of these models requires a different type of facilitator or animator whose range of skills could be plotted on a kind of continuum. This is a framework which fits very well into the thinking of the SELL Programme. From the very beginning those presenting the programme have been looking out for participants who show an aptitude and interest in being facilitators themselves who will help move the programme into their home communities. As such people come to the fore they are encouraged and mentored so they gain confidence and competence to lead all the units. At this stage their facilitation skills are on the prescriptive end of the continuum. That means they have a basic programme to pass on and the emphasis is mainly on the content of that programme. As they grow in experience, with further mentoring and capacity building in facilitation, these people will move more towards being elicitive facilitators. This means they will not be so tied to the script of the programme, but will have the ability to listen more to the needs, issues and wisdom of any group with which they will be working and to design ways of sharing that wisdom and empowering the group to build up its skills and capacity and to move forward to awareness building, action planning or whatever other goals the group may set itself.
In another of his books, “Building Peace”, John Paul Lederach identifies three levels of leadership in any community when it comes to issues such as conflict resolution or peace building. These three levels are Top, Middle Range and Grassroots leadership. It is envisaged that the SELL programme will concentrate mostly on the Grassroots and Middle Range levels and consequently those who go on to exercise their skills as facilitators will operate mainly on those two levels.
Finally we live and work in countries with people very connected to their spiritual world as noted in the following quote from Annetta Millar during her time in East Africa - ‘Yesterday I greeted a Kenyan friend while shopping in the market “Eeh” she said “Mungu yuko tu” I am constantly amazed at how often Africans refer to God. In the midst of drought “God is” in the midst of poverty “God is” in the midst of war “God is” in the midst of death ‘God is” In Africa religion permeates all of life. The spiritual and secular are one. Secular is the spiritual taking form. “We are still eating and alive” she continued “God is” and she continued on her way. ‘Sharing boundaries’ Learning the wisdom of Africa. 2003
Given this very real sensitivity to the spiritual we have included short moments of prayer that may prove helpful to you while you work with various groups. These prayers times are sensitive to the faith traditions we encounter.
We wish all of you who use the SELL manual a very exciting ‘learning for life’ experience with those you meet.
SELL Resource Teams, Nigeria, Ghana and Malawi. July 2020
This manual is designed as a guide to support anyone with an interest in supporting young adults to grow as persons, especially persons desiring peace. The material is well planned and laid-out so that it is itself a kind of training manual for those who lead others through the various units of the SELL Programme. Furthermore, the content of the material is very appropriate for those for whom the manual has been written. This is because it is the fruit of years of practical on-the-ground work by the authors with the very kind of people for whom the work is intended. So each part of it has been tested and tried and corrected.
John Paul Lederach in his book “Preparing for Peace” talks about two models of Conflict Transformation – the Prescriptive and the Elicitive. Each of these models requires a different type of facilitator or animator whose range of skills could be plotted on a kind of continuum. This is a framework which fits very well into the thinking of the SELL Programme. From the very beginning those presenting the programme have been looking out for participants who show an aptitude and interest in being facilitators themselves who will help move the programme into their home communities. As such people come to the fore they are encouraged and mentored so they gain confidence and competence to lead all the units. At this stage their facilitation skills are on the prescriptive end of the continuum. That means they have a basic programme to pass on and the emphasis is mainly on the content of that programme. As they grow in experience, with further mentoring and capacity building in facilitation, these people will move more towards being elicitive facilitators. This means they will not be so tied to the script of the programme, but will have the ability to listen more to the needs, issues and wisdom of any group with which they will be working and to design ways of sharing that wisdom and empowering the group to build up its skills and capacity and to move forward to awareness building, action planning or whatever other goals the group may set itself.
In another of his books, “Building Peace”, John Paul Lederach identifies three levels of leadership in any community when it comes to issues such as conflict resolution or peace building. These three levels are Top, Middle Range and Grassroots leadership. It is envisaged that the SELL programme will concentrate mostly on the Grassroots and Middle Range levels and consequently those who go on to exercise their skills as facilitators will operate mainly on those two levels.
Finally we live and work in countries with people very connected to their spiritual world as noted in the following quote from Annetta Millar during her time in East Africa - ‘Yesterday I greeted a Kenyan friend while shopping in the market “Eeh” she said “Mungu yuko tu” I am constantly amazed at how often Africans refer to God. In the midst of drought “God is” in the midst of poverty “God is” in the midst of war “God is” in the midst of death ‘God is” In Africa religion permeates all of life. The spiritual and secular are one. Secular is the spiritual taking form. “We are still eating and alive” she continued “God is” and she continued on her way. ‘Sharing boundaries’ Learning the wisdom of Africa. 2003
Given this very real sensitivity to the spiritual we have included short moments of prayer that may prove helpful to you while you work with various groups. These prayers times are sensitive to the faith traditions we encounter.
We wish all of you who use the SELL manual a very exciting ‘learning for life’ experience with those you meet.
SELL Resource Teams, Nigeria, Ghana and Malawi. July 2020