SKWID Training

I spent 5 days in Birmingham at Harborne Hall from 27th August to 31 August doing the SKWID course. SKWID stands for Skills for Working In Development and it is a very true description of the course. It was so helpful and allowed us to practice the skills that we will need to implement VSO's plan - sharing skills and changing lives. It also gave us the great opportunity to think about how we work with local people, involve them through participation and how we network in country. It was also reassuring to consider that our placements are not standalone, we do not have to change the world and implement all the changes during a one year placement. We are taking steps towards meeting those goals and if we dont meet the goals during our placement that is also ok, we move in increments.
It was also great to meet 12 other fantastic VSO vols and 3 great facilitators. It was so nice to spend a weekend talking to others who are going through the VSO experience and who understand what it is I am going to be doing. I also got the chance to get some great advice from two of the other participants on fundraising and marketing that reassured me that I can do the job I am going to be doing and that there is a network of VSO vols in country and throughout the placement countries. It was also great to meet 4 other Irish volunteers!
At the end of the course someone said that if we looked around our group and thought of the skills in the room, we could really see how VSO's strategy of sharing skills works.

I am pretty shattered right now having graduated yesterday just after SKWID and the exhaustion of those 5 days. I am looking forward to a quiet weekend reading up more on Mongolia!