Peer Assist Guidelines

From Harambee Wiki

Congratulations on taking up the opportunity to have fellow workshop participants provide insights and advice to you based on their experience and wisdom! There is no doubt that you will find it valuable.

The process we are using for this exercise is known as a ‘Peer Assist’. Peer Assists are events which bring together individuals to share their experiences, insights and knowledge on an identified challenge or problem.

It would be useful for you to think about the following things as you prepare for your Peer Assist:

1. The Peer Assistee presents his/her situation to the group. The problem or challenge should be summarised on the flipchart in point form and articulated as clearly as possible in less than 5 minutes
   
2. Why? The Peer Assist is about getting feedback from others. Therefore, although you do need to describe your proposed activity and specific challenge, the more time you leave for others to give you feedback, the more you will get out of the session.
   
3. Ask for someone to help facilitate by keeping track of the discussion on a flipchart and by providing an environment conducive to sharing experiences. The facilitator can then:
   

a. Encourage participants in your Peer Assist to ask questions bringing out details of the situation.
b. Invite participants to make suggestions based on their experiences of how the situation might be improved.
c. Towards the end of the session, perhaps invite a final suggestion or idea from each participant.

A summary of the ideas is then presented.

Some additional tips:

For Peer Assistees

• Choose an issue or challenge which is authentic, i.e. which you personally face in your work
• Choose an issue or challenge which is concrete, i.e. that will lend itself to group problem-solving
• Clearly articulate this issue or challenge in no more than 5 minutes… practice telling the story beforehand
• Be open to all suggestions from the participants; avoid getting into a “yes, but…” defensive mode
• When moving on to a new round, use the facilitator’s notes to help summarize previous suggestions.

For Facilitators

• Once the story has been told by the Peer Assistee, encourage questions for clarification from participants
• Facilitate the discussions to promote fair and equal participation – paraphrase, summarize and draw people out.
• If there is little input, or a handful of people have spoken, do a tour-de-table and ask for individual input (participants have the option to pass).
• If necessary, remind participants that all suggestions are valid and should not be criticized
• Use a flipchart. Graphics can be useful.
• Write legibly and in large font so everyone can read the notes on the flipchart.

For Participants

• If you need clarification, ASK!
• Don’t hesitate to suggest ideas and propose solutions, even if they are very specific to your experience… they can sometimes trigger new ways of approaching issues