Capacity Building Workshop On Using Soft Skills In Non-Formal Education

Date 12-Oct-2015 to 15-Oct-2015

Location Vientiane, Laos PDR

Format International

PRIA facilitated a four-day capacity building workshop in Vientiane, Laos PDR between 12 and 15 October 2015 on ‘Using the concept of soft skills in non-formal education’ for regional partners of DVV International.

DVV International’s regional office is located in Lao PDR. The workshop was organised in collaboration with PRIA and Department of Non-formal Education (DNFE), Laos.  DVV International supports initiatives of PRIA International Academy.

A total of 46 participants (of which 13 were women) from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos attended the workshop. The number of participants exceeded the initial expectation (of 24 participants). Participants from Vietnam were from SEAMEO Cell (Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization). SEAMEO is a regional intergovernmental organization established in 1965 among governments of Southeast Asian countries to promote regional cooperation in education, science and culture. Cambodia was represented by NGO Education Partnership (NEP) which is a membership organization promoting collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) in Cambodia. Participants from Laos were from Department of Non-formal Education (DNFE).  Other workshop participants were from Lao Women’s Union and Lao Youth Union. Some local DVV staff also attended.

The sessions focused on understanding the concepts of soft skills and their importance and use in the non-formal education set up; understanding interpersonal communication skills; developing an understanding on decision making and leadership; and developing negotiation skills. The sessions were conducted in mixed mode, i.e., theory and practice based sessions. Participation by everyone was ensured by using interactive exercises for individuals as well as groups. This helped participants learn and also generated a lot of questions from them, helping in further clarification of concepts.

Participation was keen and sustained through all days, even though English was a constraint for a lot of participants from Lao PDR (this issue was addressed to a large extent with the help of a translator). The participants already had knowledge of soft skills. This workshop helped them use their knowledge more effectively in their work and personal lives.

On the last day of the workshop participants discussed ideas for cooperation at the regional level. Partners listed down project ideas in which soft skills could be incorporated into non-formal education. The focus of this exercise was also to assess what kind of support PRIA and DVV could provide in implementing these project ideas.

In the words of a DVV representative: ‘Overall, the workshop was a great success and provided the participants new insights to take home.’