Bangladesh: ADVANTAGE GIZ – ‘Happy Life’ Catalyst Process November 2025

Participants

(Insert Excel sheet when confirmed)

Venue requirements

• Space for 6 tables for group work with large area in middle for role plays etc.
• Facilitator table with materials at the back.
• Area at the front for champions to present in turn.
• Permission to post diagram flipcharts on the wall for group work and to see progression of tools or need lots of flipchart stands.
• Places for participants to mix in the evenings
• Internet

Materials

For each participant to use and take away, including facilitation team:

Sticky Colour Label to put their personal symbol and name. They will wear these from the first evening to Day 2-3 but can then glue them to the front of their diary notebooks.

Diary Notebooks A4 hardback, lined or blank pages that are think enough to take biro. Preferably nice cover attractive for the champion group to want to use, and locally available to buy for peers with whom they share. Can be varied designs to choose. They can decorate this with some of their card drawings etc from the group work. As well as their diagrams and their tool steps for sharing at the back. It might be good if there can be some sort of pouch for keeping any information sheets, but that can be made by them.

Drawing materials: Red, green, blue and black pens – felt tip or biro per participant. Pencil, rubber, sharpener. In locally available zipper case. These can be of varying colours etc for choice.

Certificates of participation – small, laminated with photograph? or paper to stick inside the back cover of the diary. Attractive to show and interest other people to learn.

Workshop consumables: (need to have more details of participants before being precise on amounts):

• Red green blue and black markers (2 sets per group and 3 spare sets for facilitation) with 6xx10 sheet sets flipcharts for each group feedback of per exercise with 2 spare sets for plenary/songs and other instructions.
• Sticky tape/paper-scotch and selected pastel-coloured card or post-it notes for drawings that can be added or moved on the flipcharts for each activity of each group and Tree of Action Fruits ceremony.
• Color stickers 4 sets
• А4 color paper (light blue, light green, yellow and pink colors) ??sheets to cut into 6 or coloured post-its???
• A4 paper white 1 large pack for additional notes and facilitation team.

Glue pots and brushes or glue sticks to stick drawings and info sheets into the Diaries.

Tree of Action Fruits and certification ceremony:

Pre-prepared cloth or large Tree framework on 6 flipcharts stuck together for the Tree of Diamond Dreams ceremony. Together with cards and markers as above.

Core Facilitation Principles and Strategies

Applause agreed at the beginning of on Day 1 to agree as an uplifting energiser that will be used to celebrate participant presentations throughout the activities.

Pairwise to pyramid recaps to start each day with people that know each other least to maximise communication for movement-building. Specific questions with clear quantifiable outcomes (eg 3-5 advantages, 3-5 remaining questions) to be decided to respond to issues arising in the participatory process

Safe spaces for individual reflection to start each activity with drawing as a fun and liberating activity. Selected favourite individual drawings from ALL participants to be photographed on Day 5 as training quality assessment. EVERYONE does their own independent drawing without help from others.

Group activities to be self-facilitating within the group with rotating leadership and systematic listening to voices of ALL participants. Mixed group discussions to start with champion presentations first.

Plenaries start with champion presentations first and ending with organisation staff to increase the visibility and autonomous voice of the champions from disadvantaged families. Plenaries are the main part that will be photographed, videoed and documented in detail.

All activities lead to SMART ACTION fruits, even if analysis has to be shortened. Participants can deepen analysis to get more SMART Action Fruits later at home.

Consistent reinforcement of progress tracking skills, including colour -coding.

Consistent linkage of peer sharing with personal ‘enlightened interest’ in exchanging experiences and developing allies and support networks to progress towards their own visions.

Facilitation Roles

Asel is like a film director or ‘puppet master’ ensuring the smooth running of participation in groups, independence of thinking and drawing and that the voices of people who speak least are heard and listened to. Alongside the wisdom of those with experience. Drawings should be clear so she needs less translation. She will direct the tools from the back.

Enas and GIZ group to assist Asel if needed. But they will also have their own group activities.

SAM to liaise with Saliya to collate inputs from the plenary, update the toolkit from the workshop inputs and assist with Bangla translation and corrections from Google Translate. They will be in charge of photographs and video of plenaries – good SMART phone footage is fine.

Champion and activist participants to focus on developing their own skills and plans, and drawing/writing their own tools and peer sharing guide.

Partner staff to focus on developing their own skills and plans, and drawing/writing their own tools and notes on Asel’s facilitation and implementation questions to draft their own GALS guide. This will be discussed at on-line advanced GALS follow-up and support training in December.

Participant Groups

Champions from disadvantaged families co-facilitate each other together so they learn to lead and give each other confidence to speak throughout the workshop. Their focus is on what they need in their notebooks to:

• to achieve their own personal visions and
• for peer sharing in their family, friend and community networks with minimal external support.

Activist volunteers already have some leadership experience should gain an advanced understanding of visual communication and ways of addressing their leadership challenges. To make sure leaders advance as quickly and far as possible to share later, and are able to focus on their own learning without always needing to help the others. Their focus is on what they need in their notebooks:

• to appreciate the potential depth and power of the picture diagrams for their own life and leadership
• to ensure that their support to champions validates champion progress towards their visions without duplicating or undermining the catalyst role of the champions
• to respond to champion support and information needs and troubleshoot community and family issues that may arise
• to ensure their role does not overload themselves.

Organisation staff in charge of overall implementation, budgets and decision-making. Their focus is what they need in their notebooks to have a really advanced understanding of:

• visual communication and advantages and challenges of integration across different types of intervention
• GALS workshop facilitation strategies employed by Asel in preparation for upscale and gender justice events after the election.

Team-building and planning Process

The team-building process maximises sharing and skills strengthening across and between the 3 types of group in the different days and activities:

Days 0, 1.2 and 2 Visioning and Action Tree: Soulmate groups by vision so people mix across obvious categories, followed random mixing for recaps.

Days 1.1 My Life Diamond and Day 3 Empowerment Web: Role skills groups so that people from similar backgrounds and skills across organisations and locations support each other to adapt the methodology to the needs of their role in the process.

Day 5: Happy Life Action Highway: Location/organisation planning groups with champions, activists and staff to plan.

Groups for songs and over meals and evenings should maximise opportunities for making new friends and solidarity and support networks across the ADVANTAGE process, but details will depend on how the process evolves.