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Introduction to Social Analysis & Action (SAA)

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Presentation on theme: "Introduction to Social Analysis & Action (SAA)"— Presentation transcript:

1 Introduction to Social Analysis & Action (SAA)
Training Guidelines for SAA Introduce Module 1 to Participants. Explain that this module will last approximately 4 hours. May 2012

2 Learning Objectives By the end of this module, participants will be able to: Describe the different elements of the SAA approach Identify how SAA it is different from traditional ways that CARE staff work Discuss how underlying beliefs, attitudes, norms & inequalities about gender, power and sexuality may influence: their personal lives their work in communities on SRMH the lives of community members and their SRMH Propose ways to integrate the SAA approach with other program approaches and strategies they are using Review learning objectives with participants.

3 Brainstorm Healthy sexual, reproductive and maternal health (SRMH) behaviors Gender and social norms Safe space for reflection and dialogue Instructions: (Total activity time 20 minutes) Divide the room into 3 sections. Assign each section one of the statements on the slide. Instruct them to brainstorm for 3 minutes on phrases, ideas or any words that come to mind related to that topic, and write them on a piece of scratch paper. After 3 minutes, ask participants from each section of the room to share some responses. Ask a volunteer to help record on a flip chart. After all sections of the room have contributed, read the words that participants shared for each of the statements. Thank participants for their contributions. Summarize by explaining to participants that in this module, we will be discussing about these three ideas more in-depth through the approach called Social Analysis and Action.

4 Social Analysis & Action
Is an approach CARE has developed to: Catalyze a process of exploration and reflection Facilitate individual and community actions that support more equitable gender norms and healthy SRMH behaviors Is a process that has three major elements: Analysis / exploration Understanding / seeing things differently Action for improved health Explain further: SRMH stands for sexual, reproductive and maternal health. SAA facilitates critical reflection and dialogue on how social norms, gender norms, and power relations shape our perceptions and expectations of ourselves and others, and influence decisions and behaviors around SRMH.

5 SAA can help create… Opportunities to imagine and discuss alternative ways of thinking and behaving Increased understanding of how some beliefs, attitudes and norms many have a negative effect on SRMH while others may have more positive effects Changes to support more equitable social and gender norms, and healthier SRMH behaviors Further explain: With input and support, increased understanding can facilitate individual and collective actions that promote social and gender equity in households and communities, which can lead to healthy SRMH behaviors.

6 Why do we need a new approach?
To encourage critical thinking around the underlying causes of poverty and poor reproductive health To examine barriers to health such as power, gender, and sexuality To utilize additional tools and skills to address these sensitive issues Explain that SAA helps to: Encourage critical reflection, dialogue and action around the underlying causes of poverty and poor reproductive health. Particularly for SRMH, tend to be around norms related to gender, power, and sexuality. Practical processes and tools help us to: Foster our own understanding of these barriers and explore our comfort addressing them as CARE staff, and Open the types of critical reflection and dialogue in communities that can catalyze a change process to support more equitable norms and better SMRH.

7 SAA and the program cycle
Introduce the cycle: This cycle is an expansion of the basic community action cycle (assess – action plan – implement – evaluate), but is unique in that it: Starts with ourselves (transform staff capacity) Fosters recurring critical reflection and dialogue Requires a unique set of facilitation skills Further explain each step: Step 1: Transforming staff capacity means examining our own values and judgments on gender and sexual norms, and how they may be linked to social inequities and poor health.   This step goes beyond asking why: it requires taking a broader perspective and questioning what one has learned or believes is normative and expected, and how that may hinder staffs’ ability to work on sensitive topics and address their own biases. Step 2: Reflect with the community and facilitate dialogue to explore attitudes and beliefs; challenge inconsistencies that may come out. Step 3: By this point there should be enough information collected to plan activities with community involvement. Step 4: By this point integration of resources and staff should be accomplished and based on the plan for action ready to implement the activities to ‘challenge’ the current ideas. Step 5: Evaluation should be built into the action plan. Point out: You will see that the cycle has arrows, which indicate that it is an ongoing process, however it is important that you do not get stuck in one area.

8 Elements of SAA Critical reflection and dialogue (CRD) around gender and sexual norms and their connection to inequity and poor health Advanced facilitation of CRD process to deepen participants’ understanding of how power, gender and sexuality attitudes / norms may inhibit SRMH First to surface, explore and reflect on individual and community attitudes / norms Then to support specific action for more equitable norms that enable SRMH Further explain each point: CRD goes beyond asking why: it requires taking a broader perspective and questioning what one has learned or believes is normative and expected, and how that may hinder staffs’ ability to work on sensitive topics and address their own biases. CRD requires time and space for personal/group exploration of depth and meaning of previously held worldviews. The goal of facilitation is not to proselytize or promote certain attitudes, norms and behaviors, but rather to facilitate a process of CRD. Summarize slide by explaining: As individuals and communities begin to understand how attitudes and norms may negatively affect the achievement of desired outcomes (such as harmony in one’s relationship, or healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies), and how alternative ways of thinking and behaving may lead to outcomes they value and desire, they may be motivated to change.

9 Traditional Role of CARE Staff
Analyze knowledge, attitudes, and practices through baseline survey Identify problems and solutions based largely on outside knowledge, and without probing barriers related to underlying gender and social norms Build capacity of staff to teach the community Use specific tools and train staff to mobilize communities through messages and information to encourage and drive them to change Aim to reach the largest number of people with information, goods or services Explain: These points illustrate some of the ways that we traditionally work as CARE staff.

10 Why work differently? To increase staff understanding of how:
Attitudes and norms may facilitate or inhibit healthy SRMH behaviors / outcomes, and may influence their work in SRMH They share much of the same social context as the communities in which they work To increase staff comfort with discussing these issues To build staff skills in how to explore, question and challenge in non-judgmental ways without imposing their own beliefs on others (facilitation of CRD) Explain further: SAA is a process that can be used with various actors in the community, and is unique in that it begins with dialogue and reflection among CARE staff. CARE staff explore and reflect on how their own assumptions, beliefs, attitudes, and norms about gender, power and sexuality, influence their decisions and behavior. These repeated reflection and dialogue sessions are intended to accomplish several things: (bullets listed on slide). This process should enable staff to be more effective facilitators of dialogue, reflection and action in the community. Because it is a powerful process, it may also lead staff to change their own attitudes and behaviors with respect to these issues.

11 How we work differently in SAA
Transforming Staff Capacity Through the SAA process, we undertake critical reflection and dialogue to recognize how our values and beliefs influence our work: Are we the same as the community? Do we have the same problems? Do we have the same beliefs and attitudes? Are we that different from the people we serve in terms of ethnicity, religion, tribe, economic status or education? Note to facilitator: See SAA manual page xx.

12 How we work differently in SAA
Reflecting with Community Discuss underlying social factors including customs, gender norms, sexuality and power relations Enable community to understand their reality, and never stop asking “why?” Challenge communities on how their values and social norms impact their lives and SRMH Support communities to envision alternatives and to enact gender equitable norms and healthier SRMH Introduce slide with following explanation: We can utilize our capacity to facilitate critical reflection and dialogue, including posing questions to the community to prompt deeper thinking and debate, and to negotiate diverse opinions.

13 Exercise: Values Clarification
Select one of the tools for this activity, either: “Vote with Your Feet” or “Four Corners” (Total activity time 1hr). At the end of the activity, summarize with the following key points: Our values and attitudes are not “right or wrong” They are simple the lens through which we view our world. Our attitudes and values are often contextual and situational – often they are not black and white. It may not be easy to know how we feel. Even people who seem to be like us and who we respect may have different ideas and opinions – it is our responsibility to respect these differences as people have their reasons for believing as they do.

14 Summary Norms about gender, sexuality and power are key factors that influence health We are not experts – we explore and change together Pose questions – avoid “delivering” messages We partner with important opinion leaders influencers Further explain the points on the slide: We are now “co-explorers” with the people in the community. Our role is to catalyze discussion, encourage reflection, and challenge people’s assumptions where they may be negatively influence reproductive health. We do not have the answers regarding what needs to happen. Additionally, in the course of the exploration, we may identify areas where we want things to change in our own lives as well. If we don’t have the answers, it also means we don’t have “messages” regarding what people need to do. Our primary tool is open questions. We ask why and how, facilitating people to think about and clarify how they might want to change their attitudes, beliefs, and practices. (Note: this is not a substitute for informational messages around reproductive health or family planning) We work through partners who can influence social norms because they are respected by the community. If we don’t identify these people and work with them, they may be barriers to the changes in norms we may be encouraging.

15 Discussion How would using an SAA approach change the work you are currently doing? How might using an SAA approach strengthen you projects or work? What challenges do you foresee in integrating SAA into your work? Instructions: (Total activity time 30 minutes) Divide participants into small groups of three (triads). Instruct them to discuss for 10 minutes to answer the questions listed on the slide. Ask the triads to take notes and be prepared to share responses with the plenary. After 10 minutes, ask some of the triads to share their responses. Allow others to contribute any new responses. (15 minutes total). Summarize by thanking participants, and point out that they have already begun the process of transforming their own capacity through self-reflection!

16 Integrating SAA into other programming
Many social factors influence other sectors as well (e.g. access to economic assets or education) Combining technical interventions with interventions that address social factors can lead to greater impact CARE’s “Program Approach” is an effort to shift our way of working to make more of a long term impact While this training and content are oriented towards SRMH, many of the tools and issues are relevant more broadly Summarize slide by adding that: It is important to recognize that these social norms influence outcomes in a variety of different sectors. SAA now being used in a range of different sectors and programs across CARE.

17 Country Office Examples: Integrating SAA into Program Approach
Instructions: (Total activity time 45 minutes) Divide participants into 4 small groups. Distribute copies of Honduras country office example to each member of groups 1 & 2, and copies of Ethiopia country office example to groups 3 & 4. Instruct groups to spend 15 minutes reviewing together their assigned country office example, and afterwards be prepared to present to the plenary for 5 minutes explaining the following about their CO example: What is the example about? What was the SAA component? What were some of lessons learned? What are some ideas that your group saw could be incorporated into your programs? Optional question: How did it support the overall Program Approach? Remind groups to assign roles within groups (i.e. note-taker, presenter, time-keeper, chair person, etc) After 15 minutes of preparation, ask only one group to present for each example, allow the other group assigned to the same CO example to contribute more points after their counterparts’ presentation. Allow the groups assigned to the other CO example to ask questions or make comments. Repeat this same process for the second CO example. Summarize activity by thanking participants and pointing out that there are many more examples of CARE CO integrating SAA into their programs, and that throughout this training we will explore together new and creative ways to use SAA to support our work!

18 Key Points Through SAA, we can facilitate dialogue and catalyze social change in communities. We need community partners; without their collaboration, they may become barriers themselves. Creation of a safe space for dialogue and exploration is key for effective facilitation. Through ongoing critical reflection and dialogue to explore, analyze and at times challenge underlying social norms, we can work towards a vision for change and action to facilitate and support that change. Summarize module by stating that: The key principles distinguishing SAA from other approaches include: The participation of CARE and implementing partners in a reflection process is fundamental to the work we can do in communities to facilitate dialogue and catalyze social change. We work with community partners not only to achieve sustainability and scale, but ALSO because these partners may be influential in maintaining or shifting social norms in the community. Effectiveness depends on the ability to create safe space for dialogue and exploration, even when people don’t agree. Ultimately, this enables individual and collective actions that promote gender equality and that support health SRMH behaviors.

19 Exercise: Definitions on Gender and Sexuality
Guide participants through the activity on definitions from the Resources for Discussing Gender Package. (Total activity time: 30 minutes) Purpose: This activity will provide an opportunity to review, discuss and clarify definitions of key concepts.

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