Gjilan Gender Training

We were lucky enough to pick up a contract to conduct a gender training for the teachers' union in Gjilan. We did the training for the World Learning STAR Network program. This is an NGO that works on women's issues in Kosovo. They have many projects in the Balkans and this was one of them. What a hoot for us to be able to work together on this. It took several days to prepare with the help of some of our friends back home as were were not gender specialists. But hey, with enough preparation and training backgrounds we were able to make it work. We worked with two of the local teachers in developing the program and had two great translators.

The goal was to work with the our co-trainers to make the teachers more aware of the various stereotypes in gender and human rights as they deal with minorities. Then how to to use their outdated text books (about 20 years) as the basis for showing their students how the words and images show a society that doesn't reflect equality and how to use them as tools to model the future they envision. Needless to say it was an interesting, and in the end, fruitful 2 days.

Here is our crew. Fuji at the note pad (where else would she be), Ellie one of our interpreters, jim and Arjeta our other interpreter (also writing). Working through an interpreter adds another dimension to a training. There were 22 teachers present for the 2 days. They were a good group but there was a clear difference in teaching style between the older and younger teachers.

Shabani is one of our training partners. He and Indira got together with us the week before to establish the learning goals. They then taught the first day covering gender and humans issues specific to Kosovo.
On the second day we took this information, ran them through a visioning exercise to create the school system that they wanted to see in 2010. Then applied that vision to create a school that was gender and ethnically diverse and free. After this we went into the text books to look for examples of words and images that didn't match this vision. Once identified we created exercises to use these words and images to show the old values and replace them via lecture and exercises with the vision of the future.

Not bad for 2 days work!
Fuji and Arjeta working through a translation to give a break out group some clarification. We hit a real road block for awhile. The word stereotype does not translate well into Albanian and this word was at the foundation of the training.

Luckily we had an exercise where we shared 10 gender stereotypes from the US(5 male/5 female). After this cultural exchange we were able to talk about Kosovaran stereotypes. There are similarities but there are unique differences. We all learned something.

One of the groups reporting reporting back. We're on the side getting a real time translation in order the respond with follow up questions and guide the discussion. This took awhile to get the hang of.
The groups busily working away while jim confers with Arjeta as to the progress of the groups.
This is getting serious a three way pow wow. Now how do we find a comparable word in Albanian for stereotype!
Ellie and Jim checking in during the text book exercise. By George I think they got it! The younger teachers were really sharp!

By day's end everyone reported to the group the 3 things they were going to start doing as of Monday to bring gender and human rights equity into the class room.

We're scheduled for a follow up visit in a month. It will be interesting to see what has been implemented and what resistance was encountered from the administration and teachers stuck in the old school of thought (who also are the union leadership.)

We learned that the traditional method of teaching is for a student to memorize the lesson from the text and recite it to the teacher and the class. The younger teachers are looking for more interactive ways to involve their students so they can practice the theories learned. Much needs to be done for the education system because for the past 10 years these folks worked without schools, pay or texts. The education system was "underground" for Kosovar Albanians as they did not participate in Serb institutions.

When Melovish took power a parallel system for everything was developed. In the schools the Serb children had the schools, texts and the teachers got paid. The Albanians had to use peoples home, create their own books and work without pay. These teachers are a dedicated bunch. It was a pleasure and an honor the work with them.

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