Getting Smart with Learning Transfer to Change Society
Can you imagine my surprise and delight as I sat in a modest meeting room in the hot, humid back streets of Siam Reap, Cambodia, being talked through a local learning program structure that included learning transfer follow up!
Vanthat Kong, Director of the Women’s Resource Centre (WRC) was sharing the way that the WRC had structured their learning programs to include a learning transfer element to gain maximum impact. I was delighted to see the thought and spacing that was already in play.
The Women Resource Centre is delivering vital work in Cambodia, offering emotional support, referral services and informal education that tackle endemic social problems such as:
- Around 2/3 Cambodians today are under the age of 30, thanks to decades of war
- 7% of women said their parents wouldn’t allow them to go to school
- 7% women have experienced physical violence before they turn 18
- 25% of women have reported domestic violence with the true figure suspected to be much higher
Their essential work educates and supports women and their families on health education, financial literacy, and legal rights.
This video sharing the impact that they have had is beyond moving. 11 teary eyed coaches watched in silence at the changes in society that the work of the WRC is facilitating.
To back track, I was in Cambodia with SHE Investments, a social enterprise dedicated to the economic empowerment of women in Cambodia. They support women micro entrepreneurs by providing business training, mentoring and ongoing support to help their businesses scale and create social and economic impact. The SHE Coaches Tour offers trained coaches the opportunity to use their skills in a different culture and environment, volunteering their services for women who would otherwise not have the chance to benefit from them. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to be able to offer my support to the work of SHE and WRC.
I was thrilled to be able to return to the WRC a few days later and talk through the Turning Learning into ActionTM action plan template that could add value to the follow up learning transfer sequence they already had in place. We discussed basic techniques that will help facilitate reflection and empower people to change.
My trips to the Women’s Resource Centre were only one aspect of the trip – there was much more to follow. I was honoured to be able to sponsor the pitch fest competition at the 2016 Annual SHE Conference, and although my coaching was really tested when we worked with the Cambodian entrepreneurs via an entrepreneur, as a team we did some great work.
How can you support?
Do watch the WRC video – it’s only 5 minutes and it will stay with you for much longer. Engage your mind and heart in something beyond the social media storms of Trump, Kanye West, or Brangelina, and reflect on real heartwarming stories of change. It will give you an idea of the impact that learning can have with challenges in society.
Meantime, if you are an experienced coach with business experience and would like to be involved next year, do drop Inta Sellick an email if you feel drawn to the cause. And of course, if you feel you can contribute to help the WRC become sustainably funded and supported do reach out to them.
Or if you simply feel inspired and want to share the love by forwarding the video, please do.
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None of this would have been possible without the help of others. Thank you to Geachleang Seng who supported me on the follow up trip to WRC, Barbara Anderson and Inta Sellick for leading the group and Celia Boyd for being the leading force behind SHE Investments in Cambodia.