SOLID- Sustainable Opportunities for Leaders in Internal Development

This past week I have finally been able to have my first official SOLID meeting!!! What does this mean??....It means I’m happy (extra happy)! Let me first explain. The acronym SOLID stands for sustainable opportunities for leaders in internal development, and is a program that was created by a PCV right here in Malawi. This PCV in particular really wanted to focus on the sustainability of the projects she was doing in her community (as we all should be doing because it is a primary goal of PC). With the idea of sustainable development in mind she came up with the program SOLID. After experimenting with this program in her community she presented the curriculum to the Peace Corps office, and since then a few other PCVs from each region have come together, made a manual for this program, and because of all of this our training group was the first group of PCVs in Malawi to receive training on how to start our own SOLID groups in our communities.

We were advised during this training that if we wanted to start a SOLID group to try and get it rolling during site lockdown, as this is a period where we have plenty of time, are focused on integrating, and are not starting any big projects quite yet. So, with that being said, I have been trying to start this program in my community for some time now (I’ve had struggles with Malawian time…aka this happening very slowly), and can finally say that after many attemps and failures I had my first official meeting this past Saturday. It was amazing, and only made me that more excited to be working side-by-side with people directly in the village.

Like I stated before SOLID is a program focused on sustainable development, but it is also much more than that. The curriculum has 3 main goals: skills and knowledge transfer, create opportunities through community empowerment/motivation, and sustainable impact. With these goals the idea is that this program can still continue when the PCV leaves his or her site because after the PCV empowers and teaches the information to the first group, that group can then transfer and teach what they learned to another group of interested people in their village, making the program sustainable. The lessons are focused on assessing the communities needs, monitoring and evaluating, business management, professional skills, with other supplemental lessons added depending on the group’s wants and needs. There are 15 lessons in the manual, but factoring in the thought that each community’s specific needs are different each SOLID training is unique with the addition of other necessary lessons. (For example, if the group wants to learn about Malaria, or how to make chiponde/PB so they can sell it to raise money for a project, we can add these lessons into the curriculum). Plus there will be lessons for review, as there are 2 quizzes, and a final exam so that we can evaluate what the group is learning and what topics we need to give more focus too. Because my SOLID group will need to be able to teach this information to the community themselves it is so important that they truly understand and know the information we are giving them. This is why we give a final exam, and only when this test is passed is when a member of the SOLID group (trainee) becomes a SOLID volunteer. When the exam is passed the trainee receives a certificate stating that they are qualified to teach what they have learned throughout the SOLID training. It is then up to them to find the next group of motivated people in their community to teach what they have just learned to this new group. During this second round of training I will simply be there to observe and add suggestions, but it will be up to the SOLID volunteers to do the majority of the teaching. With this program we are empowering the village to be able to do things themselves, and this is how we hope it can be sustainable without the need of a PCV or other reliance on outside help.

The 22 HSA’s at Chipoka Health Center have been a blessing to me already, introducing me to the villages during out reaches, etc, but with the start of a SOLID group a few in particular have become even more so. For this program I have chosen two wonderful and dedicated HSA’s from my health center to help me implement SOLID in a nearby village known as Mlenga. Isaac and Mayasero have shown interest and commitment from the start and I can tell that they will be counterparts that will help me get this program rolling. As I learn Chichewa slowly, they have been my main translators when I am speaking to people in the village who may only speak Chichewa; for example, my whole SOLID group. Right now I have about 10 dedicated SOLID trainees and not one of them speaks English. However, because the only requirement for being a SOLID trainee is being committed, dedicated, and motivated to create change (we want SOLID to be available to any motivated individual in the village; English speaking, Chichewa speaking, illiterate, man, woman, youth, etc) we do what we can to accommodate everyone! What this means is that every week Isaac, Mayasero, and myself meet and I teach them the SOLID lesson for that week. We translate everything into Chichewa, I write out main points on flipchart paper, and we go over any questions they may have about what we are teaching in the village that week. Isaac and Mayasero are the main facilitators and teachers during these lessons because of the language barrier, so I feel so blessed that they have spared some of their time each week to help me. It is clear that they want to truly understand the importance of sustainable community development, and want to help make a difference in these rural areas with the process of this program. As Isaac told my SOLID group this last week, it is not him, or myself, or Mayasero that will ultimately benefit from this SOLID program, but it is they. It is the people that we are teaching who are the people who will make the ultimate change in their communities. It is they who need to be motivated and dedicated to help their villages improve in a positive way. It is they who will make the behavioral change happen. We are just there to help that process move along by showing them the opportunities that are waiting for them and to help them find the confidence they need to make those opportunities realities.

So, with all that being said, my first meeting was a success. We gave a lesson about the differences in development and sustainable development and what it means to be a leader versus a facilitator. The meeting started and ended with a prayer, and at the end of the lesson we went around in a circle and each of the members of my group said something to help encourage and motivate their fellow trainees on how important this training will be to help better their village and lives, and to keep coming…..on time haha.

#peacecorps