SDC conducts a team building seminar

On March 20th, the first team building session was held by Daniel Ress, US Peace Corps, and Kenneth Lee O. Materum, Warriors For Peace, at the New Government Center of Bacolod City. Twenty members of the SDC staff, including Mrs. Gina Castro, Center Head, along with a few volunteers from HOST-NGO and Virlanie Foundation participated into this one-day workshop.
The seminar is part of the SDC capacity building program implemented in collaboration with SDC's partners, HOST-NGO and Virlanie Foundation. Following an assessment phase, several tools have been designed to be used at the center in order to reinforce the team motivation: 'appreciation board', 'Employee of the Month award' and 'community plan'. The objective of the day was to introduce a positive culture within the SDC and to give the opportunity to each staff to express himself/herself.

The working atmosphere was friendly and the seminar started with an ice breaker, “The Boat Is Sinking”, which illustrated the necessity of team cooperation and good communication. After this activity, the appreciation board was created to underline every little thing that the team is doing on a daily basis, which contributes into making the center a better place for the kids to live and for the adults to work. The Employee of the Month award was welcomed with enthusiast by the team. Each member was involved to decide on the selection criteria, based on attendance, behavior, listening skills, commitment to work, capacity to take initiatives, etc. The discussion led to the staff agreement on the policy, voting process and type of award. Upon lunch break, the Participatory Analysis for Community Action (PACA) methodology was used to identify and list the strengths and concerns at the SDC. This participatory process resulted in community mapping, calendar, assessment of needs and priority ranking. The children's safety has been ranked as foremost priority to be addressed at the SDC.

Overall this seminar was a success and it highlighted the necessity to conduct such sessions in order to motivate and commit the staff members. Team spirit is indeed one of the most important values to be promoted to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of our support in development projects.