More action, less talk

MS Sudan and its partners have now fully engaged in voter education activities. The focus is on innovative and participatory methods.

By Janne Bruvoll, information officer, MS Sudan

24. October 2009

”You have arrived too late at the polling station – go back”. This is the message for the participant landing on the sulky face on the board game and his game piece is quickly moved back to the great delight of the other participants. Everyone wants to reach the goal and vote as the first because then you win the game.

”This game is both entertaining and educative,” a civic educator from Nimule says after having tried the MS Sudan voter education game for the first time.

The board game about the coming elections in Sudan is only one of the innovative training materials which MS Sudan has developed together with its partners. The game is used by the 12 MS partner organisations involved in voter education leading up to the national elections in Sudan currently scheduled for April 2010.

Calls for action
In addition to the board game, the MS partners use debate cards and forum theatre in their outreach activities.

”In Southern Sudan, teaching and training are seldom done in an inclusive and participatory manner and the methods are highly influenced by the NGO culture of flip charts, workshops and a lot of talking. But this is not the appropriate method to use in a society where most people are illiterate. Therefore, it is important for MS Sudan and our partners that the methods we use are participatory and we always try to develop alternative ways to do our training activities,” says Camilla Ankerstjerne, training advisor for MS Sudan. She continues:

“The advantage of forum theatre and other participatory training methods is that they call for action and can contribute to change. It is important not only to talk about change and pour information into people’s brains. They also need to understand and see how they can be part of the solution. Otherwise, our efforts will be in vain.”

Other NGO’s working with voter education in Southern Sudan have also realised the advantages in the participatory methods and they express interest in using the MS Sudan materials in their work.