Our work with Handicap International

Theatre and participatory facilitation training for Handicap International (HI) psychosocial support teams

Arts for Action delivered training to HI protection and psychosocial support teams in the use of drama, games and songs. This training aimed to equip staff with the skills to be able to use interactive, theatre techniques as part of their awareness raising work with Rohingya community groups.

Training methodology introduced participants to skills that facilitate empowering, interactive learning amongst target groups, using the following principles: Practicing non-judgement, equality, allowing freedom, creating  safe space and being responsive, playful and non-directive. Through training and mentorship participants learnt-in-action how to create and lead interactive theatre games. They were taken through exercises that demonstrated experientially how theatre for development works. In addition, the group explored some basic principles of good facilitation and Theatre of the Oppressed, practiced facilitating games, and experienced how forum theatre role plays can be created in a workshop. The group explored how these methodologies could be applied within the specific groups they worked with, and worked to develop issue specific pieces of forum theatre that they could use within their communities.

In addition to the training Arts for Action mentored participants in the camps to use the approaches covered during the training.