A family planning program will have different staffing needs, and thus different training needs, in the various stages of its existence. Early in the life of a family planning program or organization, training will focus on: basic clinical skills; counseling for family planning service providers; communication techniques for providing family planning information and education to prospective clients; and basic training in the development and implementation of management support systems. As the program expands and adds new staff and services, additional training will be required. Management will need to become more efficient, and managers will need to be trained to develop and manage more sophisticated programs as the organization matures and faces increasingly complex issues such as financial sustainability, greater difficulty in attracting new acceptors, and improving the quality of services.

At any stage in the life of a program, formal in-depth training may be required. If the program is small and the manager happens to be an experienced trainer, she or he may do much or all of the designing and planning of the training program and much of the actual training as well. If the manager does not have much training experience, it is best to have one or more training specialists doing the designing, planning, and training. Even if you, the manager, are note closely involved in its preparation, you will probably be responsible for making sure that the training brings about the desired results and is well run. Whether or not you are a member of the training team, as a manager you need to have a good general understanding of:

• How to tell when an employee needs training;
• How to do a training needs assessment;
• How to prepare a training program;
• How to write a proposal to request funds for staff training;
• How to manage logistics for training;
• How to evaluate a training program;
• How to follow up after the training program ends.

The training process is made up of a continuous cycle of activities, as the diagram below shows.

Although you, as manager, may not be doing the training yourself, you need to understand the various activities that occur during each step of the training process, as well as the role you can play to assure that your staff training is as effective as possible. These steps will now be explained in detail.

Tools and Techniques - Tools for Performing a Training Needs Assessment

Example from Ghana - Results of a Training Needs Assessment

As a family planning manager, you can be actively involved in planning the training program. This involves both educational and administrative components:

• Setting overall course objectives
• Developing a general plan for training
• Writing objectives for each training session
• Determining the training approach, methodology, and techniques
• Developing training sessions plans
• Determining resource requirements
• Developing the budget for training activities
• Preparing the training program proposal

If you supervise a training specialist instead of conducting the training yourself, then your role is to oversee rather than to carry out these activities.

All these steps will now be described in detail, followed by a complete example.

Setting overall course objectives

The first step is to formulate general training objectives, which are determined by the needs revealed in the needs assessment. The manager may collaborate with the training specialist in formulating the objectives, which outline the skills that the trainees should acquire by the end of the program. The objectives could also include making the participants aware of the importance of teamwork and of delivering high-quality services that are responsive to the needs of the clients. These objectives will guide the trainer as she or he selects:

• The training content (the subjects which training will cover);
• The training approach (how the content will be delivered, such as through lectures or participative exercises);
• The evaluation methods to be used during and at the end of training.

Developing a general plan for training

A brief analysis of the general objectives of your training program will reveal the content areas to be covered. Training in different skill areas requires different approaches. Staff development training is best organized into sessions, each covering a different topic. In clinical areas, training would begin with basic tasks and build toward increased complexity. For clinical and management training, sessions should follow each other in a logical sequence, and completion of one session should lead easily into the beginning of the next.

Organizing training into sessions also works well in phased training, in which a training program is divided into alternating periods of organized training and on-the-job or field experience. Phased training is particularly appropriate when you want to train regional or community-level workers who are responsible for a variety of tasks, such as family planning services delivery and IEC, as well as program management and community development. It is also appropriate when you are training people who can't be away from their jobs or homes for an extended period of time.

Writing objectives for each training session

While planning the training program, the training specialist should make up a list of specific training objectives for each training session. These objectives should flow from the general training objectives, which the manager has already established. An example of a general objective could be: "By the end of the training program, the trainees will be able to set up an accounting system for a new project." Each general training objective can be broken down into a number of concrete, specific objectives. These specific objectives should state how the trainee will be able to demonstrate the new knowledge, skill, or attitude that she or he has just learned. For example, "At the end of the session, the trainees will be able to explain the difference between cash and accrual accounting." Each training session will then encompass at least one of these training objectives.

In competency-based training, where trainees are taught not only the skills, facts, and attitudes that directly relate to their jobs, the objectives of training must be known to the trainees. Ideally, trainees are involved in determining their learning objectives. This can be done through the needs assessment process or in the group during the first day of the training program.

You may also wish to discuss how the service provider's attitudes and values about family planning, clients, and teamwork affect the quality of the services provided.

Determining the training methodology and techniques

Training programs whose purpose is to improve the task-related skills of staff members should be competency-based (teaching skills which are directly related to their jobs), and the trainees should be actively involved in the training process. In competency-based training, for example, CBD agents who distribute pills and condoms would be taught how to screen women who want to use the pill, how to instruct people on pill and condom use, and how to fill out and analyze record forms.

The key to success for competency-based training is the active participation of the trainees. To assure this kind of participation, you should choose trainers who teach through demonstration and practice rather than through lecture alone. These trainers draw on the work experiences of the trainees and actively involve them in the training process. The role of the trainer in this case is to help the trainees to master skills that will enable them to perform their jobs more effectively.

Knowledge can also be imparted by traditional means such as lectures, reading assignments, or by observing a film or an actual event. With traditional methods, information retention is improved by repetitive exercises, written exercises, and discussion. However, skills can only be taught through demonstration, structured exercises, and actual practice. Attitudes are most effectively taught (or awareness raised) through group discussions, role playing, feedback exercises, and actual practice followed by feedback.

Good trainers will select and use a variety of techniques appropriate to each skill which trainees must master. These techniques will help trainees to acquire knowledge, develop new skills, and reinforce the new skills and knowledge.

Developing the training plans

When planning competency-based training, more time should be devoted to experiential learning and practice than to lecturing. Roughly 30 percent of the time should be spent on giving information and 70 percent on using the information and practicing the new skills. In developing a detailed training plan, trainers should establish how many times key tasks must be practiced in training to assure a basic or entry level of competence. This is especially relevant to clinical tasks such as IUD or contraceptive implant insertions, and equally important to community development and management skills such as organizing and facilitating a meeting. You should set minimum standards of trainee performance in accordance with program and government standards.

The training design should allow adequate time for staff members to practice in order to perform competently.

For each session, a training plan should include:

• The title of the session;
• The length of time allotted for the session;
• A short description of the content of the session;
• The objectives for the session;
• An outline of the content to be covered;
• The materials that will be needed;
• The training methods and techniques to be used and the time scheduled for each;
• The evaluation procedures.

Example from Kenya - Overall Course Objectives

Determining resources requirements

The resources required for training will vary with the type of training (clinical, IEC, or management) being conducted. You will need to take an inventory of all the training materials that you will need to conduct your training program.