WORKSHOPS / MODULES

FAPADAG is providing workshops, courses, modules (at Bachelors and Masters level) for professionals, formal educational institutions or communities on strategic thinking, grant applications and community development. 

The content, length of the programme will be decided together with all stakeholders.

Hereafter you find examples of a strategic course and a  community development module for occupational therapists. Other courses on social inclusion can be discussed.

a. A Introduction in Strategic Thinking and Reasoning in Occupational Therapy related to a Wider Context/ Policy

The mission of this workshop is to provide an intellectual challenge and practical engagement for those who are involved in strategic development and innovation in their organisation and who expect to operationalise these ideas in their respective organisations.

The workshop is enabling the participants to develop and deepen their understanding of
international and national social, health and/or educational policies in relation to the
development of (occupational) education and practice.

The workshop is a demanding one, but is bringing considerable benefits to those who
participate and their supporting organisations.
This workshop has a critical role to play in analysing good practice and developing the future of occupational therapy education, practice and research in for instance (East) Europe or Africa.

General Aim 
the participants:

  • will be able to think strategically about the future of occupational therapy within a wider and national, regional, local context
  • will be able to relate innovative educational, social and health issues to their own Occupational Therapy, c.q. rehabilitation curriculum or practice

Specific Objectives 
the participants:

  • will experience writing a project summary
  • will learn to network effectively, to discover opportunities and barriers
  • will analyse their professional context to understand how best to promote partnerships as a way of tackling specific development imperatives

Methods 

  • Introduction to the “background” of strategic thinking and knowledge for writing an application for a project (strategic writing).
  • Individual/ or group task: select the themes that you are interested in and give reasons why they are interesting enough to be subject for applications.
  • Strategic discussions and division in groups for applications reason why your application is strategic and innovative, what is the contribution to the realisation of Continental, Regional or National goals …

Duration

The course can vary in length; courses can have been given over the length of 1 and ½ year consisting of 6 workshops, but also single workshops of 6 or 3 hours have been given.

B Community based occupational strategies focusing on inclusion of disadvantaged groups

The module applies an occupation-based and population-centred approach to the development and implementation of occupational therapy initiatives with marginalised populations.

The key-words of this module are: occupational justice, occupational deprivation, occupational apartheid, enabling occupation, spirituality/resilience, community centred practice, empowerment, partnering, capacity building, environmental change, WHO-ICF terminology, human/occupational rights, influencing policies.

General Aim of the Course 

  • The general aim of the course is to explore/investigate the potential roles of occupational therapy with marginalised populations and possibilities to develop these in your country
  • A review of current literature, a proposal of basic principles/concepts and concrete practice examples of occupational therapy with marginalised populations will serve as a point of departure for this exploration/investigation.
  • This approach aims to increase the critical awareness and reasoning skills of the participant and to develop their views on this topic.
  • Three interrelated practical assignments guide the participant through a pilot process from conceptualisation to implementation of occupational therapy initiatives with groups of occupational deprived people in their country

Learning Outcomes

The participant:

  • Relates the Global, Regional and National policies of social inclusion strategies and the concepts of occupational justice to a concrete project design.
  • Understands the key-concepts of Community Based Development (CBD) in relation to inclusive communities
  • Develops intervention strategies suitable in CBD and Occupational therapy
  • Demonstrates capacity to develop projects for accessibility and inclusiveness of schools, workplaces, communities etc.
  • Demonstrates capacity to reflect on his/her personal feelings, competences and the process and outcomes of the project in an oral and written report

Topics to be covered 

  • Occupational Therapy focusing on marginalized groups
  • Global and Regional context and reality of marginalized, occupational deprived  groups
  • Occupational Justice, Occupational Justice Framework, Deprivation, Apartheid
  • Social determinants of Health
  • CBR-guidelines
  • CBD
  • National policy on inclusion
  • Community based Strategies
    • Partnering 
      • 12 phases in the partnering process
      • Obstacles and key principles of the partnering process
    • Networking
    • Capacity Building
    • Empowerment ( UNDP)
    • (Participatory Action research )
    • (Impact measurement)
    • Pre –planning and Project Management
    • Theory of maintaining, evaluation and sustainability
    • Funding 
  • Examples of good practice

Teaching Methods

The module has a dynamic structure using the following teaching methods:

  • presentations 
  • interactive lectures 
  • group work
  • exercise
  • games
  • practical sessions
  • discussions
  • long-distance learning
  • self-study
  • service learning

Duration

The module will vary in length depending on the level of the course (Bachelor, Postgraduate, Master) and then automatically on different learning outcomes..

Presentation of examples of student community- projects in Georgia and Armenia