Guest Post: An AuthorAID Workshop in Zimbabwe

[This week’s post is from communications specialist Peter Thorpe, who recently facilitated an AuthorAID workshop in Zimbabwe. Thank you, Peter! —Barbara]

It’s now almost 3 months since we facilitated an AuthorAID Workshop on Scientific Writing at the University of Zimbabwe (8 to 11 March). My co-facilitator was Gilford Hapanyengwi, who heads the university’s computer center.

I will never forget the enthusiasm shown by all the participants throughout the workshop. This was particularly so in the small group sessions, where the 6 groups held very animated discussions and reported back to the full group with great humor and understanding. Their conclusions and queries raised more questions, leading to more discussions and queries, and so on. Several times, we had to extend the session to do this full justice.

Gilford persuaded the small groups to give him  copies of the notes they made during their discussions and which were used by the rapporteur when reporting back to the plenary group. These notes form a valuable resource for developing future workshops, because­ they tell us which points in a presentation interested participants most, which concepts were new to them, and so on.

Preparations for and arrangements during the workshop were in the hands of the University Librarian, Agnes Chikonzo, and her team, who together with Gilford ensured that there were no hiccoughs—everything went like clockwork!

It will be nice to have some “measure”, a year from now, as to whether the attendees increased their writing skills because of this workshop.

I’m sure I’m speaking for everyone when I say we had a very successful and enjoyable time and I’m also sure the participants learned a lot, too! And maybe we all did.