Where is your learning going? How will you apply skills, qualities you’ve developed outside of IFP?

Joining IFP has taught me how to look at issues from different perspectives. Initially, I had extremely strong views on certain topics but I was not good at expressing them with a balanced point of view. Being in IFP has made me much more open minded. For example during the Mentor session, I learned how to plan activities related to a topic that would actually interest my class. These activities that I learned at IFP were being applied in a real life situation to help explain and issue or perspective to my peers in a way that they would find interesting.

Open letter to my mentor group

What have you learned about collaboration? Have you learned to be more effective when working with others? What’s your biggest obstacle when asked to contribute to a team?

During the joint training session with Dover, everybody had different ideas about how to tackle our topic of the Rohingya issue. All the ideas were very good but we did not have enough time to integrate everything into our activity. But finally we all collaborated and narrowed it down to one well developed Idea.  When contributing in a team I tend to speak the most which stops others from pitching in But that is something I have learned to work on and step back a little in order to get more opinions and perspectives.

In what ways have you been a mentor to others this year? Where and when have you shown initiative?

I have been able to be a mentor in the joint training with Dover. Although it was a short session that I held, I was able to engage in small group facilitation and guide conversations when people were confused. Our activity also meant that people would not have something to do at times which is when I would go and talk to them about their thoughts and perspectives on the simulation and the activity to engage in conversation and stimulate thoughts.

Which session has done the most to address your areas for improvement as a peace builder? How did that session encourage growth?

The personality test session was the most impactful on me in terms of addressing my areas of strength as well as improvement. When discussing the results of my personality test I found that I had a judging personality which was not necessarily a negative thing. This just meant that I was ore organised and planned which was also not a good thing at times. I found that I could actually be too structured which might not allow spontaneity in conferences and might be something I need to work on to effectively plan a conference.

What have you learned about leadership & what qualities and skills have you developed in IFP to help do this?

I have learnt that leadership is only done well when you understand your audience. During the lead facilitation session when I had to explain the meaning of positive and negative peace, my partner and I made sure not to make it too boring and monotone because our peers would get bored and not pay attention; showing poor facilitation. So in turn we used tools like visuals and movement in order to explain the concept to them.

What has your engagement in IFP looked like your peers? What makes you say so?

There were times where I would dominate a conversation. This occured at times during the joint training with Dover. I would pitch in all my ideas but not really pay attention to the others that were being mentioned. But as the day went on I realised that other ideas would work much better for our group and I realised I had been a dominating member in my group. So I made sure to step back a little for the rest of the day and contribute and develop ideas rather than pitching new ones.