OVERVIEW: COACH ACADEMY
“Coach development sessions helped me to improve as a coach and also on my personal
development, my business is now growing and now eager to finish my counseling course
thanks to the knowledge we gained from coach development sessions.” - skillz coach
Coach Academy sessions are run in parallel to SKILLZ delivery. They are follow-up training
for Coaches led by Master Coaches/Programme Coordinators/Trainers. It is a way to give
Coaches the support and resources they need to be strong facilitators and community
leaders.
The objectives of the Coach Academy sessions are:
1. To improve Coaches’ self-efficacy to deliver effective SKILLZ interventions and empower
SKILLZ participants to make healthy life choices
2. To improve Coaches’ skill-set and provide tools that will empower them to capitalize on
future opportunities after SKILLZ.
3. To build their ability to cope with the challenges of daily life
The activities are a minimum of two hours and can be as long as two days, depending on
the setting, organisational resources and the needs of the Coaches. They can occur as
frequently as once a week, and should not occur less often than once per quarter. Some
useful topics can be found in SKILLZ UP!, and more can be developed as needed.
CORE TOPICS FOR COACH ACADEMY SESSIONS
“Coach Development Sessions have been helpful to me in a way that I got to identify certain
areas am good at and with the help of the organization I can be a better person and I believe
I can grow.”
Coach Academy sessions bring together groups of Coaches to equip them with skills and
knowledge that will assist them in their SKILLZ work and implementation, but also life skills
that go beyond the duration of the programme.
The following format can be used for sessions, however, some topics or activities take
longer and consist of different components:
● Section 1: Two learning activities - one for new (year 1) Coaches and one for existing
(year 2+ Coaches) to help Coaches understand difficult topics and learn new skills.
● Section 2: SKILLZ Curriculum teach-backs to improve the Coaches’ delivery of SKILLZ-
related practices; and
● Section 3: Site/programme/administrative/M&E-specific updates
Work closely with Coaches to identify the topics that are relevant to them. Core topics could
include:
(1) facilitation skills,
(2) health information,
(3) child protection and safeguarding,
(4) lifeskills,
(5) financial empowerment, and
(6) employability skills.
1. Facilitation - This area is critical as it helps coaches to improve their facilitation skills, as
a curriculum can be enhanced by the skill of the facilitator. So, placing an intentional
focus on facilitation skills of coaches, is paramount to the successful implementation of
a curriculum. Topics could include:
○ Localizing curriculum
○ Working with different audiences (age, disabilities, gender, sexuality etc.)
○ Review of core methodology (BIG 5, 11 BEs)
○ Different learning and teaching/facilitation techniques
○ Handling sensitive conversations
2. Health Information - The GRS Big 5 emphasizes the importance of sharing accurate
information. A 5-day TOC is often too short to deal intensively with health topics, and new
information regularly becomes available. Coach Development Sessions, therefore, become
a useful vehicle for this purpose. The following should be considered for inclusion:
○ Updated health information/Deepening understanding of health information covered in
curriculum
○ Self-directed learning, accessing reliable and accurate information
○ Linking Coaches to SRHR services
3. Child protection and safeguarding - This is an important area for Coaches to adhere to.
The nature of GRS curricula content, coupled with our Caring Coach approach, often lead
participants to reveal confidential, personal and sensitive details about themselves. Coaches
should be trained on how to respond when such disclosures are made as well as being
reminded of the correct and appropriate referral channels.
○ Disclosures and referrals
○ Child Safeguarding
4. Life Skills
○ Effective Communication: (listening skills, teamwork and conflict resolution)
○ Leadership skills (conflict management, working in teams, being proactive, agency, self-
confidence, resilience, value systems)
○ Behaviour Change:
o Gender (Power, Positive masculinity, Harmful gender-norms, Healthy & Unhealthy
relationships, Values clarification, violence)
■ Healthy behaviours
○ Mental wellness: Coaches’ own mental wellness
5. Financial Empowerment -
○ Saving & spending: budgeting
○ Entrepreneurial skills: case studies and sharing of experiences
6. Employability Skills -
○ CV & cover letter writing
○ Job searching/networking
○ Interview skills (as interviewee)
○ Report writing skills
BUILDING COACH ACADEMY SESSIONS
“Coach Development sessions have been powerful. they helped me to learn from the other
coaches’ experiences and we have been visited by a lot of facilitators who empower and
give us a lot of information around SRHR issues. We have managed to learn on how we
should develop our careers as coaches. “ - SKILLZ COACH
Leverage GRS’ existing bank of Coach Academy activities. However, sessions do not need
to be limited to these activities. Be responsive to the needs and desires of the Coaches and
build sessions that utilize the internal capacity, resources, and expertise of staff, Coaches,
and the community. Showcase people’s skills and experiences inside and outside of SKILLZ.
● How do you know you need an ongoing learning session?
○ Coaches/Master Coaches ask for it
○ New research is made available
○ You or the Coaches are interested in it
○ You see the need in CSVs or during trainings
○ You participated in or observed a similar session you think you can modify for GRS
# Steps to build responsive sessions
1. Set the theme of the session
● Coaches/Master coaches ask for it
● A new piece of research comes out
● You’re interested in it
● You see the need in CSVs or during trainings
● You participated in or observed a similar session you think you can modify it for GRS
2. Reflect on the best
Training/Development session you’ve ever seen.
● What made it so good?
● Take a step back and think about what you want your session to be like.
3. Establish objectives
● What do you want to achieve?
● What can you realistically achieve?
● Are the objectives universal? Will they work in multiple contexts, geographies, partners?
● How will you know you’re successful?
4. Identify resources
● Review existing GRS training and Coach
Academy resources
● Review what else might be available in external resources.
● Reach out to GRS trainers and teammates or external experts
5. Learn
● Become an expert on the topic! Review technical research, popular media, watch videos,
call professors, etc.
6. Highlight the new information
● What are the crucial pieces of information/facts participants need to know
● Summarize into clear, simple, accessible language
7. Discussion questions
● Develop 3-4 excellent (open-ended) discussion questions that relate to session objectives
8. Try out several methodologies. Consider several approaches:
● Lecture
● Debate
● Role-play
● Silent debate
● Where Do I Stand
● Speed dating
● Small group discussion
9. Digest, reflect and discuss with other trainers
● Take another trainer through the session, get them to probe, ask questions, test certain
parts of the exercise out.
● An external/objective voice is essential here
10. Take a step back
● Once you have your content, take a step back to consider the session more broadly. Does
it work as a whole? Does it flow well?
11. Pre-test!
● Just like a new SKILLZ activity, ongoing learning sessions need to be pre-tested and
revised before “going live.” You can even hold a brown bag at lunch with GRS staff to try out
the session and get quick feedback.
12. Localize
● Make it work for your Coaches. Use local stories to highlight the local context.
● Reach out to local partner staff or coaches to discuss context specific issues
13. Improve
● What worked in the session? What didn’t work? Ask participants for their feedback.
● Make revisions and try it again.
14. Share!
● Don’t keep it all to yourself!
● Format it, make people aware of it, label it so it’s easy to find, save in the appropriate
place
● Train others in the session - using your energy and conviction in your work to get people
engaged and using it themselves
