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Participants at the course on UNI APRO Empowering Women with Training and Organising skills which was conducted recently called on their unions to provide them with the opportunity for them to apply their new found skills. They were very enthusiastic and proud of their newly acquired skills in training and organising and were confident that they will be able to inspire and motivate their colleagues especially women colleagues to take an interest in women issues and development. They reiterated that women empowerment is a necessary element before women rights are respected and women motivated to take an interest in the trade union activities.



Twenty six women participants from Malaysia, Sarawak , Sabah, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore took part in the course. The aim of the course is to provide the participants with training and organising skills and for them to have the confidence to conduct training sessions and to do organising and recruitment work when they return to their unions.



The course was held at the Sarawak Bank Employees Union (Yes) Retreat which is located at Lundu Siar Beach. The resort is about one and a half hour drive from Kuching the capital city of Sarawak. The facilities at the training centre were excellent and by virtue that it is located at a secluded beach facing the blue waters of the South China Sea and a scenic and tranquil location, it is indeed an ideal venue for learning and for building camaraderie. Surprisingly, though the participants were away from a city environment they never seemed to miss it and in fact, they welcomed the change and they even found the place refreshing and invigorating. The atmosphere was very conducive for learning and suitable for provoking bonding among the participants who come from different cultural backgrounds.



The participants worked very hard during the five days that they were together. Learning methodology applied in the course comprise of lots of group work, active learning and creative learning through brain teasers and exercises that were expected to provoke change in attitudes and behaviour. The participants responded with enthusiasm to the training and performed their task with dedication. The impact of their effort was well demonstrated in the presentation sessions on communication and use of visual aids where each and every participant made a twenty minutes presentation on the subject of their choice by using at least two visual aids. Many of the participants performed well and they demonstrated confidence in speaking to an audience and at the same time showing skilful application and handling of visual equipments in their presentation.



In the group assignment, the participants were asked to prepare a full session plan on a subject. They were then requested to extract a part of the session plan for an actual presentation. The group presentations held on the last day of the course demonstrated that the participants had learned the skills of preparing good session plans. They have also improved considerably in their ability to communicate and in the use of visual aids and active learning techniques. They also demonstrated their familiarity and knowledge on subjects on gender equality, organising and recruitment of women, sexual harassment and violence towards women. Subjects which are close to their hearts and which they will like to lecture on when they return to their unions.



UNI Apro training team to the course comprised of Sister Hadiah Leen, President Sarawak Bank Employees Union, Sister Anjali Bedekar, Dy General Secretary All India State Bank of India Staff Federation and Bro Hashim Lobe, Director Trade Union Development Activities and Info. The opening session of the course was presided by Bro Mohd Shafie BP Mammal President UNI Malaysian Liaison Council and Bro Andrew Lo from the Sarawak Bank Employees Union.