[Please study this document carefully, as it can save our church thousands of Dollars]
Objective of this document: To assist Church Leaders at all levels to obtain maximum technical support and skills in their region at minimum costs.
Background: ATN has in various Unions trained many technical persons, who during courses have demonstrated their skills and competence to do installations and maintenance of downlink sites. However after a number of months, ATN receives calls from these same countries, requesting training to be repeated. The reasons seem to be:
1) Unions / Fields are unaware of who was trained, thus do not make use of them
2) Those trained have not kept their skills refreshed.
It is ATN’s objective by giving training to ensure that the required skills are available to each Union as a permanent resource which can be called on at any time.
Arising out of the above, the following actions are recommended, which will enable ATN and the respective Unions to co-operate together to achieve the objectives above:
Ownership needs to be taken by the host organization, which should as far as possible:
1 Recognize the following principles:
a) We need to develop our laity to carry responsibilities wherever possible, especially in areas requiring some technical expertise
b) The value of training is lost if not put into practice within 3 weeks after a training course (“what you do not use, you lose”).
c) After training has taken place, you should call first on those trained to assist with technical problems or further training. Only if you have no local resources should you contact ATN.
2 Delegate all the technical functions to a Technical Co-ordinator (a lay person, with some technical skills, who has a record of getting things done – he/she does not have to be a technical expert). This Co-ordinator could then carry out the following actions:
a) Recognize and affirm those trained by maintaining a register of those trained, with contact details. Send details to ATN to post on their web site.
b) Call on those trained to undertake new installations, or maintenance required.
c) Appoint one or more leaders in each each region (preferably lay persons), who can motivate those trained to meet together at least every 2 months to refresh their skills (see list of proposed activities below).
d) Arrange for those trained as trainers to train others at regular intervals.
e) Co-ordinate new purchases, installations & repairs as required
3) Provide resources for operation of activities above, such as venues, travel expenses, loan of equipment, etc.
LIST OF PROPOSED ACTIVITIES TO KEEP SKILLS SHARP
1 Change settings on a dish, then restore them
2 Inspect local installations and carry out maintenance if needed
3 Watch a technical video
4 Set up a quiz to check for knowledge
5 Make a deliberate mistake in equipment setup, getting trainees to find it.
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Written by Errol van Eck, Africa Representative, ATN June 2003