Celebrations of Change: Evaluation of the Mindset Change and Reorientation Programme
The 3-month, in-residence Mindset Change and Reorientation Programme for 150 vulnerable and restive youth from Delta State concluded the first week of June with participant-led theatre performances, traditional dancing, singing, and celebrations of change. What changed the most?
On 21 May 2010, NIDPRODEV asked participants in the Mindset Change and Reorientation Programme to complete a “Most Significant Change” programme evaluation form. The decision to use the “Most Significant Change” as the evaluative tool was based on the limitations of a quantitative evaluative method in the context of this pilot programme. Given the age and “restiveness” of the youth; the diversity of community representation and prior experiences of 150 participants; and the length of the in-residence training experiences, it was decided that the participants themselves would need to identify the themes (or variables) of change they had experienced.
Participants were asked to respond to the following open-ended queries:
Tell us about the Most Significant Change you have experienced in yourself as a result of being in the Mindset Change Programme. Please describe the change in detail.
Tell us why you consider this change to be the Most Significant One. Why was it more significant or important to you than other changes?
Is there anything else you would like us to know?
One hundred forty-one (141) respondents completed the form; 92 males and 49 females. Although they were asked to write about the “Most Significant Change,” many students identified more than one positive change in their lives and mindset:
| Type of Change Mentioned in the Qualitative Response | Number and Percentage of Respondents Who Mentioned the Change |
|---|---|
| Anger or Conflict Management | 107 or 76% |
| Self-Esteem, including Public Speaking | 67 or 48% |
| Use of the “Bridge Model” to reflect upon a variety of life’s challenges |
39 or 28% |
| New desire to be Role Models or Community Leaders | 33 or 23% |
| Inter-Ethnic Peace and Understanding | 19 or 13% |
| Human Rights Understanding | 11 or 8% |
| Control of Alcohol or Drug Abuse | 10 or 7% |
| Control of Sexually Risky Behavior | 8 or 6% |
| More Spiritual | 5 or 4% |
| Better Time Management | 3 or 2% |
Only in reading the respondents’ stories can one fully grasp the extent to which certain of the youth previously could not control their expressions of anger.
For example, one male writes:
Among all of my characters, the one of anger and malice was still there. Ever since, I never wanted to have anything to do with the other ethnic groups close to us. They came to our community one day and destroyed our villages, burning down our houses, killing and destruction at properties worth millions of naira and even billions too. It happened some years past, and I have it in my mind to revenge one day.
But thanks to God for a wonderful programme like this, the mindset change and reorientation programme. After some days of lectures from our facilitators in charge of the programme, I find myself not only interacting but also shaking hands, eating and even sleeping together in the same room with the same ethnic group I have sworn to avenge the undisputable disaster. In fact, I will say this is the most remarkable experience ever in my life, no more anger and malice of any kind.
A female participant writes:
I used to be an ill-tempered person. It got to an extent, I would have been a murderer due to my ill-temperness. As were being taught “Anger Management” in the programme, I realized anger only produces negative effects and I just had to do away with it. I started applying the life skills that were constructed on the “Bridge Model” for anger management. It worked for me. Some of the life skills I applied were counseling (if somebody offends I go report it to an elderly person and also seek for advice), self discipline (I always watch my words that I utter to anybody I come across so not to stir them up and not to bring about quarrelling), knowledge about the consequences of anger, effective communication, etc.
The training programe drew heavily upon the Bridge Model for behavior change, which is utilized by the U.S. Peace Corps in its Life Skills Manual. The model was woven into each of the training modules. NIDPRODEV cannot accentuate enough how powerful this model was in helping the youth to self-reflect on where they are in their lives, where they want to go, the knowledge and skills that they need to make their dreams a reality, and the negative consequences of not practicing those skills or acquiring the knowledge. Although they were asked to identify the “most significant change” in their lives over the 3-month period, 28% of the respondents felt compelled to mention the Bridge Model as a tool that they will continue to use when confronted with life challenges.
