Davis Ncube, a trainer par excellence

Mr. Ncube is renowned for his vast knowledge about Ndebele history and culture is the author of several erudite works on these subjects. It was therefore with a great measure of delight that this writer had the opportunity, during a recent Workshop organised by ZDDT, to speak to him about his training experience and rapport with his various audiences, as well as ensuing results.

Titled: “Life Skills and Social Values for Community Action Teams,” the training was held at the Njube Lutheran Church Youth Centre in Bulawayo. Below may be found excerpts of the interview held between Field Correspondent Lewis Jones (LJ) and Davis Ncube (DN).

LJ. What type of training do you specialise in?

DN. I would say that in this instance, my training specialty focused mainly upon issues of importance surrounding subjects of a social and cultural nature, besides attendant health and safety aspects.

LJ. Do you use any particular training technique?

DN. My preferences in training lie in the motivational and participatory fields.

LJ. How would you rate the levels of attendance and participation during the training?

DN. Exceptionally good. Attendance surpassed expectation, while participation levels proved to be particularly robust. Facilitator to trainee interaction was fantastic.

LJ. What were the main concerns that emerged during the workshop?

DN. There were expressions of concern from participants about lack of cohesion in the execution of duties by public officials. It also emerged that knowledge pertaining to social values was generally lacking among civic leaders and that this trait had a filtering effect down to the local communities.

LJ. Did any meaningful resolutions result from the training exercise?

DN. Participants resolved that more workshops of this type needed to be conducted, on a wider scale, in the City’s Wards. They also felt that these should be followed up with occasional review sessions in order to evaluate levels of success attributable to the training.

LJ. What was the training’s objective?

DN. This was to stimulate conscientious thought among Community Leaders, with a view towards using social values and life skills as the basis for sustainable community development in Bulawayo and beyond.