accountability from our experts
Back in April when Shuranjeet first reached out to me to ask me if I was interested in working for Taraki on the SCC project, I remember I was filled with such excitement. The opportunity to work with a close friend on a subject I deeply care about would be a dream come true. Safe to say 5 months into the project and I am truly grateful to be living out this dream. However, this project and its journey is one that we both haven't navigated before, as such it's uncharted terrain. Something which is exciting but also quite daunting. In a measure to ensure that we don't go down rabbit holes or create echo chambers, we decided quite early on the project to create a bank of experts who would regularly review the development of our work.
The aim of having experts in this program is to ensure that we are accountable to the folks that we hope to serve. In this project, we are hyper-aware of the fact that we have been provided funding that is quite significant for a sector that practically runs on very limited funding. This is something I've reflected on before. As a result, to honour our work and the resources that we have been provided, we decided at the start of the project to create and engage our experts for accountability, feedback and guidance. Our ultimate aim in this area is to ensure that our work is as inclusive as possible. Our expert bank ranges from illustrators, wellbeing practitioners, anti-oppression activists to mental health specialists.
In the past few months, we have been engaging our expert bank for the review of our work, more specifically the curriculum skeleton (a framework of what we hope to deliver in year 2 of the project to partner organisations). The curriculum is inclusive of each session plan, it's content and our methodology. The review process of our work has been incredibly help because the experts have guided and challenged us into developing our work, in every sense of the word. For example, a key point that was raised during the feedback of the curriculum was that we needed to develop the 'breathing exercise' section that we had placed at the start of each session with something more inclusive (i.e. movement, intuitive drawing and breathe work). This is something we completed agreed with and decided to amend. This was an interesting experience because I am a qualified trauma-informed guide, as a result I am typically hyper-aware of these nuances in my private setting and practice. However, given that I have been so deeply embedded within this project, my ability to spot such nuances was reduced.
It is at this crucial moments that outside perspective becomes so important and we are so grateful to have it in this project.
