SESSION #1:

Introduction to Bureaucratic Effectiveness

(1 hour 15 minutes)

Participants read about, and discuss a historical overview of bureaucracies, their purpose and function. Together they examine their experiences with bureaucracies in the United States. Through individual work they then begin to focus on their reactions to current experience (frustrations, learnings, confusions) with bureaucracies in their host country. In this general introduction, the need for work on learning more about bureaucracies in the sessions that follow is established.

SESSION #2:

Dominant Characteristics of a Bureaucracy

(Approximately 1 hour 35 minutes)

The trainer provides a lecturette on the dominant characteristics of a bureaucracy and how both the formal and informal features impact on how the bureaucracy functions. Using an exercise with prepared cards, participants analyze and compare the differences and similarities between a North American and a host country bureaucracy. With the assistance of the trainer, participants begin to isolate characteristics of the bureaucracy which might be causing some of the frustrations and confusions identified in Session 1.

SESSION #3:

Strategies for Bureaucratic Effectiveness

(2 hours 35 minutes)

The group defines what bureaucratic effectiveness means in terms of the Peace Corps volunteer. By individually isolating and in pairs analyzing instances in which they were bureaucratically ineffective, participants examine their personal styles of dealing with bureaucracies. They individually build strategies for applying their learnings and becoming more bureaucratically effective in their work.