FAQs

What if I am not able to join an in-person session and need to participate online?

For in-person sessions, your physical attendance is strongly encouraged. If you are unable to join in-person but still wish to participate, please contact us as soon as you can and we can see what accommodation can be made. Please note that we can not guarantee the same participant experience if you join online.

Will sessions be recorded so that I can watch later?

You should plan to attend all sessions at the time they are happening; recordings will not be available. In case a session is recorded, Learns will post the recording link on the relevant session page in the Track Roadmap.

Can other people outside the cohort attend the sessions?

At this time, sessions are restricted to cohort members only.

Do I get a certificate after participating in training?

Yes, if you attend the required number of sessions, the program will provide you with a certificate upon completion of the Dojo. Because the lengths of the tracks differ, the requirements are slightly different:

• Leadership Track: must attend 4 of the 5 in-person sessions

• Strategist Track: must attend 4 of the 5 in-person sessions and 3 of the 4 online check-ins

• Specialist Track: must attend 4 of the 5 in-person sessions and 3 of the 4 online check-ins

Who will be the coach/trainer in the track?

USAID Learns staff and consultants will be the main facilitators. You should also expect to share your knowledge to enable peer-to-peer learning as well.

Do you plan to incorporate other IPs' expertise and experience into the capacity building plan & training activities?

Yes, it is a part of adult and participatory learning based on evidence. Cohort sessions are specifically designed to empower IPs for peer-to-peer learning. In addition, there may be opportunties to hear from 2022 cohort members about their experiences applying the track content in their work.

Does the cohort training component include the personalized coaching or consultation?

Cohort members in all three tracks can receive technical support from USAID Learns. Furthermore, we would like to promote peer-to-peer learning as well as collaboration.

What course am I allowed to sign up for?

Learns has curated a list of recommended online courses we feel best supplement the cohort’s learning and drill down on related skills for the Strategist and Specialist Tracks. The lists of recommended courses can be found on the Track Roadmap.

How do I sign up for a course?

Based on the list of courses that we recommended to help deepen your skills, please submit your request to register for your chosen course using this request form. Depending on registration requirements, USAID Learns will follow up with you to make sure you are properly enrolled. For free courses on the recommended list, we request that you still fill the request form to help us better gauge interest levels and relevance of online resources.

How does payment for the course work?

Learns will pay directly to the online learning platform or course provider.

What do I need to do when I complete the course?

When you complete a course - either paid or free - please fill out this feedback form to let us know what you thought of the course. You will also be asked to share key learning and takeaways from the course with your cohort.

Can I sign up for more than one course?

Yes, but we ask that you don’t enroll in multiple courses concurrently. A course completion feedback survey needs to be submitted before you can request another paid course. If there is strong justification, please speak with your Track Lead if you wish to take more than one course at a time.

By when do I have to finish the course?

If possible, it would be better for you to complete the course before the end of your cohort so that you can share your learning with the group, but this is not a strict requirement.

What if I want to take a course that isn’t on the recommended list for my track?

If you’d like to propose that a particular online course be included in the recommended list, please inform the Track team as soon as possible. Learns will take your suggestion into consideration.

What is coaching?

Coaching refers to one-on-one conversations between a coach and a coachee. During these conversations, coaches partner with coachees, ask thought-provoking questions and offer observations to help the coachee reflect on their experience, gain self-awareness, and determine their next steps to achieve greater success and fulfillment. Coaching is not only for formal leaders; it can be beneficial for anyone who practices leadership at any organizational level.

Coaching is distinct from mentoring and consulting as coaches neither offer advice nor technical knowledge in any particular field. In coaching relationships, coaches honor the coachees as self-directed, resourceful, and creative.

How many coaching sessions are included?

The cohort members of the Leadership Track are offered up to 6 coaching sessions (approximately 50-60 minutes per session) with vetted coaches selected by USAID Learns from April to September 2023. The coaching service is meant to offer a private space where the cohort members can discuss and work on their leadership challenges or explore possibilities to improve their leadership. While the leadership track sessions offer knowledge, frameworks, and tools for adaptive leadership, coaching may help you work through challenges when putting these into practice. Coaching will also help you reflect on your experience in the track, thereby gaining higher levels of self-awareness and leadership capacity.

Do I get to pick my own coach? How should I select a coach that suits me best?

Yes, we have identified a cadre of excellent leadership coaches and you will get to choose from our list. You can select Vietnamese or foreign coaches depending on Vietnamese or English language preferences. You may read the biographies of the coaches, see if their experience and approaches align with your interests, and consider if you would feel comfortable having them as a coach / thought partner to you. You can also arrange a 30 minute “meet and greet” with your selected coach for you and the coach to decide if you are a good match. If not, you may select another coach.

What are the typical benefits of coaching?

Depending on what challenges you are facing, and your needs moving forward, coaching might help you with:

• • greater self-awareness, or awareness of your organizational context

  • gaining confidence in taking on new responsibilities

  • addressing performance anxiety

  • choosing efficient strategies for making decisions

  • working on interpersonal conflicts

  • dealing with stress

  • working on internal conflicts and competing interests

  • finding ways of meaningfully connecting with others

  • any specific issue or challenge you bring to the coaching session

Note that coaching will not necessarily help you completely overcome or resolve your challenges at hand. Instead, it may help you approach the challenges in different ways and gain clarity of what actions/strategies you may want to take.

What should I talk about in my coaching sessions?

Your coach will ask you questions to better understand what you want to get out of coaching. Coaching sessions may specifically help you in the track by providing a one-on-one forum for you to determine:

• What really is my leadership challenge that will help my team and project be more effective?

• How can I make sense of and apply my leadership self-assessment results in my work?

• How should I approach the organizational assessment so that it is most beneficial to my team?

• How will I create momentum within my team to address the leadership challenge?

• How is addressing my adaptive challenge going? What should I do differently?

• What am I learning about myself, my leadership, and my team through this experience?

Are my sessions confidential?

Coaching sessions will remain confidential between the coach and coachee, though USAID Learns may ask leadership track participants to voluntarily share more about their coaching experience in the track sessions.

How do I sign up for a coach?

Additional information will be provided to Leadership Track cohort members on how to get started with coaching.

Will Learns pay for travel expenses and per diem for in-person sessions held in a different city?

Your projects are responsible for covering your costs of travel and incidentals to other parts of Vietnam. Learns will be able to facilitate some of the logistics for travelers, such as helping to negotiate a rate at a common hotel near to the training venue so traveling cohort members can stay together.

What COVID protocols are you putting in place for in-person session?

To minimize COVID transmission risks, we will provide masks and hand sanitizer at the venue.

What language will the session be conducted in?

The sessions will usually be conducted in a mix of English and Vietnamese, and full simultaneous translation will be available so cohort members are free to communicate in either Vietnamese or English. All participants are encouraged to speak in whichever language they feel most comfortable to ensure their active participation.