From doing the work to becoming the work: an interview with Rosetta Savana

Rosetta Savana discovered ATD Fourth World through the Story Garden while living at the Jamaica family shelter in 2016 and from attending People’s University. Last summer, New York City (NYC) ATD Fourth World team leaders Virginie Charvon and Monica Jahangir-Chowdhury asked Rosetta to join them in leading the team’s Evaluation Planning Process.

This process aimed to take stock of where our organization stood in NYC, after a few years of pandemic, and where its members wanted to take it in the next few years. Monica sat down with Rosetta and learned from her how she experienced the whole process and the key learnings she took away with her. 

MJC: How did you feel when Virginie proposed you to join the preparation committee of the Evaluation Planning process?

RS: When Virginie approached me, I felt: what was it about? Could I take on this big role with you and Virginie? I wondered if I was ready for a big commitment, to be in front of a lot of people. That's how I felt.

MJC: And yet, you accepted to join the adventure! What was it that made you say yes?

RS: I already did People’s University and I already did the co-training with social work students. I was nervous to do the Evaluation Planning but I wanted to take the challenge to be in front of a bigger group.

MJC: Tell us more about the preparation process. What did you like the most during our preparation time? What was more challenging? 

RS: What I liked most was that we took the time to analyze everyone’s questions and answers. I felt that we took the time to get to know each other as co-facilitators and how we fed off each other's questions. I liked that we thought deeply into the process of how everything works together and I liked that we were comfortable with each other to share just how we felt.

It was very real, it wasn’t a team just to be a team, it was a team to create a process.

The difficult process for me was just coming up with the material, just executing the plan that we made for the weekends. I felt that even though I was part of the team, this role was way bigger than something for me. How we overcame it was I had a lot of support with you and Virginie and I got the confidence to execute my part with the support from you all.

MJC: After the long preparation came the two Evaluation and Planning Weekends. How was it to facilitate the process during these two weekends?

RS: Well the first facilitation I was super nervous, I was confident in our preparation, in how we prepared everything, I just did not know how it would materialize on the weekends because I felt like I switched roles from doing the work to becoming the work. I had a moment of “Oh I am gonna chicken out” but …as we started the meeting, it flowed. To facilitate became more natural to me, it felt good.

MJC: Our facilitation helped members to think, dream and plan collectively. What do you think of the four areas the group came up with?

RS: The four areas that we came up with were great. I felt as though the areas were very intertwined with each other and I liked that we broke it down into smaller groups to focus on key points that were more important. I felt that a lot of these areas are topics of today and that the content within those topics are very important for the overall of ATD and the world. Those topics will bring a lot of richness into the ATD aspect and it will just show the commitment of everyone that partakes in the two-year planning.

MJC: What's your general take away from this whole experience of preparing together, facilitating, leading a group process such as this Evaluation Planning?

RS: My general take was that I gained an experience that I didn’t know I needed. It felt as though I have achieved something that is beyond myself.

I felt that the overall two weekends were something that left me thinking that one small change can be big, with time and process. 

It felt as if it just changed me. It was a long, lengthy process. It was one of those processes that you felt as though the outcome was something that you could reach. 

Being a leader with you all, that was new to me. I liked that you had confidence in me to do something as big as what I did. What I gained from it was that every idea is a good idea as long as you have someone to work it out with. It was the confidence to say what I have to say, and to lead something great. 

MJC: Did this process help you gain skills and strengths for you to continue your commitment with ATD?

RS: The skills I learned are to be in front of an audience and feel confident in what I have to say and mean it, to facilitate groups, to break down and analyze things, deeper and more meaningful, in a year planning or two-year process. I never did a facilitation of anything in my life… and it was just curiosity from the moment of planning to the moment of execution.

It gave me confidence to speak up, to lead, to have a voice. The commitment for ATD has always been there because what this taught me was that even though you don’t see movement, even if movement is slow, that it is there, it is just behind the curtain. It taught me that it takes a team to create plans, to see a future even if that future is two-three years away, it taught me that everyone has a voice and we all have to listen.