Guide: Manage supplies
You can use different supplies and materials to support your work with adolescents.
You can use different supplies and materials to support your work with adolescents. Supplies can help to make the activities and approaches in the Adolescent Kit more engaging for adolescent girls and boys, and encourage them to have fun, express themselves and connect with others through drawing, writing, and group projects.
In some cases you may have access to the Adolescent Kit Supply Kit. This is a package of materials, equipment and supplies that is especially designed to meet the needs of 50 adolescents and four facilitators. But don’t worry if you don’t have one! Most of the activities in the Adolescent Kit don’t require any supplies, and there are a lot of ways to find or make your own materials locally.
Take some time to work with facilitators and partners to identify what supplies you have available for supporting your activities with the Adolescent Kit, and to plan how they will be managed, stored and eventually replaced. This can help to avoid potential problems and conflicts and ensure that adolescents get the most out of their supplies. Refer to Planning to manage supplies tool.
Consult the Supply guidance for more detailed information on how to organise, maintain and manage supplies for activities with the Adolescent Kit.
1. Examine your supplies
Work with partners and facilitators to examine your supplies before introducing them to activities with adolescents.
If you have a Supply Kit:
- Review the Supply Guidance. This outlines all of the items in the Supply Kit, and explains how to take care of them and replace them.
- Examine the contents of the Supply Kit and check that all of the items are present. Some of these may be new to you (and to facilitators and partners), so make sure you take the necessary time to familiarize yourselves with each of the items, and to understand how they can be used to support activities with adolescents.
- Remove any items that may be inappropriate within your religious and cultural context, or that could be too easily damaged within your particular physical environment.
- Consider whether any additional supplies might be necessary or helpful for activities with adolescents, and how and where you might procure them.
If you don’t have a Supply Kit:
Consult the Supply guidance for advice on creating your own set of supplies and materials for activities with the Adolescent Kit. This includes creative suggestions for:
- Procuring supplies locally;
- Borrowing supplies from other programmes, initiatives or kits;
- Creating supplies from discarded materials or items found naturally in the environment;
- Replicating the main components of the Supply Kit by downloading their templates and printing them on locally available materials.
2. Make plans for storing, managing and replacing supplies
Take some time to discuss the best way to manage and take care of your supplies, so that they last as long as possible. Consult the Supply Guidance for detailed advice on how to:
- Store supplies so that they remain safe from theft or damage;
- Keep supplies clean and in good repair;
- Create a supplies inventory that can keep track of items that go missing, run out or become damaged;
- Replace supplies locally, through external sources or by coming up with creative alternatives.
Adolescents can play a lead role in taking care of supplies for the Adolescent Kit. This is a great opportunity for them to:
- Practice life skills such as planning, teamwork and problem solving
- Learn practical skills such as inventory management and record keeping
- Use their creativity and imagination
- Take responsibility for important tasks
3. Involve adolescents
Facilitators can introduce the supplies to sessions with the Adolescent Kit and discuss with adolescent girls and boys how they can be involved in taking care of the materials and equipment.
Adolescents can and should be involved in all aspects of managing supplies for the Adolescent Kit - from creating new supplies, and keeping inventory, to transporting and storing equipment and replacing items. Refer to Involving adolescents in managing supplies.
It may be useful to agree on ground rules for managing the supplies and to select volunteers for specific tasks such as keeping inventory, collecting materials at the end of each session, or locking up the Supply Kit. Post the ground rules somewhere visible during sessions and rotate responsibilities for managing supplies among adolescents.
Go slow: Make sure that facilitators never force adolescents to take on tasks that they are uncomfortable with, or don’t feel ready for. Bear in mind that:
- Some adolescents may not yet have the basic skills to take on specific responsibilities, such as managing an inventory.
- Younger adolescents who don’t have a well-developed sense of judgment may lose items easily.
- Adolescents who have recently experienced upsetting events may have trouble with their short-term memory and find it difficult to keep track of supplies.
Be aware of risks to adolescents: Facilitators should also be aware that while adolescents can benefit from taking an active role in managing supplies, they can also face problems. For example:
- Carrying or having access to valuable supplies may put adolescents at risk of harm, including theft and pressure from others who have influence over them.
- Some adults may feel that their need for supplies or materials from the Supply Kit should take precedence over their use by adolescents, resulting in tension and conflict.
- If items are lost and damaged while they are in an adolescent’s care, they may feel ashamed or disappointed, or face anger or blame from their peers. These experiences can be difficult for adolescents in challenging circumstances.
It is likely that some supplies may get lost, damaged or even stolen while in adolescents’ care. Make sure that facilitators don’t deal with these situations too harshly or put unrealistic expectations on adolescent girls and boys to pay for the damage or loss.
4. Try to prevent problems
Be aware that bringing valuable supplies into a humanitarian situation can sometimes cause problems, and discuss ways to avoid causing tension among adolescents and within the wider community. Be aware that certain items may be inappropriate (or unfamiliar) in some settings, and lead to misunderstanding. An atmosphere of mistrust can also develop if items break, go missing or get stolen.
Work with facilitators, partners and adolescents to discuss ways to avoid causing problems with the supplies. This could include:
- Removing items that are inappropriate within the religious or cultural context;
- Removing items that may be too easily damaged or broken;
- Finding a safe place to store and lock-up supplies;
- Creating a ‘buddy system’ for transporting supplies so that adolescents are not left alone and vulnerable to theft;
- Entrusting more valuable items to facilitators rather than adolescents;
- Organising an Adolescent Toolkit launch with members of the community (steering committee members, government officials, local leaders, parents) to communicate that the supplies are there to serve adolescents’ needs and no one else’s;
- Setting ground rules with adolescents around handling supplies responsibly, and returning them at the end of sessions;
- Encouraging facilitators to speak up if they have any concerns about how supplies are being used (by adolescents or others);
- Agreeing on a reasonable way to respond if items are damaged or lost while in an adolescent’s care.
Refer to the Preventing problems with supplies: discussion scenarios tool to brainstorm strategies with facilitators and adolescents for preventing problems with supplies.
5. Involve adults from the community
Try to involve community members in managing supplies as much as possible. Adults can support adolescents to manage their responsibilities with the supplies and help to protect them from any risks associated with their access to valued resources. Community members themselves can also take on useful tasks, such as keeping inventory, repairing damaged items or sharing responsibility for the safe storage and transport of supplies.
Involving adults from the community can also go a long way toward avoiding potential problems with supplies. For example, if you have a Supply Kit, it can be a good idea to involve local government officials or members of the programme steering committee in examining the contents to make sure that none of the items are culturally inappropriate or likely to cause controversy. Similarly, obtaining buy-in for the Supply Kit (and the Adolescent Kit generally) from the local community may reduce the likelihood of adults co-opting supplies for their own purposes.
Adults to involve could include:
- Members of the programme steering committee;
- Staff or volunteers who support activities with adolescents such as Child Friendly Space
facilitators and teachers; - Government officials, community leaders, elders, and/or representatives from local community boards;
- Parents, older siblings, and other family members or care providers.
Monitor and adapt
Be ready to repair, replace and find new supplies as your intervention continues, and to get creative about different ways to use them with adolescents. Check in with adolescent girls and boys to determine if they experience any challenges with managing supplies and take action in response. Bear in mind that you may need to change the way you use and store supplies as seasons shift (and the weather gets hotter, colder or wetter), the humanitarian situation changes (gets more/less secure or more/fewer adolescents take part in activities) and your intervention evolves (you focus on some types of activities more than others, you change activity spaces, you partner with different organisations, you gain/lose funding).
Highlights
You can use different supplies and materials to support your work with adolescents. Supplies can help to make the activities and approaches in the Adolescent Kit more engaging for adolescent girls and boys, and encourage them to have fun, express themselves and connect with others through drawing, writing, and group projects.
In some cases you may have access to the Adolescent Kit Supply Kit. This is a package of materials, equipment and supplies that is especially designed to meet the needs of 50 adolescents and four facilitators. But don’t worry if you don’t have one! Most of the activities in the Adolescent Kit don’t require any supplies, and there are a lot of ways to find or make your own materials locally.
