An NFP  service organized to enable behavior change: How to articulate a rigorous teaching in self-observation and support of the couple  in view of reaching  through conjugal sexuality, a communion of love which gives life.

An NFP organized service.
The word service challenges us and takes us back to the image of Christ washing the feet of the apostles and invites us to enter into the dynamic of the gift of self in love. Forming part of a NFP service is an opportunity to experience the joy of self giving. It is also a grace to share the good news of conjugal love.

NFP and conjugal communion
If NFP is so dear to our heart it  is because we believe it has an important place in conjugal communion, in our vocation to become one as a couple. NFP allows us to live the truth of love, and welcome the magic of our sexuality to live the total gift of self that keeps united union and the gift of life (procreation). A life time project .... rooted in day to day existence, to love in act and in truth.
We are aware that this lifestyle allows the couple to welcome sexual relations as a gift from the Creator. Welcoming the gift as it is, without altering it , as does contraceptives, allows us to be driven into  the Creator's love and stay connected on the gift.
The couple will help each other grow in the conjugal communion, to become an image of the Trinity living further the reception of the other and the gift of one self  through two dynamics  of love. This allows us to reach our identity as Christian couple received in the sacrament of marriage.

Importance of Service
We understand the importance of promoting NFP making  it available to couples.” If all the Bishops did what you did , we would not be here ... JP II “said to Cardinal Margéot, Mauritian Bishop who founded this service in Mauritius.
I would like  to share with you today the experience of  Action Familiale of Mauritius analyzing the points that  enabled us to progress in a rigorous teaching of NFP and help couples grow. We are always moving forward on this path.

Priority to domestic communion
Under Christian inspiration , the founders of Action Familiale  in 1963 had the prophetic insight to establish an organization  serving all Mauritians  of our rainbow nation, rich in ethnic, religious and cultural diversity . They were convinced that the search for beauty, the great and truth lies in the heart of every human person. The statistics of   couples using NFP reproduce  the ethnical percentage of the population with a majority of Hindu, prove that their intuition was right .
Despite government pressure due to overpopulation on an island 65 km long and 45 km wide, they kept in the basic principles of the organization as   priority, conjugal communion, the dignity of the human person and  responsible parenthood. In this educational process the concept of growth of the person was underlying.

Structure of the organisation.
Presentation of the organization
 The structure has been decentralized from the start, taking into account the human needs of the different teams in the field. A co-ordination was developed with training events and communication at different levels.

Rigorous education and volunteering.
A first barrier encountered in order to develop a quality service has been the idea that to be volunteer does not imply professionalism. One of the major commitments of our monitors as volunteers in this service implied that this commitment engage professionalism.

Awareness of the need to improve the quality of service
In 1982, an awareness  to improve the quality of monitoring of couples was felt and addressed . Some couples were not following the teachings well and neither the  supervisor  nor the monitors were paying notice to this .
Some instructors and facilitators were more interested in increasing the number of users rather than the understanding and   monitoring of the couples

The supervision or guidance of the teacher:
From the start the work of the supervisor was geared to assist the monitor  in his work with  the couples. With time the supervisor became super-educators. She helped teachers to educate couples and  to find the solution to  the cycle problems    encountered by couples . It is true that team work is always more fruitful and supervisors  helped to ameliorate  cycles.
It was observed that the attitude of  the teacher had a direct influence on the trainee couples. Several teachers have multiple trainees with the same problems. This showed that the problem was not with the women but with the teacher herself.
We developed a form of  facilitative supervision where the supervisor keeps focussing on how to make the teacher  develop his skills.
The teacher must be aware of the needs of couples and how to respond. The supervisor must keep in mind'' what is it that the teacher needs to give  quality service''

Mentoring couples
Our training of teachers   has gradually been  refined to better meet the needs of couples to live  fully the  method and help integrate a lifestyle that will favour conjugal  communion.
Gradually the various needs of the couple have become more and more important to the teacher. Our training program for couples was built from their needs.

Common vision of a quality service
It is important for teams to have a common vision of what quality service implies in NFP, it helps to progress together towards this goal. This shared vision helps in establishing parameters  and the training  of the teacher as well as the couples take into account these criterias.

Importance of pedagogy
We understood that pedagogy  had a special place in our training sessions.
How to speak clearly, simply, what is the priority subject for the meeting , how to talk about the basics, how to check what has been understood. One of the trainers told us: « The best instructor is not one that explains the best, but one that has more capacity to understand what the user is doing or thinking. »

We have developed a process in the training of couples, where  the facilitator recognizes that over 75% of problems are caused by the approach: the process or defective system and not the people.
Ex: If  educators were not trained in how to mentor couples or if the training program did not take into account the work they have to do, the performance or the result of field work will  be unsatisfactory.

Importance of training
We therefore reviewed  the approach in supervision.
The supervisor focuses on how the teacher deal with the trainee and helps develop their skills. We have also reviewed our supervision tools and developed a specific training programme.
Coaching  is a training approach that seeks to achieve continuous improvement through:

- practice
- motivation
- modeling
- the transfer of skills
We use various monitoring tools of which the five main ones are:
         1.Statistical analysis that will give an overview of the work of the instructor : autonomous and drop out rate.
         2.The study of cycles that will give a detailed vision of the monitoring of the  couples followed. It will be possible for example to analyze the reasons for drop out. The study of cycle will  help to  pin point  his strength and weaknesses. It is also a time when the supervisor will help the teacher to develop his skills.
         3.The supervisor supports the instructor during follow-up interviews with couples (the choice is made     according to the          purpose of the meeting), the objective being  helping  the teacher to improve.
         4.The annual evaluation of the instructor.
         5.Continuous traning..

The frequency in supervision has great importance
It is those  regular meetings between supervisors  and teachers which  allow progress. Study of  cycles and assistance to follow-up interviews are also regularly held.
We might think that this supervision is negatively perceived by the teacher, but we can observe that teachers are happy to work with supervisors..
We  observe that the facilitative supervision has nothing to do with traditional supervision (which has never been applied  in our programme) supervision to control.

Teamwork and training
  The development of team spirit had an important place in the organization. The supervisor is the one that is responsible for the needs of the team, helping in the organization of work, helping in establishing objectives, in the  motivation of  the group. The regular meetings also allow teachers to have feedback and to feel the needs. It is also an opportunity to share positive experiences.
These meetings are favorite time for our teams and family spirit has grown over the years. We could make the difference in the quality of work with a change of supervisor. The supervisor has a direct influence on the morale of the team

Knowledge approach
We are aware that the teachers and supervisors develop ways and means  to do the work that are transmitted from generation to generation of teachers . Knowledge gets transmitted but can also be lost, hence the importance of ensuring that it is, conserved and used to service couples.