In August I went to do some training for an NGO in another country. I found that ‘Giving participants enough to eat spoils them’ (and letting them have any idea about when they might be fed is a state secret. Suddenly in the middle of a training session everyone is summoned out to eat Breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? ).

‘Letting people know anything about their training programme in advance is a sign of weakness.’ This includes the extremely weird idea of informing them in time about anything at all. He actually boasted about how they had all been summoned at the last minute (from all over a huge district with no roads or public transport) to attend a training without being told why they were being called or how long for.
‘It is subversive to think that the trainers might need to duplicate anything, use a visual aid etc’ (There was no generator, thus no power either in the office, the guest house or in the venue). In the guest house, the fridge hadn’t worked since I was last there in May.

The slightest attempt to help is a threat to the guy. So before going I got the HQ to agree, on the basis of previous dreadful time-keeping, to renting a second car for my week (and the other 4 facilitators). He refused to do it saying there was no need, but mainly because he felt criticised by the request. So huge amounts of time were wasted.