Activities

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Building on the ‘Talking the Walk’ activity under Innovation – give the students time to develop their ideas into practical projects for resolving an issue (or adding new value) in their locality. Students follow the IVAC steps:

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Where Action comes from

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Individuals read the handout and decide on a charity. They are paired with someone who chose a different charity and have to agree on ONE charity between them. They then join another pair who chose a different charity to them and try to agree on ONE charity to support. 

In plenary discuss whether this was easy or not. What made it difficult? 

We are driven by our values – sometimes even positive values conflict with each other. 

Handout used in UK setting: Considering Your Values

Your school has a reputation for making small donations to a variety of good causes so when an elderly neighbour of the school passed away, she left a donation of £4,000 to the school with the condition that half should go to the school and half should go to a charity in order to make an impact. 

The headteacher is aware that to make an impact, this sum should be paid to one charity.

All staff and pupils were invited to suggest their favourite ‘good cause’ and a number of suggestions were made. 

The Head finds it impossible to choose from the top four preferred charities so you have been asked to make a decision because you have no personal connection with any of the listed charities. 

The Head’s only guidance is that the school should be “seen in a good light among parents and the public” for making this donation.

Your task is to choose one charity from the list below and then rank the others in order of priority. Explain why the other charities were not selected.

  1. The local animal rescue centre – their urgent need for more animal housing has been highlighted in the paper recently.
  2. Oxfam – towards their recent, high profile appeal following a massive earthquake in Malawi.
  3. The local hospice – caring for terminally ill patients with a reputation for its special care of cancer patients.
  4. The NSPCC – for a specific campaign to help with the assessment, support and monitoring of children returning home from a period in care.

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Select a situation known to the group and decide on the core problem. What are the effects of this problem? What are the other problems which contribute to the core problem? (NB Avoid writing down a lack of solutions as problems, rather state the problem itself that needs to be solved, e.g. rather than writing “Lack of awareness on effects of dumping”, say, “Townspeople dump waste in street.”) Build up the ‘tree’ from the core problem in the middle with causes below and effects above:

Add more cards to extend the tree as the discussion develops. Draw a line around a certain part of the tree in order to define a manageable project.

Rules of engagement

This technique enables all stakeholders to participate in a sophisticated discussion of causes and effects.

NB To turn this into a hierarchy of project objectives, simply turn each card around and write a positive version of the ‘problem’ that was written there.

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In groups, students are given the following activity or similar. You are the leader. Within your group, someone needs to be a wolf, be a rabbit, represent a cabbage. The other two are the boat. The task is to get the wolf, rabbit and cabbage to the other end of the room without them getting wet, but you can only take one thing in the boat at a time.

Note: if the wolf and the rabbit are together without you, the wolf will eat the rabbit. If the rabbit and the cabbage are together without you, the rabbit will eat the cabbage. Remember, only one thing can go in the boat at a time.

In plenary discuss ways that the leaders approached the task e.g. top down, or bottom up, collaboratively?

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Each group is given the following and are asked to show the participation of those involved in some way on a flipchart.

“Ali Wandaha had been very ill for a number of weeks so it was not a great surprise when he passed away late one Thursday evening. Nevertheless, the loss of her son was a devastating blow to Ali’s mother, the widow Mariamu. Her cries were heard throughout the night and a number of neighbours came to join her in the lament.

The next day, according to custom, Ali would be buried in the family compound and a feast would be provided for the mourners. At first light a neighbour’s boy was sent to Wafula, the coffin-maker who had already prepared the casket for Ali’s burial. A few of the neighbouring women assisted her in preparing the food while boys and girls were sent to spread the news to family and friends throughout the parish and outlying villages. By mid-day one or two of the women had taken on the role of comforting Mariamu who was almost incapable with grief.

A large number of people gathered for the funeral, an old Sheikh was called in to officiate while many of the village men, young and old, took a hand in bearing the coffin to the grave site.

Three of Ali’s relations sent messages that they were unable to attend the funeral but sent money to help cover the expenses, one uncle did not send anything but a message. Some people arrived late and left as soon as the food had been served and eaten while others remained to assist in the clearing up. Many of the women who had cooked helped to clean up after the guests had gone home.

Two women remained with Mariamu throughout the following night.”

Groups share and discuss their representations of participation.

In the discussion be sure to draw out different qualities (and purposes) of participation as well differing quantities or degrees of participation.