Publication '(Un)mapped Grounds' by Mladinski center Dravinjske doline

Gorenje pri Zrečah, Slovenia, 26. 7. - 3. 8. 2021

“MAPICA, MAPICA NA STENI, POVEJ”

Training course (Un)mapped Grounds

A training course e-publication

Authors rights: Mladinski center Dravinjske doline Authors: Mladinski center Dravinjske doline and TC’s (Un)mapped grounds participants Publication design: Nuša Hohnec, MCDD Date of issue: November 2021 Contact: Mladinski center Dravinjske doline, Žička cesta 4a, 3210 Slovenske Konjice, Slovenia info@mcdd.si, +386 3 759 13 20

Project Mapica, mapica na steni, povej, Eng. (Un)mapped Grounds was co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. The content of this e-publication represents the views of the authors only and their sole responsibility; it cannot be considered to reflect the views of the European Union.

Erasmus+ 2

INDEX

4 .................... Introduction 5 .................... Youth Centre of Dravinja Valley About the leading organisation 6 .................... (Un)mapped Grounds About the project 8 .................... The Methodology Impact and Dissemination 10 .................... Simulation is Salvation Slovenia 18 .................... In Touch With Your Inner Youngster Macedonia 22 .................... Sell Your Ideas Slovakia 26 .................... Environmental Sustainability Moldova 30 .................... Modern Pollution Georgia 34 .................... 5-D Cycle of Appreciative Inquiry Serbia

INTRODUCTION This publication was created for the purpose

The training course was led by Mladinski

of the training course “Mapica, mapica na

center Dravinjske doline, translation Youth

steni,

“(Un)mapped

centre of Dravinja valley from Slovenske

Grounds”, held at Gorenje pri Zrečah, Slove-

Konjice, Slovenia – the project leading

nia, from 26th of July to 3rd of August 2021.

organisation,

The training course was financed by the Eras-

organisations:

povej”,

translation

with

participating

partner

mus+ programme – Key activities 1 (KA1) “Mobility of Youth Workers”.

Association of citizens SFERA (Serbia), contact information: info@sferainternational.org, +389 74 845 754; Association for volunteerism – Volonterski Centar Skopje (North Macedonia), contact information: vcs_contact@yahoo.com, +389 22 77 20 95; Youth Association DRONI (Georgia), contact information: contact@droni.org, +995 57 427 112 724; ADVIT “Europa fara frontiere (Moldova), contact information: advit_team@yahoo.com, +373 22 817 908; Youthfully Yours SK (Slovakia), contact information: info@youthfullyyours.sk, +421 950 659 908; Centro per lo Sviluppo Creativo “Danilo Dolci” (Italy), contact information: info@danilodolci.org, +39 091 617 7252; Youth Association for Environment and Culture (Algeria), contact information: see@salto-youth.net, +386 1 430 47 47.

The main aim of the project was to establish a model of sustainable organisational development and a staffing monitoring plan, in order to transfer knowledge to youth workers. In addition, the activities also focused on helping the participants manage their internal balance, practice effective communication, learn the power of teamwork, develop their creative side and address different social challenges and phenomena.

About the project’s leading organisation Youth centre of Dravinja valley (MCDD) was established in 2003 by the Students club of Dravinja valley. It’s a private institute and social enterprise that is working with youth on a local, regional, national and international level. It’s vision is the activation of young people, promotion of active citizenship, raising cultural competencies, increasing social responsibility, promoting youth mobility and non-formal education. MCDD also provides space for the operation of a number of youth associations in the municipality, music groups, choirs and other organisations. In the local area, MCDD is perceived as an important player and is achieving the highest ratings among youth centres on the national level. Internationally MCDD is among the most active youth organisations. MCDD’s core activities are divided into 4 pillars: youth centre, cultural event centre MC Patriot, intergenerational centre and social incubator Kreaktor. In the youth centre the main activities are youth mobility projects (organising, hosting, sending), promotion of volunteering and activation, support to other organisations, inter-cultural dialogue activities, non-formal education modules developSchool of Creativity for children.

ment, implementation of youth, sport, and cultural events.

In the cultural event centre MC Patriot the promotion of young unknown bands is taking place, organisation of concerts, performances, reading clubs, art exhibitions etc. The intergenerational centre is carving out activities that connect different generations. And lastly the programme pillar Kreaktor promotes social entrepreneurship, co-working and activities that increase the employability of young people.

Music band Dan D performing in MC Patriot.

About the project “(Un)mapped Grounds MCDD is a highly experienced organisation in the field of youth work and a recognized player at the local, regional, national and international level. During the years the organisation was noticing that the transfer of knowledge from generation to generation of youth workers is very hard, mostly because of unstable funding, which results in a rapid change of staff. The youth workers, who form a permanent core of MCDD, are therefore prone to burnout, occasional non-motivation and loss of contact with youth. That is why it was decided to establish a model of sustainable organisational development and a staffing monitoring plan. The model takes into account various internal and external factors that affect the youth workers, organisation and youth work as such. The establishment of a sustainable MCDD development plan was a systematic process. Due to good results within MCDD, the model was shared on the international level with partner organisations of the project.

Participants and facilitators of the project ‘(Un)mapped Grounds’.

Goals of the project: ~ Mapping out youth workers’ personal and professional characteristics and the impact of both on youth work and the development of the organisation; ~ who is an “ideal” youth worker and how we want to get closer to that ideal; ~ the circumstances and working conditions of the organisations in which youth workers operate and how to influence them; ~ the challenges of youth work and how to address them through collaboration, the exchange of good practices and different methods; ~ the traps of getting burnout at work and how to avoid it; ~ the importance of an internal balance for effective communication and relationship with the outside world; ~ identifying the challenges with which young people, youth workers and society in general in partner counties and other societies are facing; ~ the importance and effectiveness of methods for building healthy societies, that are emotionally engaging and at the same time have sufficient space for critical reflection and judgment; ~ the situation of marginalized, discriminated target groups who, due to various systemic and social barriers, do not have a real opportunity to access social goods; ~ creative power of youth worker and the creative power of teamwork to address different social phenomena through youth work; ~ the importance of a program such as E+ for sustainable development of youth work; ~ activation of youth workers and young people; ~ to promote Erasmus+ program: Youth in action and opportunities offered by the program in the field of youth; ~ to promote Youthpass as a tool that contributes to strengthening the social recognition of youth work.

Results of the project: ~ Providing participants with a tool for becoming aware of the state of different personal dimensions within themselves and definition of themselves and their own work; ~ participants learned/created/shared new methods of work with young people for addressing the various and current needs of young people and encouraging their active participation; ~ issue of an e-publication in which the methods and the identified challenges and possible solutions are collected; ~ increased visibility and importance of youth work.

THE METHODOLOGY Impact

Dissemination

The project firstly made an impact on

Dissemination is by it’s definition the process of

the participants of the project and

making the results and deliverables of a project avail-

then it gradually spread onto youth

able to the stakeholders and the wider audience. To

from the participating countries. Par-

ensure that the project outcomes were distributed

ticipants

experiences,

and implemented in a community the project devel-

skills and information about new per-

oped a dissemination plan that foresaw how the out-

spectives by sharing what they have

comes of the project will be shared with stakeholders,

learnt while on the training course.

relevant institutions, organisations and individuals.

transferred

Key elements of a dissemination plan: - Purpose (Why?); - Audience (To whom?); - Message (What?); - Methods (How?); - Timing (When?).

Hereafter you will find the methods developed by the participating youth workers within the project. Each method was developed according to the current needs and situations in participating countries. It was tested at the training course and after implemented with youth in partner countries as project’s follow up activities.

PHOTO: James Baldwin, Unsplash.

S I M U L AT I O N

IS SALVATION “The best way to tackle a challenge is to take it into a ‘scientific laboratory’ and to dissect it. This way it loses it’s emotional component (such as fear of failure or getting into a conflict and making things worse) and becomes solvable in numerous ways.”

Country: Slovenia Participants: K. Kukovič, N. Hohnec, M. Kukovič

A group of participants performing their sketch ‘Dialogue with decision makers’.

Target group: Youth workers, youngsters Objectives of didactic activity: The goal of the method is for the participants to find new, various and fresh solutions on how to face different challenges in youth work, to raise awareness of the importance of youth work and of the fact that challenges are the ones that enable personal and professional development and growth. The fear of mistakes must not limit one at work, but it should be seen as an opportunity for sustainable progress. Timing specification: Energizer – 5 minutes Pass the energy: Participants stand or sit in a circle, hold hands and silently concentrate. The facilitator sends a series of ‘pulses’ both ways around the group by discreetly squeezing the hands of those next to them. Participants pass these pulses around the circle, as in an electric current, by squeezing the hand of the person next tot them and literally ‘energising’ the group. Introduction – 5 minutes Implementation of the method case study with role play – 40 min The facilitator divides the participants into groups. The number of groups depends on the number of participants. Four case studies are prepared with total 13 roles. Each group gets one case study with role play. They read the situation and then act it out within the groups. The

facilitator encourages each group to try to find as many solutions or outcomes of the situation as they can. The facilitator also gives an instruction that each group should select one version of acting out the situation that will be shown to other groups after 40 min. Discussion – 40 min Each group acts out one version of the situation and (un)solved challenge in front of all participants. If there are 4 groups, total time for each group performance and discussion is 10 min. The facilitator after each acting out asks the participants watching: 1. What was the challenge of the situation? 2. What was the solution of the situation (if it offered it of course)? 3. Do you have any similar experience in real life and how did you deal with it? 4. How would you solve the challenge? Then the facilitator asks the group members that acted out the situation: 1. Why did you chose to show this outcome of the challenge solving? 2. Where there any other solutions that you came to when acting out the situation? 3. Did any of your group members had a similar experience in real life? Conclusion – 5 min Materials needed for the implementation: Case study 1 – Motivating young people to get involved in youth work Characters involved: • Youth worker • Young person 1 • Young person 2 The youth organization, in which you are employed in, is looking for volunteers to get involved in the activities and projects of your organization. The organization’s office is located above a bar, which is very popular with young people. Since you take coffee during your breaks in the bar, you are familiar with some youngsters, that are regular costumers, and you already talked with them on several occasions. You were talking about what you do as a youth worker and what your organization has to offer to youngsters. One day you feel lucky and decide to ask two of them to join

your organization as volunteers. You start to describe where they could participate, talk about their interests, etc.. Youngsters are listening to you for a while, then they tell you that it’s pointless to think any kind of changes can be made in society, that no one (the general public or decision makers) really cares that various non-governmental organizations are trying to make a difference in society. They tell you that youngsters don’t really know what youth work is and that also they would never have heard about it, unless they met you in this bar and talked to you. They tell you, that basically they don’t have time for volunteering and are asking you, how you would get the money for the activities, if they decided to do something in your organization, etc. Prepare a sketch in which a youth worker and two youngsters are having a coffee and have a conversation like described. The goal of the character of a youth worker is to motivate youngsters to become volunteers in the organization, the youngsters on the other hand are giving numerous excuses why volunteering and any kind of activities to make the society better is pointless etc. The character of a youth worker should try to find a realistic and effective way to motivate the youngsters to participate. While playing out the sketch you can change the roles within your group and with that try to find different solutions. Try to make the roles as realistic as possible. Don’t make it a fairy tale or an extreme. ;) Later on you will briefly act out one version of your case for the other groups and report how you managed to solve the situation, if so. Case study 2 – Dialogue with decision makers Characters involved: • Youth worker • Young person 1 • Young person 2 • Decision maker Two youngsters came to your youth organization with an idea for a project regarding a theme that is very important to them. You as a youth worker and employee of the organization are totally for it. You decide together which activities will be done and foresee a budget for it.Your organization does not have enough money to implement the activities, so you decide that you will set a meeting with a local decision maker (mayor, etc.) and together present the idea and try to get it funded. At the meeting with the decision maker you are presenting the idea together with the two youngsters, who gave the initiative for it. The decision maker listens to you for a while, but then starts replying that there are no funds for this, that it is impossible, that new roads need to be

made, that your idea is a waste of money, that nothing will really change and that you will all just have a good time, get drunk, take other drugs, use the money for personal benefit etc. Prepare a sketch in which a youth worker and two youngsters are at a meeting with a decision maker trying to persuade him/her/them to fund the project initiated by the youngsters. Chose the theme for the project yourselves according to what you think current interests or needs of youngsters are in real life. The goal of the characters of a youth worker and two youngsters is to get the project funded, the goal of the character of a decision maker is to get rid of you asap and continue with his/hers/theirs according to them more important work. While playing out the sketch you can change the roles within your group and with that try to find different solutions. Try to make the roles as realistic as possible. Don’t make it a fairy tale or an extreme. ;) Later on you will briefly act out one version of your case for the other groups and report how you managed to solve the situation, if so. Case study 3 – Efficient team work Characters involved: • Youth worker 1 • Youth worker 2 • Youth worker 3 • director/directress of the youth organization Three youth workers are preparing a seminar for youngsters on the theme of climate change. The tasks are divided among the three. Youth worker 1 needs to take care of the application forms to apply for the seminar and follow the applications in order to inform participants of all technical matters of the seminar. Youth worker 2 needs to set up a cooperation with national non-governmental and public organizations that are dealing with environmental protection in order to invite professionals to co-implement activities at the seminar. And youth worker 3 has to take care of the whole information process (media announcements, visibility of the event, promotion on social media, etc.). Youth worker 3 works really hard, works after hours and prepares everything needed. The

visibility of the event is on the top level. The applications are coming in and in a few days there are 60 interested participants. The seminar will happen in 4 days time. The team meats for a team meeting to check the status of the coordination of the seminar. Youth worker 1 and youth worker 3 report, that everything is going smoothly and express that they are surprised, that so many persons are willing to attend the seminar. They will have to book a bigger seminar hall than they’ve foreseen. They ask youth worker 2 if he/she/they could arrange that additionally. Youth worker 2 replies, that no one of the invited NGO and public organizations replied yet, if they are willing to participate at the seminar. Two e-mails were sent to them and now youth worker 2 is waiting for the reply and can’t deal with additional tasks at the moment. Youth worker 1 and 3 are shocked, why youth worker 2 hasn’t tried to call the organizations, if there was no reply through the e-mail. Youth worker 2 gets angry and tells the other two, not to lecture him/her/them about how to do the job. Youth worker 3 loses it when hearing that reply by youth worker 2, because he/she/they are exhausted by the amount of work with the information process. At the moment, when youth worker 3 shouts on to youth worker 2: “You will fu** up everything, you lazy bastard!”, the director/directress of the youth organization walks in. Prepare a sketch from the point in which three youth workers sit down to have a team meeting regarding the coordination of the seminar. Act out the script regarding the content given. The goal of the sketch is to find a solution for the situation after the director/directress walks in. It’s up to you to find the scenario(s), what happens when the director/directress walks in and how the situation unravels. Keep the situation as real as possible. While playing out the sketch you can change the roles within your group and with that try to find different solutions. Try to make the roles as realistic as possible. Don’t make it a fairy tale or an extreme. ;) Later on you will briefly act out one version of your case for the other groups and report how you managed to solve the situation, if so. Case study 4 – Mental health of youngsters Characters involved: • Youth worker • Young person It’s a regular day at the office of your youth organization. You are checking and replying e-mails and preparing activities. A young person, a university student that you know, walks in and asks you what you are doing. You explain and notice that the young person is somewhat sad. You ask the person if she/he/they are o.k.. The person looks at you in silence and his/hers/theirs chin

starts to shake, eyes begin to water up. The person says nothing. You approach the person and ask what has happened. The person reveals that the last four weeks were extremely stressful at study. Because of Covid epidemics, the person had to move back home from the university city and he/she they don’t have a personal and quiet space to study because all younger siblings are also at home. The parents are working from home, taking care of the young children, do job related and household work. Everybody is nervous, there has been a lot of yelling and hate lately. Now that the exam period is coming in, the person tells you he/she/they feel unprepared. You notice fresh cut marks peeking out the sleeve on one hand of the person. Prepare a sketch of the given situation using the given facts for the script. The goal of the sketch is that the character of the youth worker tries to find the most efficient and responsible solution of the situation. When you will be acting out the sketch, change the roles. The role of the young person stays the same all the time, the character of the youth worker changes according to who/where you actually are now in life (think of yesterday’s activities – re-vision and ideal youth worker). When in the role of youth worker try to do your best according to your current knowledge, connections, abilities, etc. Try to make the roles as realistic as possible. Don’t make it a fairy tale or an extreme. ;) Later on you will briefly act out one version of your case for the other groups and report how you managed to solve the situation, if so.

School of Creativity for children.

A participant (left) and one of the Slovenian facilitators (right), performing their sketch about youngsters’ mental health.

Participants practicing (top) and performing (bottom) their sketch about efficient team work.

IN TOUCH WITH

YOUR INNER YOU NG ST E R “Our methodology is based on young people and their introduction to the definition – youth worker. Many young people in our country do not know that there is an option to work in such an area. We want to present how really interesting and instructive it is. But everything goes with its own difficulties. We want to show this through the modified exercises we learnt on this training course. We hope to motivate more people to find themselves, as the title of our workshop says. That is why we go deeper within ourselves.”

Country: Macedonia Participants: M. Danilovska, N. Georgievska

Macedonian participants (middle) after successfully implementing their methodology back at home.

Target group: Young people Objectives of didactic activity: Motivation for youth work/volunteering and finding their own way of expression Timing specification: Introduction – 5 minutes A short explanation of the workshop by the facilitators. Energizer – 15 minutes Positive roasting: The facilitator divides the participants in two groups, where they think of a compliment and give it to the other group. The point of it is for each group to find a better compliment for the other (battle). The goal is to start the workshop on a positive and fun note. Fears/expectations task – 15 minutes One of the facilitators sits on a chair in the middle of the room. Each participant has 10 minutes to write down their fears and expectations of being a youth worker. They write them on post-it notes and when finished, they stick them on the facilitator. Fears on the left, expectations on the right side. The point is to make an evaluation of youngsters’ thoughts about youth work in a way that the facilitators are reading them, explaining that it’s normal to have both sides.

Finding yourself – 15 minutes The facilitator divides the participants in two groups, so they sit facing each other. One facilitator is asking questions connected to finding yourself and implementing it in youth work. The participants have 1 minute and 30 seconds to answer each question. The other facilitator measures the time. After each question, within one group participants switch places – they all move one chair up. This task is similar to blind dating. The point of it is for the people to get to know each other, create connections and evaluate their own abilities and talents. Questions needed for this task: 1. What is your hobby and why? 2. What are your most recent accomplishments? 3. What is one step you can take to be closer to your goal? 4. What is the ideal version of yourself? 5. What if you don’t achieve your goal? 6. Will youth work help with your achievements? 7. Can you use your knowledge of youth work in a future profession? 8. How can you express your talent through youth work? 9. What can you do when you feel lost? Discussion – 10-15 minutes Making an evaluation of the whole process. People sharing their thoughts and comments. In addition, calming music is played throughout the whole workshop. Materials needed for implementation: post-it notes, pens, chairs, speaker.

During the follow-up activity in Macedonia.

Macedonian participant during the implementation of their methodology in Slovenia.

S E L L YOUR IDEAS “Our goal is to teach youngsters to defend their ideas, improve debate skills, train to be confronted and to help them with raising awareness about certain topics.”

Country: Slovakia Participants: L. Furmaníková, I. Gaňa

Slovakian participants implementing their methodology.

Target group: Young activists Objectives of didactic activity: Through simulation in front of a committee, the participants try to sell their ideas, but they only have 2 minutes for argumentation. They should be prepared, that the committee members have their own persona and they might not be in the best mood or are too strict. This activity should prepare participants for a real-life situation they might face as a young activists. Timing specification: Energizer – 5 minutes From 1 to 10: The facilitator instructs the group to sit in a circle and close their eyes. Their task will be counting from 1 to 10, but they’re only allowed to speak one at a time. If two participants say the same number at the same time, we must start over again, starting with 1. The game ends when you reach the number 10. If it’s too easy for your group, you can raise the number to 15 or more. Introduction to activity – 10 minutes The facilitator explains the participants the goal of this activity - why this topic, why it’s important etc. After this the facilitator explains the rules of the simulation game.

Sorting participants into groups – 5 minutes Choose 3-5 volunteers, who will represent the committee members, the rest should be divided into groups of at least 3 members per group. Each committee member also gets a paper with a persona description, which they must act like: - You’re a professional. You like bureaucracy and you’re strict in time management. - You’re very supportive, you are cheerful, positive and like every idea. - You woke up in a very bad mood. You’re pointing out every mistake in the argumentation. Each group gets a piece of paper with an idea they’re presenting: - You want the city to build a community centre for the elderly. - You want the city to build more multifunctional sport fields. - You want to organise LGBTQ+ pride. - You want money from the city for cleaning activities (cleaning the river etc.) Preparation for argumentation – 15 minutes Argumentation with the committee – 5 minutes for each group - 90 seconds for argumentation and defending the idea to committee members, - 60 seconds for the committee, if they have any questions or comments, - the remaining time can be used for discussion with other groups: What is your opinion on this topic? What would you add? Evaluation – 15 minutes Guessing roles of committee members, conclusion, evaluation, additional time for discussion. Materials needed for implementation: Cards with personas and ideas.

During follow-up activities.

One of the Slovenian facilitators (top right) and a group of participants during ‘Argumentation with the committee’.

ENVIRONMENTAL S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y:

PROBLEMS AND

SOLUTIONS FROM A

COMMUNITY’S

PERSPECTIVE “We decided to talk about the ecological situation in Moldova and how we can solve the ecological problems. The streets in our city Chisinau are very dirty and the problem is in society, first.”

Country: Moldova Participants: A. Vornicescu, M. Vier, D. C. Cubreacov

Target group: Volunteers, activists, youth workers (age 15+) Objectives of didactic activity: - to explain the ecology situation in the country and in cities, - to make the participants understand what is going to happen, if we don’t stop polluting nature, - make a plan for improving our ecology level, - to teach the group to deal with a big range of social challenges by giving an exact example (bad ecology, dirty streets, lack of garbage bins, etc.) and using a step-by-step plan. Timing specification: Introduction – 5 minutes A short explanation of the workshop. Presentation and problem solving – 45 minutes The facilitator conducts a presentation about the ecological situation in Moldova. The first method of problem solving implemented by the facilitator is “The five steps of solving a problem”: 1. Identify the problem. 2. Generate potential solutions. 3. Choose one solution. 4. Implement the solution you’ve chosen. 5. Evaluate results.

The next method is trying to find a solution on a personal, local, national and international level. The reason for this method being used, is that the ecological problem is not limited to the Republic of Moldova. Exchanging of ideas – 20 minutes The facilitators and the participants exchange ideas on how to better the ecological situation.

Moldovan participants implementing their methodology online.

Moldovan participant explaining their methodology while in Slovenia.

MODERN

POLLUTION “We can say our methodology is kind of similar to lecturing, as our seminar is about global warming and future environmental challenges that society will face in the nearest future.”

Country: Georgia Participants: G. Metreveli, A. Kasradze

Georgian participants during the implementation of their activity while in Slovenia.

Target group: Teenagers Objectives of didactic activity: To discuss pollution in different regions of Georgia, to understand the reasons and to find the answers about what we can do to make our environment cleaner. Timing specification: Introduction – 10 minutes Energizer – 5 minutes Music quiz: The host plays a song for 20 seconds and the participants have to guess the song. Discussion – 20 minutes 1. Why are the rivers in Georgia so polluted? 2. Last year the government built a new trash recycling factory based on new technology and we already see the results, but is it enough? 3. How is it with pollution in your region? 4. What can we do about it? 5. The problem is in society’s mind set. Break – 10 minutes

Video presentation – 15 minutes Video title: Why we need to stop plastic pollution in our oceans for good. Video description: Our oceans are being filled and killed by throwaway plastics. But together we can create a movement to reduce throwaway plastic at the source and save our oceans. Discussion – 10 minutes Discussion about the situation in Georgia and different regions of Georgia. Energizer – 5 minutes Geography game: One person says the name of a country/city and the next person in line has to say a country/city beginning with the last letter of the previously mentioned country/city. For example, one person says Slovenia, the next person in line would say Amsterdam, then Morocco, etc. Ending speech – 15 minutes What can we do to prevent pollution.

Georgian participants implementing their methodology online.

Georgian participant talking about pollution during their stay in Slovenia.

5-D CYCLE OF APPRECIATIVE

I NQU I RY “We feel like the methodology, on which this system works, is very useful in the context that it provides a good sense of where one’s thought process should be, when they are met with challenges. Although it may seem obvious from the outside, when faced with a challenge that requires problem solving skills, it is a very good thing to have a set direction and a planned out routine. Implementing this allows for the challenge to be solved quicker and more efficiently and the person to get a sense of accomplishment that is deserved.” Country: Serbia Participants: A. Jušković, A. Milenković, N. Janković

Serbian participants implementing their methodology back at home.

Target group: Members of an organisation/association Objectives of didactic activity: Being familiar with concepts such as the 5-D cycle of appreciative inquiry is not only usefully applied in youth work, but also in life generally. There can be a large amount of passivism among the people that work in youth work organisations, especially with the lack of proper motivation. Because of that, whenever we face a challenge, it is more likely to be dismissed and glossed over rather than tackled directly. Timing specification: Introduction – 5 minutes Energizer – 10 minutes Fruit salad: This energizer is best used for energizing a group in a physical way. The only thing it requires are chairs. The facilitator divides the participants into an equal number of three to four fruits, such as oranges and bananas etc. Participants then sit on chairs in a circle. One person must stand in the centre of the circle of chairs. The facilitator shouts out the name of one of the fruits, such as ‘oranges!’, and all of the oranges must change places with one another. The person who is standing in the middle tries to take one of their places as they move, leaving another person in the middle without a chair. The new person in the middle shouts another fruit and the game continues. A call of ‘fruit salad!’ means that everyone has to change seats.

Activity – 30 minutes People encountering appreciative inquiry for the first time often think it’s simply about the 4D or 5D cycle. The 5D is a tried-and-tested strength-based organisational development and strategic planning tool, which reaps particular rewards when used in creative organisations. It naturally integrates creative strands into its methodology – tools like visioning and collaging – which is great for harnessing the passion and commitment of staff and management in creative businesses, who often work within a small group environment. The 5D cycle is one of the core tools of Appreciative Inquiry and a great way to start. It’s used to focus on the positive in any group or organisation and identifies ‘what works’ to create a positive, inclusive future. The 5Ds are cyclical and you can refer both backwards and forwards around the cycle throughout the process. The process of Appreciative Inquiry was originally referred to as the 4D Cycle – Discover, Dream, Design, Delivery/Destiny. Increasingly, most practitioners refer to the model as the 5-D Cycle because we know the importance of Defining the topic for an Appreciative Inquiry experience. Without a clearly defined topic, there is no topic to inquire into.

1. Define

2. Discover

“What is the focus?” (Aspiring, focusing, and framing) Clarifying

“What gives life?” (Recognizing, valuing, and celebrating) Appreciating

POSITIVE 5. Destiny

CORE

“What will be?” (Experimenting, learning, and integrating) Innovating

3. Dream “What might be?” (Imagining, calling, and embodying) Envisioning

4. Design “How can it be?” (Brainstorming, aligning, and choosing) Co-Constructing SOURCE: appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu.

Define Phase – the phase during which organisational members gather data to decide the affirmative topic that will be the focus of the inquiry for the change the system seeks to make. What is the topic of inquiry? – It is important to define the overall focus of the inquiry (what the system wants more of). Definition is used to clarify the area of work to be considered. In spite of being the starting point of the cycle, it’s a recent addition – the 5Ds were originally the 4Ds, including discover, dream, design and destiny. Definition defines the project’s purpose, content and what needs to be achieved. In this phase, the guiding question is: “What generative topic do we want to focus on together?” Discover Phase – when members of the organisation inquire into high-point experiences and identify strengths and capabilities related to the Affirmative Topic – all of which add up to the “positive core”. Appreciating the best of ‘what is’ – Discovery is based on dialogue, as a way of finding ‘what works’. It rediscovers and remembers the organisation or community’s successes, strengths and periods of excellence. Dream Phase – the phase in which the members share images and co-create possibilities of what a co-created future might look, sound and feel like, when the ‘positive core’ comes to life (that could be immediately or at some time in the future). Imagining ‘what could be’ – Imagining uses past achievements and successes identified in the discovery phase to imagine new possibilities and envisage a preferred future. It allows people to identify their dreams for a community or organisation; having discovered ‘what is best’. They have the chance to project it into their wishes, hopes and aspirations for the future. Design Phase – during which, members collaboratively begin to design what projects and investments can (practically) and should (morally) be made to build organisational capacity to bring the Dream to life. Determining ‘what should be’ – Design brings together the stories from Discovery with the imagination and creativity from Dream. We call it bringing the ‘best of what is’ together with ‘what might be’, to create ‘what should be – the ideal’. Delivery/Destiny Phase – the phase when agreed commitments are implemented and there is continuous commitment also to learning, innovation and delivery of the outcomes all stakeholders care about. Creating ‘what will be’ – The fifth stage in the 5Ds process identifies how the design is delivered, and how it’s embedded into groups, communities and organisations. In early appreciative

inquiry development, it was called ‘delivery’, based on more traditional organisational development practice. The term ‘destiny’ is more prevalent now. Positive Core – it represents the strengths, the capabilities, the collective assets of the members and the organisation, that are surfaces and talked about during the Discovery interviews. The Positive Core is what informs the Dream step in the process. Members build on collective strengths to determine what they can do more of to move closer to possible preferred futures. Discussion – 20 minutes Examples of Appreciative Inquiry Questions Appreciative Inquiry is the art of asking unconditional, positive questions to strengthen the system’s capacity to anticipate and heighten positive potential. Appreciative Inquiry emphasizes the art of crafting positive questions. The following summarizes how Appreciative Inquiry questions are different: - We live in a world our questions create. - Our questions determine the results we achieve. - The more positive our question, the more it will create the possible. - Our questions create movement and change. Below are the four foundational Appreciative Inquiry interview questions for a business situation. If you substitute ‘organisation’ with ‘relationship’, or ‘career’, or ‘wellness regime’, it will become apparent how context agnostic Appreciative Inquiry is. 1. What has been a high-point experience in your organisation/division/life when you felt most alive, successful and effective? 2. Without being humble, what do you value most about yourself, your work and your organisation? 3. What are the core factors that make this organisation function at its best, when it feels a great place to be in and without which it would cease to exist? 4. Three wishes: if you had three wishes for this organisation, what would they be? Ask your participants to think about these questions. Give them 10 minutes, and then ask them to answer these questions. Materials needed for implementation: a laptop computer, a projector, PowerPoint presentation, papers and pens.

Serbian participant explaining their methodology while in Slovenia.

“When working with young people, there are times when you will see results

in 10 seconds,

and there are times you won’t see it

for 10 years.

Either way, keep planting those

seeds of character,

eventually they’ll bloom.”