Details
Maximising Community Assets - EQF Level 3
Introduction

Introduction

Two people laid back
Two people laid back
Photo by cottonbro via Pexels

When we start identifying what unites us, instead of what divides us, we feel more empowered, resilient, happier, healthier, more productive, integrated and we give back more easily to our community. 

Task

Task

Two women leaning on each other sharing a moment
Two women leaning on each other sharing a moment
Photo by mododeolhar via Pexels

Your task is to discover “all that you share” with groups of people of your community from diverse backgrounds, by setting up an activity to learn more about your community members’ personal stories and experiences and interests.

Process

Process

Watch the video “All that we share”, to have a baseline of reference. It is an award winning film from an advertising of TV2 in Denmark. Select the subtitles in your language if needed. 

Replicate this experience, by taking the following steps:

  1. Briefly explain the purpose of the activity and invite people from the different groups that you take part or are involved in (e. g. sports team, company, arts club, churches/faith-based groups, environmental, activism, social-service groups, unions, those who share a particular interest, such as classic cars, etc.);
  2. Find a spacious room for the activity or do it outdoors;
  3. Reproduce the squares/divisions on the floor showed in the video to accommodate the participants, according to the sort of groups that confirmed their attendance;
  4. Use the script in the resources section, change some key-words that you think will fit in better, having in mind what you’d like to explore or raise awareness, your context and groups’ features. Or completely adapt it! Either way it could be interesting. Explore the experiences, feelings, emotions and humanity feeling we all have within;
  5. Deliver the activity;
  6. Distribute informed consents, film the experience, if the participants feel comfortable with it and share it with your community. See on the resources section, what an informed consent is and steps to easily come up with one;
  7.  To wrap up the activity, ask participants to express what they have experienced/felt in one word or what they have learned, what they have discovered about themselves and the community in a broad sense. Ask participants if they have experienced or observed stereotyping initially, and if they have experienced a greater sense of belonging towards the end. If yes, what made them stigmatise other people? If yes, what were the key-ingredients to start feeling belonging and bonding with someone?
  8. Reflect yourself: did this activity help you make sense of anything as organiser? What was it? 
  9. Ask participants what they have realised with this activity;
  10. Edit a video about the activity together with the testimonials and share it (optional);
  11. If you (or the participants) are interested in the “belonging” topic and eager to make sense of the experiment, read the article on the Resources section.

 
Conclusion

Conclusion

This activity is about how natural it is for all of us, in order to operate in the world, to label people and “putting them into boxes” (stereotyping) first, sometimes based on their culture, looks or our biased perception. 

This video is also about becoming mindful of the unperceived profound commonalities that we all share whilst supporting our diversity and being aware of invisible bonds that all of us share.

The first step to unlock future opportunities in your community is to find what members might share.

Evaluation

Evaluation

Learning Objectives

  • You will learn activities to unlock community(ie)’s commonness and connectedness feelings, while preserving personal identity and diversity.
  • You will learn by doing, community organising.

Knowledge

  • The importance of respecting diversity in a community;
  • The importance of finding commonness and equality;
  • Definition and key-ingredients to nurture sense of belonging;

Skills

  • Community organising;
  • Address stereotypes;
  • Explore peoples’ commonalities;
  • Reflect about stereotyping from a significant and personal experience;
  • Reflect about sense of belonging from a significant and personal experience;

Attitude

  • Foster a great sense of belonging;
  • Ability to draw empathetic conclusions about community members as individuals, as a group and as a community;
  • Communicate with others, inspiring confidence and trustworthiness.

Resources

Click each section below to see all resources available.