Shifting Normal - designing projects to tackle climate change: workshop guide

Time

Activity

Notes

10m

Welcome and Introductions

Introduce yourself; Welcome people to the event; Briefly remind them of the purpose of the workshop.

A clear statement of the purpose at the start will help keep the workshop focused.

Invite everyone to turn to the person next to them and introduce themselves and say why they are interested in the project. After a minute or so, remind people to swap over if they haven't already.

This gives everyone a chance to speak without feeling awkward.

Invite everyone to speak to the whole group, and say:

• their name;
• where they are from (this may be the area they live or the organisation they represent); and/or
• a couple of words on why the change sought is important to them.

Start off yourself, keep your 'couple of words' really short to set a good example.

It's good for everyone to know who is in the room very early on.

The last option helps everyone get an impression of the other people's interests and motivation - it can be an eye opener.

10m

Summarise results of previous workshop

The level of detail and time spent on this will depend on whether most people were at the previous workshop and how long ago it was.

Remind everyone of the Four Questions and Four Zones

Pass round Handout 4, the Four Questions and Four Zones table, or ask people to turn to page 12 of Shifting Normal.

Show everyone the list of:

• issues that help the change;
• issues that hinder the change; and
• people and organisations that could help the organisation.

Use copies of the report of the previous workshop and/or have these written up on flip charts.

Invite any questions

20m

Activities to build on the issues that help the change

Explain that the project will need to build on the issues that help and try to overcome those that hinder the change. We need to work out what the project will actually do to achieve this.

Ask people to consider each 'help' issue in turn: how might the project build on these? Use examples from case studies to stimulate ideas.

Write down the suggestions for activities on PostIts - one idea per PostIt.

Stick the PostIts onto the flip chart next to the relevant issue - if one activity addresses more than one issue use a marker pen to link them with lines or use numbers.

Use one of the colours of PostIt for this stage.

With a group of 6 or less, do this as a discussion of the whole group around the table.

With a larger group ask people to work in groups of 3-4. They can write the PostIts themselves.

20m

Activities to tackle the issues that hinder the change

As above.

15m

How other people and organisations could help

Ask people to consider the list of people and organisations that could help. In some cases it will be obvious, in other cases it will need thinking about.

For each of the activities from the previous sections, discuss which person or organisation could contribute and what their roles might be. Write this on PostIts and stick each PostIt next to the relevant activity.

Use the other colour of PostIt for this stage.

With a group of 6 or less, do this as a discussion of the whole group around the table.

With a larger group ask people to work in groups of 3-4. They can write the PostIts themselves.

Decide the project's main activities and partners.

5m

Summarise results so far

Summarise where the workshop has got to: at this stage there should be a number of possible activities and for some of these there may be people and organisations that could help. These should be on flip charts and posters on the wall.

Explain these are all just suggestions at the moment, and it may not be possible or sensible to try and do all of them:

• Some activities may overlap or duplicate.
• The people and organisations identified may not be willing or able to help.
• It may make sense to start with a small project and learn from that before doing something on a larger scale.
• Especially if the activities rely on volunteers it will depend on whether enough people are willing and able to volunteer, and how keen they are.
• There might not be enough funding to do all of them.

This section of the workshop will need to be flexible depending on the number of activities etc and the complexity of the project.

It may not be possible to decide everything now:

• more research may be needed; and
• the decisions may need to be made by a formal committee etc.

However, you should aim at least to have an idea of the most important activities and how they will fit together.

30m

Developing a draft plan

Explain that next we need to develop a clear plan to bring about the change we want.

Remind people that:

• for the change to happen, it must feel right for the people involved, make sense, be do-able and fit into their day; and
• projects which support change across all four zones: I, We, They and It tend to be more successful.

Referring to the table on the handouts or wall, explain that:

• for each of the issues that hinder the change it must be clear how the activity(ies) will do this;
• for each of the issues that help the change it must be clear how the activity(ies) build on this; and
• it must be clear how the people and organisation we want to be involved will contribute to the activities.

Referring to the list of activities from the previous session, ask:

• Which are the most important?
• Why?

For each of the most important activities discuss how effectively it addresses the issues that help and hinder. It may become clear some of the activities need to change or could be merged.

Ask people which of the activities are required to bring about the change we want. Summarise these on flip charts (one activity per sheet):

• including any people or organisations that would be involved; and
• which of the issues that help or hinder it addresses.

Ask people to double check whether these activities:

• cover all the issues;
• mean that people will be able to answer all the Four Questions; and
• have actions in all the Four Zones.

Discuss and revise as necessary.

Hand out copies of the table produced after previous workshop - or have this on a flip chart on the wall.

10m

Summarise and close

Remind people that the purpose of the workshop was to agree the main activities for the project. Point to the final flip charts to show they have achieved this.

Explain that this draft plan will be developed further and let them know what will be happening next and how they might be involved.

Ask everyone to think about what has been discussed in the workshop and remind them that we started by telling each other why the change is important to us. Ask them to think about what makes them most hopeful that the project will be successful. Ask everyone in turn to say what that is in just a few words. Start with yourself, make sure you really do say just a few words to set the example and go around the group.

Thanks everyone for their time and help.

What happens with the draft plan will depend on the situation - eg costings, discussion with people and organisations that could help, etc - so adapt this as necessary.

In a larger group or where time is short, ask people to share one word that expresses their hopes for the project.