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Lesson #5: Volunteering and Community Activism





 

I. Objectives: Students will define civil society and community activism, and will discuss why these are two important facets of a democracy. They will also use the steps involved in community advocacy to create a strategy to deal with a local problem.

 

II. Materials:

1. Blank flipchart paper

2. Flipchart: Steps of Advocacy

3. Flipchart: Advocacy in Action

4. Handout: Nine Questions for Public Advocacy

 

III. Procedure:

1. Introduction: What is Civil Society?

· Show students the following quote: “In post-communist countries it has been clear that civil society is what makes democracy work” (Myers Discussion in Democracy, p. 31).

· Divide students into small groups and ask them to come up with a definition of civil society (you can provide students with the translation of the phrase, but don’t tell them what it means!).

· Groups share their definitions, and try to synthesize a class definition. If students are having a hard time, you might give them some examples of some groups that exist in Ukrainian civil society: the student political group Pora, church groups, school clubs and sports teams, the different groups that rallied together to support Yushchenko during the “Orange Revolution.” What do these groups do? What do they have in common?

· Once the class has its group definition, add this if necessary: Civil society refers to all organizations or groups that work for or against the government, but are not directly connected with the government; they may be based at school, at work, in church, or other institutions; even families. These are all volunteer organizations, meaning that the people who work for them don’t get paid. These people are leaders and activists who do this work because they want to make a change for the better in their communities.

 

2. Discussion: Civil Society and Volunteering

· In small groups, students should write/brainstorm answers to the following questions, and them discuss with the class:

· What is the advantage of having non-governmental groups in civil society?

· What are some problems facing your community?

· Could they be solved by volunteering or forming another organization? Describe how.

 

3. Advocacy:

· All of the groups we’ve talked about in civil society use a process called advocacy to help them achieve the changes they desire to make.

· The process of advocacy looks like this (show “Steps of Advocacy” flipchart):

­ One or more people have a concern or problem.

­ They gather facts about that concern (find facts).

­ They find others who share the concern (identify allies).

­ Together these people find a solution to their problem, and ways to arrive at that solution (develop an action plan).

­ The final steps are to take action to arrive at the solution (take action), and then to evaluate what worked, and what did not along the way (evaluate).

 

4. Advocacy in Action:

· Let’s look at a real-life situation. Imagine you do not like the fact the brook behind your house is filled with trash. You might clean it up yourself, but chances are, someone is going to put trash in it again. But if instead of tackling the problem alone, you used the tools of advocacy, you might:

· Find facts: Start gathering information about why there is trash in the brook.

· Identify allies: Ask around in your village to see who else is disturbed by the trash in the brook.

· Develop an action plan and take action:

­ Maybe you discover that one reason people put trash in the brook is because garbage disposal is expensive. Maybe a recycling program would also reduce the amount of trash the village produces would help eliminate the problem. And the recycling program might bring in enough revenue to not only support itself, but also provide some revenues.

­ Or perhaps people put trash in the brook because they don't think they have any responsibility for public space. Your group might want to begin a public educational campaign to teach people to take ride in public space. This campaign might be brought into the village school so that children could learn from an early age to take pride in their environment and to condemn littering and illegal dumping.

­ Or perhaps the village mayor seems uninterested in the problem. She says she can't do anything about it. Your group might gather signatures on a petition supporting a particular solution. You would then request a meeting with the mayor and village council to present the petition and press for changes. And, in addition to one or more of the above actions, you and your group might decide to hold a clean up day. You could ask for someone to donate bags to hold the trash, and for people to donate food and drink for a celebration after the brook has been cleaned up.

· Evaluate what you did and decide on future activity: What worked? What didn't? Do more people now think it is important to keep the brook clean? Does the village hall feel more responsibility for helping the public keep the brook clean?

· By using the tools of advocacy, you were able to spread concern for the status of the brook to a wider group. You were able to determine whose opinion and behavior you wanted to change. Together, you came up with ways to clean up the brook and to keep it clean. Finally, you were able to establish a group of fellow residents who are not only concerned about a common problem, but who are willing to work together to develop and implement solutions to the problem.

 

5. Advocacy in Our Community:

· Have students work in small groups, or if your class size is small, all together. Ask them to brainstorm at least five problems in your community and explain that you will use community advocacy to come up with some solutions.

· Once they have identified the problem they want to tackle, in their groups they should answer the questions on the handout in writing (they will most likely only answer the first five questions, since the second set is for use once the project has been initiated. However, you should review it with students so they are aware that the evaluation phase is an important part of advocacy.)

· Groups can present their solutions to the class.

 

6. Wrap-up:

· Why is working with a group of people who have common concerns more effective than trying to do something all by yourself?

· Why does a democracy need concerned citizens and volunteers?

· What is the most important thing you think we need to remember about democracy and our role in it?


 

Handout: Nine Questions for Public Advocacy

 

 

FIRST: Identify the problem. Describe it here in three or four sentences.

 

NEXT: Look ahead:

  1. What do you want to make happen?

 

  1. Whom do you want to affect? Whom do you want to change? Who is your audience?

 

  1. What message do you want the audience to hear?

 

  1. Who will send the message?

 

  1. How do you want to deliver the message?

 

THEN: Look back (we will not do this part in class):

  1. What have you already achieved? What resources do you have?

 

  1. What do you still need to develop? What are your weak points?

 

  1. How will you begin?

 

  1. How will you evaluate your work? How will you know if your work was successful?

 

 

“Nine Questions” from Public Policy Advocacy: Women for Social Change in the Yugoslav Successor States, Meriam Kervatin ed., Zagreb: STAR Project, Delphi International, Strategies, Training and Advocacy for Reconciliation, 1998.


Civics Glossary

English Ukrainian Russian
advocacy за=хист защи=та
advocate (v) захища=ти защища=ть
ally сою=зник сою=зник
assemble збира=тися собира=ться
attain досяга=ти достига=ть
behavior поведі=нка поведе=ние
capital столи=ця столи=ца
censor (v)   подверга=ть цензу=ре
citizen громадя=нин, громадя=нка гражда=нин, гражда=нка
civics громадя=нська спра=ва гражда=нское де=ло
civil громадя=нський гражда=нский
community грома=дa населе=ние
congress конгре=с конгре=сс
could міг/ могла= би мог/ могла= бы
country краї=на страна=
democracy демокра=тія, народова=ддя демокра=тия, народовла=стие
dilemma диле=ма диле=мма
effective ефекти=вний эффекти=вный
evaluate оці=нювати оце=нивать
government у=ряд прави=тельство
ideal (n) ідеа=л идеа=л
ideally ідеа=льно идеа=льно
inalienable невід'є=мний неотъе=млемый
individual (n) осо=ба, індиві=д лицо=, индиви=д
interact (v) взаємоді=яти взаимоде=йствовать
inviolable непору=шний неруди=мый
leader керівни=к, лі=дер руководи=тель, ли=дер
leadership керівни=цтво руково=дство
law зако=н зако=н
lobby (v) агітува=ти, лобіюва=ти агити=ровать, лоббирова=ть
parliament парла=мент парла=мент
president президе=нт президе=нт
prime minister прем’є=р-міні=стр премье=р-мини=стр
responsibility відповіда=льність отве=тственность
revenue прибу=ток дохо=д
rights права= права=
search шука=ти иска=ть
seize захопи=ти, конфіскува=ти захвати=ть, конфискова=ть
should (I should) мені= тре=ба мне на=до
society суспі=льство о=бщество
volunteer доброві=льно щось роби=ти,(v) пропонував=ти свою= допомо=гу(v), доброво=лець (n) доброво=льно что-то де=лать,(v) предлага=ть свою= помо=щь(v), доброво=лец (n)


The Environment

All over the world young people enjoy the beauty and tranquility of nature. Especially in Ukraine, young people walk, run, swim, ski, sled, and play sports in natural areas such as forests and mountains as well as near lakes and rivers. However, our environment is not guaranteed. It is a gift that we need to preserve in order for it to exist in the future. Often, large companies and factories hurt our environment by abusing laws and practices that were created to protect nature. However, individuals also have an effect on the environment. Even one person can have an effect. That means that you can hurt or protect your natural environment by your actions. One person can make a difference and that difference can be as small as not throwing trash on the ground or as big as organizing citizens from all over a region to clean up trash and bring their surroundings back to a natural state.

 

Students should be encouraged to think about how they personally relate to the environment—do they protect the environment, or take it for granted? Additionally, you can use this section to reinforce concepts of leadership by sharing with students the following (from the Lviv Youth Employment Center’s Youth Leadership Program training manual): “A leader is someone who takes action. When speaking about the environment, that means a leader is someone who sets a good example. An environmental leader is someone who takes out of nature whatever he or she brings in. That means at a shashlik or picnic, picking up all your trash and bringing it with you, not leaving it behind or trying to burn it. (*Remember: plastic and glass do not burn. By putting these types of materials on your campfire, you release dangerous chemicals into the environment—and into your lungs, if you breathe the smoke!. Also, because these items do not break down, you inevitably leave trash behind if you try to leave them on the fire.) An environmental leader might do more. He or she might want to organize others in environmental activities such as trash clean-up days or speaking to children about their environmental responsibilities. By teaching one another that we have responsibilities to keep nature clean and pure, then we are all environmental leaders.”

 

This section begins by establishing a sense of personal responsibility in dealing with environmental issues (Lesson #1: Why Should I Care? Taking Responsibility for the Environment). It encourages students to see the environment as a group of specific places that have given them the gifts of peace and serenity, and then helps them to examine these places more thoroughly and consciously (Lesson #2: Environmental Awareness). Once students are more consciously aware of the resources that make up their environment (Lesson #3: Natural Resources), they learn about important natural resources (Lesson #4: Water. Water Everywhere) and how pollution and litter can damage those resources (Lesson #5: Litter).








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