Participatory Practice
7th December 2022
Annette and I went together on a day course hosted by Cumbria Action for Sustainability, in Penrith. Led by Jane Springett, an academic and north Cumbrian-dweller who has recently written a book about the subject.
We were shown and engaged in different ways of getting people talking in groups where everyone has an equal voice. It was a great experience and we’d love to share the idea of that approach to see how everyone else feels about it.
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Our joining instructions were to bring with you.. an object (could be a photograph, leaf, feather etc) that symbolises hope in the context of climate change, which you would be happy to share with others. There is no need to bring pens/paper as this is an experiential workshop, and where these are needed they will be provided for you on the day.
We used the following approaches, all very valuable tools in terms of bringing together new people to engaging them in shared conversation.
We used this approach to both open and close the day, with each person only speaking when holding the boomerang, using the centre of the circle as a place to put our objects of hope (as well as any disagreements!)
We used this approach to create discussion on what has worked and what could work, in the context of engaging more people to act on climate change. The question posed was: What works to bring people together to engage with climate crisis and take action?
There were 4 tables, and each table had a host who remained at the table, and four people in total per table including host. After approx. 10mins of discussion everybody except the host moved to a different table, and the same discussion continued. There were paper tablecloths for everyone to write and draw on.
At the end of 4 separate conversations, each host had 2mins to summarise the conversations on their table:
- Citizen’s Juries can be starting point for discussions / action – participation incentivised by £250 vouchers
- Food – great leveller – brings people together
- Opportunities for sharing – give and take stalls / Freegle
- Community events can become a ritual / celebration / tradition e.g Great Big Green Week; local food bring and share suppers
- Process involves gradually building knowledge – a snowball effect
- Start by listening to people and their priorities
- Work to overcome barriers
- Think about how information is shared effectively – frame content in line with the audience; facts may be secondary
- Identify the ‘bait’/ hooks which will engage and inspire
- Personal connections can expand outwards, bringing in new people
- Work at the grass roots is key
- Provide activities for people who like action, not words e.g tree planting
- Need to engage with young people and be aware of their eco-anxiety / concerns for the future
We used this approach in the afternoon. All participants were invited to propose a topic or question to discuss, and these were placed on a board. The topics were then grouped into similar themes, and people were invited to join any or all of the conversation topics. People could be like bees, and stay in the same discussion group, or they could be like butterflies and move about. We didn’t have any notes from these sessions but the photos give an idea/reminder.
Further resources on putting participatory practice methods to use can be found here: https://involve.org.uk/resources/methods
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