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Creating a
Process and Sharing Methodologies (2)
Sharon Rose Joy Ruiz-Duremdes
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Learning Task: Viewing a Mural (Madonna and Child) 1. What do you see in this picture? 2. What is the woman thinking? 3. What work will she have to do today? 4. Where is her husband? 5. Why is she looking sad? 6. Where is God in this mural? 7. What can women do together to lessen the load? 8. What could we do together practically as a group? |
The
Process: Action - Reflection
Step One: Looking at God's World
1. Exposure and Immersion
a) Subsistence and the provision of basic needs - food, clothing, shelter, water, health care, etc.
b) Relationships between people - tensions or harmony between men and women, husbands and wives, parents and children, workers and owners, etc.
c) Community decision-making process and structures
c.1. What are the structures for involving people?
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c.2. What are the rules of the group?
c.3. Who makes them? Who enforces them?
c.4. Does power depend on age, tribe, knowledge, money, education? c.5. How do people feel both about the decisions that are made which affect their lives and the way the decisions are made?
d) Education and socialization –
d.1. What values, skills and patterns of behavior are taught through schooling and traditional education?
d.2. Are there changes taking place?
d.3. What tensions occur through these changes?
e) Recreation – What does the community do to relax and enjoy?
f) Beliefs and values – Ideology or religion through which the people express their understanding of human life, death, the world, love of God; special rites and symbols for important moments of existence; etc.
2. Structural Analysis – Looking at root causes of basic problems
3. Self-Introspection – Asking the question: What has become (or is happening) to me on account of the shape of God's world?
Step Two: Identifying Our Vision, Mission, and Goal (based on Step One)
Vision – What would we like to see happen in the far future?
e.g. An egalitarian society where all people are given an equal opportunity to realize their potentials and to chart their own destiny; where each one's effort at developing is recognized and appreciated.
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Mission – What task(s) must we do to see that our vision is realized?
e.g. To build dynamic communities/sisterhoods of self-reliance, participation and justice.
Goal – What steps must be taken to fulfill the mission?
e.g. Consciousness raising, skills development and livelihood projects.
Step Three: Participating in Concrete Actions to Reach our Vision, Mission and Goal.
This step is the most profound theological statement one can make. However –
1. It will depend on the level of political awareness of the persons.
2. It is always done in community, never individually.
3. It takes into account the existing situation (socio-economic and political milieu, readiness of the people, resources, time, etc.).
4. It is couched in a three-pronged strategy:
a) Ideological (educational component)
b) Political (action component)
c) Organisational (machinery; management of variables – human resources, finance, structures, etc.)
Some
Methodologies
I. For reflection or conceptualization –
1. Photo Language (developed by Pierre Babin)
1.1. For this exercise, you need a good collection of clear, large photos, showing or symbolizing various aspects of the theme under study. There should be at least twice as many photos as there are participants on tables or benches in a room.
1.2. The facilitator explains the purpose of the session.
1.3. Ask the participants to form groups of 4-6 people. Then
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read aloud the instructions 'which you have written on newsprint.
1.4. These instructions are:
a) Look at the pictures in silence. Do not discuss them with others. In your mind, select 2 or 3 pictures which represent the essence/main idea of the theme we are studying.
b) Do not pick up the pictures until you are told to do so.
c) Choose 1 photo which represents for you the meaning of our theme. If someone uses your picture, you can use a second one.
1.5. Then, after they have formed their groups and are clear about the instructions, the whole group goes and looks at the pictures in silence. After about 5 minutes, ask each person to pick up one picture.
1.6. Ask them to return to groups of 4 or 6 to discuss. Each person explains why she chose that particular picture. After each one has shared, the small groups continue to discuss the topic. Give the groups 10 more minutes to' do this.
1.7. Bring the groups back for a whole group discussion.
2. But-Why Method (developed by David Wemer)
'The child has an infected foot.'
'But why?'
'Because she stepped on a thorn.'
'But why?'
'Because she has no shoes.'
'But why has she no shoes?'
'Because her father cannot afford to buy her any.'
'But why can he not afford to buy her shoes?'
'Because he is paid very little as a farm laborer'
'But why is he paid so little?'...etc.
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3. Drawing
3.1. For this exercise you need enough sheets of plain paper for each person in the group and enough crayons or colored pencils for each person to have access to a variety of colors.
3.2. Ask each person to draw a picture, symbol or diagram illustrating for them the most important aspects of the topic under study. Allow them 10-15 minutes to do this.
3.3. Ask them to form groups of about 5 and ask each one to share with their group what they were trying to show in their drawing.
3.4. When each has finished explaining, encourage them to continue the discussion about a deeper aspect of the theme.
3.5. Form a common circle again and invite the groups to share their most important ideas, not in long reports, but each person giving only one point at a time.
4. Brainstorming
4.1. The facilitator explains that the purpose of this session is to clarify the meaning of the topic under study (for instance, women's liberation). She might add that there are many different ways of understanding the concept so there is no one right answer.
4.2. The facilitator then asks the question: What does women's liberation mean to you?
4.3. Ask people to form groups of 3's (or 5's) to discuss this question. Give them about 15-20 minutes to discuss this.
4.4. Bring the whole group back together. At this point you can brainstorm a list of ideas about what women's liberation means and write these points on newsprint.
5. Local Proverbs/Yams/Folk Stories
5.1. Look for wise sayings/proverbs/folk stories/anecdotes that people in the community use.
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5.2. Analyze the saying/story: What is it trying to say? What does it say about the community/tribe from whence the story came? Are there changes in the way the story proverb is now told? What are these changes? What do you think has brought about the changes? Is the story/ proverb familiar to the younger generation? Why or why not?
6. People's Theology
6.1. The gathered assembly talks about a common recent happening they all have experienced (e.g. a death of one of their community leaders, a calamity, a military operation, etc.).
6.2. Unearth the details of the case or event.
6.3. The assembly discusses:
a) Why did this happen?
b) Where is God in this event?
c) What does our faith in God prompt us to do on account of this event?
d) How are we going to respond to this event?
7. Simulation
7.1. The facilitator invents a task/activity for the group to do which will bring out certain aspects of a social reality.
7.2. The group reflects on the experience and draws out insights from the task – e.g. Star Power Game, Cooperative Square, Pick a Spot, etc.
8. Case Study
A "could have happened" story is written out. Copies of the story are given to all in the group. They are made to read the story and to analyze it on the basis of the following questions:
a) What is happening in this case?
b) Why is it happening?
c) Analyze the actions taken by the different persons in the case.
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d) What would you do if you were involved in this case? What is the justification for your action?
9. Hopes and Worries
This exercise helps the group get a first impression of the concerns of different persons and helps them to start clarifying their ideas on a particular theme – e.g. women's emancipation.
9.1. The facilitator introduces the purpose of this session which is to clarify the group's concerns about, say for instance, women's emancipation. It is important to stress here that everyone should raise the issues they are concerned about and be as honest as possible. If they go away at the end of the workshop feeling the group never discussed what they wanted to discuss, it may be because they did not speak out at this time.
9.2. The facilitator then asks either the question: "What are your hopes and your worries about the church's role in women's emancipation in this parish or village?" or "What are the main problems you experience in women's emancipation in this area?"
9.3. Write the question on newsprint or a blackboard.
9.4. Ask people to form groups of 3's to discuss the question for about 10-15 minutes.
9.5. Then ask each group of 3 to choose the 3 main hopes and 3 main worries of their group.
9.6. When the small groups have finished, ask them to return to the whole group.
9.7. The facilitator helps the group to move along, asking for only one point from each small group at a time. One person writes a quick summary of points on the blackboard or newsprint. Another person summarizes the points at the end of the sharing.
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II. For Action –
1. Practical projects (e.g. cooperatives, livelihood projects, literacy programs, etc.)
1.1. Practical projects can serve the process of transformation:
a) Projects would be seen as the result of a process where people have seen the need for them. This will require a clear-cut vision of a just society. Projects can be undertaken as instruments for social transformation and development programs must make the conscious effort to translate these projects into useful tools to hasten the establishment of a just society.
b) Projects can solve economic needs of people, but only temporarily. Even failure can uncover exploitation, enhance awareness and solidarity. Success can enhance bargaining power. Projects, too, can lead people to self reliance. When development programmes create projects for self-reliance, they have built a temporary structure to break down oppressive systems in the economic structure. Projects operated on a collective basis can build the solidarity of a community.
c) Positively, too, projects can be used specifically to do survey and research, which is necessary to lead to critical awareness and education work. The ultimate goal is organizing people for power. Again, this will, even in the initial stages of planning projects, need a clear-cut vision of the goal to be achieved.
1.2. Practical projects are detrimental to the process of transformation when:
a) they spoil and corrupt the people involved through the dependence and grasping created in the donor-recipient relationship;
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b) through failure to analyze the power factors, they finish up benefiting the rich and/or powerful;
c) they strengthen the feudal relationship thus continuing paternalism; and
d) they are seen as the functional end and not a means of the entire social transformation process. This prevents projects from being temporary instruments for social transformation and ways to develop people's movements. (Source: Guidelines for Development, CCA)
2. Mobilizations: die-in, sit-in strike, march-rally, demonstration, picket, lobbying, boycott, campaign, etc.
3. Confrontations