Why use this?
To reflect upon problems that might arise in a rural context in the frame of ESC projects.
Method
Step 1:
What’s in home. We will ask the volunteers to write in a big piece of paper with the shape of their city (including surroundings) how they are usually related to their community, using few words to describe which are the contexts they can be in, where are these activities located and what people are usually in those plans. Things like the following ones can appear: home, university, library, gym, parks, shopping centers, social centers…
Step 2:
Detect similarities. Once we have got all of those, we will give the volunteer a similar paper with the shape of the village/town they will be for the ESC project and we will ask them to put the same activities that they like into this second map. They might encounter difficulties to position every activity in the map now that there is not the same kind of entertainment in both of the places (rural areas don’t usually offer the same possibilities nor resources).
Step 3:
Detect specificities. With the second map almost done, we will ask to consider what activities could be developed in that rural area, different from the place where they are coming from. For example: different ways to socialize, more activities in the surrounding areas, more connection with the nearby villages… Also, in this step, we will take into consideration to eliminate from the map those activities in which the volunteer might not take part in, such as university or shopping centre if there wasn’t.
Step 4:
Search for potential environments for socialization. Having our map done, we will ask the volunteer to focus on those activities in which they would like to take part. It doesn’t matter if now they think they cannot have a connection to participate in those activities, that’s a further process.
Step 5:
Take a step. Once we have discarded the uninterests, we will focus on what they can do to take part in those activities: there is a local group doing those activities who they might join? Can the volunteers do something to promote an activity they would like to implement? Are there places like local shops to ask people about where youngsters usually hang out? This is a moment where the self-power has to take an important role, because they will have to introduce themselves to the villagers and let them know that they want to be part of whatever it’s happening in the area.
Tip from a Mentor
You can focus on hobbies, but also in activities such as doing normal shopping, cultural integration and sports.Extra Material