ACTIVITY TITLE

The rhombus of policy

Aim/objective of the activity

●       To reflect on youth policy at the local level

●       To analyse local youth policies in participants’ contexts

Duration

 65 – 75 minutes

Age group

15 – 25 years old

Online, physical or hybrid

This activity can be conducted in either an online or physical setting.

Preparation for the activity

Copy the sets of “Youth policies” cards for each small group participating

Cards:

1.      Policy for sport, leisure, associative life

2.      Specific policy for rural regions

3.      Policy for sustainable development and for the environment

4.      Urban environment and habitat, housing and transport policy

5.      Policy for mobility and exchanges

6.      Policy Promoting Youth Employment

7.      Education and training policy promoting youth participation

8.      Anti-discrimination policy

9.      Health policy

10.   Gender equality policy

11.   Policy on access to culture

12.   Policy to combat violence and crime

13.   Policy on LGBTQI+

14.   Policy on access to rights and law protection

How to implement the activity. Step by step

Introduction (10 minutes):

●       Brainstorming in plenary on what “local policy” means in the youth field»; write down the results on a flipchart.

●       Divide the group into small groups; give a set of cards to each group.

Instructions (5 minutes):

●       Each group discusses the relevance of the policies mentioned on the cards to their own

 situations. Then they should negotiate which policies are the most relevant for young people referring to their local reality and which are the least relevant.

Rhombus of Policy (30 minutes):

●       Each group has to create with the cards a “rhombus of policy”, selecting 9 cards and putting the most relevant policy at the top of the rhombus shape; underneath this, two cards should be placed side by side, and these should represent the next most relevant policies; the middle of the rhombus should be made up of three cards representing moderately relevant policies; underneath these, there should follow two cards showing less relevant policies and finally, at the bottom of the rhombus, there should be one card, representing the policy that is least relevant to the participants’ contexts.

●       They can discard the remaining cards/policies.

Plenary (20 minutes):

●       In the plenary, each group presents their rhombus to the rest and explains their choices.

Debriefing (10 minutes):

●       Reflect with the group about the outcomes of the activity using the questions suggested in the below section in the plenary.

Tips for the trainer

You can eventually add a “blank card”, where participants can add a specific policy (not already included in the card) they consider extremely relevant for their local community.

Debriefing of the activity:

●       What are the main differences between the rhombuses?

●       How do local policies influence the participation of young people?

●       What does “relevant” mean to you? How did you define this word for this exercise?

●       Which policies are considered the most relevant for all the groups? Why?

●       Are you happy with the result of your work? Why?

●       What was your influence on the whole negotiation process?

●       What did you learn from this exercise?

Materials, equipment, and facilities needed

No specific space requirement; “Youth policies” cards, Flipcharts, pens.

Links to online tools and resources

The activity can be run online, using video conference app features for creating small groups, and collaborative documents app (i.e., Google Docs) for the rhombus step.

Question 1

Did I effectively guide participants through the brainstorming and group discussion phases? Were participants actively engaged and contributing to the conversation?

Question 2

Did I provide adequate support and guidance to participants throughout the activity? Were they able to ask questions and receive clear explanations?

Question 3

Did I effectively debrief the activity at the end, summarizing key points and encouraging reflection? Were participants able to connect the activity to their own experiences and understanding of youth policy?

ACTIVITY TITLE

Simulation exercise “Youth in Action”

Aim/objective of the activity

●       to explore approaches to participation represented by different actors at a local level

●       to identify the interests of local stakeholders involved in supporting youth participation

●       to look for practical ways of establishing a participatory structure for young people at a local level

●       to train participants in decision-making and consensus finding

●       to experience an official meeting for representing interests and exchanging points of view

Duration

 70 minutes

Age group

15 – 25 years old

Online, physical or hybrid

This activity can be conducted in either an online or physical setting.

Preparation for the activity

Copying handouts

Scenario

Oldtown is a city in the state of Seniorland, a democratic country with no developed youth policy. While quite a few young people live in Oldtown and more than 20 youth organisations exist, youth has never played a very active role in the decision-making of the community. After the elections fifteen months ago the new mayor, Ms Young, decided to become more proactive about involving young people. She announced the brand new programme “Youth in Action”, aimed at enhancing the participation of young people, as well as increasing and intensifying the co-operation between young people and the local authority. As part of this programme, she wants to initiate the establishment of a local youth parliament.

In preparation for the setting up of this local youth parliament, the mayor is convening a consultative meeting involving different interest groups and partners to decide on the format and nature of the mayor’s initiative.

The following persons participate in the meeting:

– the mayor, who is the chairperson of today’s meeting (she is also the vice-president of the Committee of Local and Regional Authorities in Seniorland);

– the leader of the Oldtown’s political opposition;

– the vice-president of the city parliament, who is also head of the Budget Committee;

– the headmaster of the local secondary school;

– the vice-president of the parent’s association of the local school;

– the spokesman for the group “Senior Volunteers for Children”;

– the priest of the local Catholic church;

– the coach of Oldtown’s successful youth football team;

– a researcher from the Institute of Sociological Research at the University of Oldtown;

– a board member of an international non-governmental youth organisation;

– the president of Oldtown’s youth council;

– the secretary general of a minority youth organisation;

– a member of one of Oldtown’s youth organisations;

– the community youth worker;

– the community development officer;

– the CEO of a local business company and four young people.

Today’s meeting discusses the following questions

– Is the establishment of a local youth parliament wanted and needed?

– If so, what format should it take?

– What should be the mandate of a local youth parliament?

Role descriptions

●       Your personal role description.

●       Please read it very carefully and do not show it to anyone.

●       Try to imagine how this person would act.

You are the mayor of Oldtown

You won last year’s election by a landslide, defeating the long-governing SPP (Senior People’s Party) and the former mayor. One of the reasons you won the election is the emphasis of your electoral campaign on young people and youth policy. You are determined to do something to improve the situation of young people, their participation in society and the cooperation between your administration and youth. A few weeks ago, you presented your brand new programme “Youth in action”, aimed at enhancing the participation of young people, as well as increasing and intensifying the co-operation between young people and the local authority. As part of this programme, you want to initiate the establishment of a local youth parliament. In preparation for the setting up of this local youth parliament, you are convening a consultative meeting involving different interest groups and partners. You hope that this meeting will be positive and constructive because while you like the idea of a youth parliament, you do not have much information about how it should work and how it could be set up. You are very enthusiastic and you want to show it.

You are a 55-year-old member of the opposition party

You have lived all your life in the town, have been a member of the party for twenty-five years and you are the former mayor. You believe that young people should join a political party if they want to participate and you do not see a need for any youth representative structure. Therefore, you are against the mayor’s idea and you try to de-rail it.

You are the vice president of the city parliament

You are also head of the Municipal Budget Committee. You have been working for years to achieve a balanced budget and finally succeeded last year. You want to keep a budget surplus by any means possible. Nevertheless, you are on good terms with the mayor. You support her initiative rather reluctantly. You would not mind if the initiative did not happen.

You are the headmaster of the local school

Most of the young people who would be affected by the proposed youth parliament attend your school. They already have the opportunity to participate in the democratic running and management of the school through class representatives. You are concerned that this youth parliament will take attention and particularly financial resources away from the extra-curricular and leisure activities already offered at the school. Overall, you think that the money would be better invested in the renovation of the school sports facilities and do not really see the point of the initiative. You are also worried that the mayor has proposed this initiative in order to win approval of the international NGO active in the local area and that it is, in fact, a publicity stunt. You do not believe the mayor is really interested in promoting youth participation. You are against this initiative and forcefully argue your case.

You are the concerned parent of one of the schoolchildren

You are an active member and the vice president of the parents’ association at the local school. You have invested a lot of time and energy in supporting the school’s class representatives and the school board. You believe in the established system and the participation of the class representatives in the school decision-making process. Most young people go to school, and therefore you see the initiative as something of a waste of time and a duplication of effort. You are worried that it will cause unnecessary competition with the school democracy you

are working for. You are against this initiative.

You are the parent of one of the young people

You take part in the extra-curricular activities run by the school. You are also the spokesperson of an initiative called “Senior Volunteers for Children”. From time to time, the headmaster asks you to come to the school to help out and supervise the extra-curricular activities. You do this with pleasure, but find it difficult to simply watch over the activities and supervise, as often you feel forced to get involved because the young people are badly behaved and are not able to manage their tasks by themselves. You are concerned that the extra-curricular activities you are involved in will lose out (in numbers) to the proposed youth parliament. You also doubt whether

any initiative proposing to give so much responsibility to the young people can really work. You are sceptical about this whole initiative.

You are the local parish priest

You are becoming increasingly concerned with the fact that the local youth are not interested in coming to the church or the parish activities. You are happy to have been invited to this meeting, as several young people and the representatives of youth organisations will be present, and you are interested in finding out from them what interests young people. You basically support this initiative, as young people increasingly turn away from God, and anything that will encourage young people to be more interested in getting involved in community life will be good for your parish activities.

You are the coach of the school football team

You are a very active and dynamic person who likes to see young people getting involved and taking initiative and responsibility for the things they are interested in and the issues that concern them. However, your football team has been suffering from a lack of financial support and you agree with the headmaster that perhaps the money would be better invested in the school sports facilities, as they seem to be the activities in highest demand by the local young people. You have a dilemma. You support any initiative to promote youth participation, but you

are concerned about the competition that the parliament will create for financial resources.

You are a researcher in the Institute of Sociological Research at Oldtown University

At the moment, your main subject of research is citizenship studies, but your real passion is youth research. This initiative has taken you by surprise and you are motivated to be involved because one of your main areas of interest is modes of participation of young people in local decision and policy making. You have plenty of advice to offer to the meeting concerning the “participatory” approach to consultation and policy-making, having recently been to an international conference on this subject organised by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. At the conference, youth parliaments were congratulated as examples of good participation practice, especially when young people themselves are involved in setting them up from the beginning. You are in favour of this initiative and provide “evidence-based” arguments from your own research to forcefully argue your case.

You represent an international students’ NGO

Your NGO deals with educational policies, advocating students’ rights and organising international youth exchanges. You believe in the mayor’s idea as something that will bring real and positive change in the local community. You are convinced that the initiative will be successful because all other democratic countries have local structures to help represent youth opinion and to solve important questions together with local authorities. Oldtown did not have any serious working structure until now (there is a local youth council, but this just unites several small organisations and is dilettante in encouraging youth).

You are the president of the local youth council

Your youth council was established ages ago and has been functioning effectively. All youth organisations are satisfied with your activities and your work. You think that the mayor’s idea is not relevant to Oldtown, because the youth council that you represent already does all that the youth parliament would do. You are strongly against the idea and believe that youth organisations and youth in general do not need youth parliaments. You believe they are elitist and not representative and that they therefore have no legitimacy. As a shadow structure, they have no decision-making power and they are constantly abused by politicians who use them to justify their unpopular decisions. You also believe from your own experience that a youth parliament is far too large a structure to be effective and efficient and you therefore strongly argue against the initiative.

You represent the local minority youth organisation

Your organisation unites three national minorities living in the town. The activities of your organisation are extremely important because you help to sustain cultures and traditions. Your organisation represents minority youth to local authorities as well as to other organisations and structures. You have established good relations with the municipality and your organisation has been working with them on several common projects. You do not have much against the mayor’s idea, but you want to make absolutely sure that the youth parliament will truly represent the young people of Oldtown, including its minorities. You therefore try to convince the mayor that there should be a quota ensuring the participation of minority youth.

You are a member of the local youth club

Your club has sent you to this meeting to get more information about the mayor’s idea. You generally like the idea of the youth parliament, but you want to make sure that your club will play an important role in establishing and running the parliament because you are the biggest youth club in your town.

You graduated last year with a degree in youth work

You are enthusiastic and motivated to support young people in every way you can. You support the mayor’s initiative but you are fearful that the mayor is using this initiative for her own political aims. Of course, you cannot express this directly in the meeting, but you want to make sure that the initiative brings about a sustainable structure for youth participation. Whenever you can, you ask questions along these lines, making sure that this whole thing will be more than a publicity stunt.

You have been working with different communities in the town for about seven years

You generally work well together with the youth worker, but you are worried that the mayor’s initiative will shift the focus away from your work more towards the work of your colleague. You officially support the mayor’s initiative while privately you are not keen on seeing it happen. In the meeting, you try to point out the added value and impact of inter-generational work for the development of the community.

You own a local business

You are constantly on the lookout for new business opportunities. You would like to become a friend of the mayor because you believe that this might generate some business for you. You, therefore, fully support the mayor’s initiative. You would be willing to support it financially under certain conditions.

You are the best student in your school

You have been sent to this meeting by one of your teachers. You do not understand what is

going on during the meeting, but you are really keen to understand. Consequently, you keep asking people to explain what they really mean and what the things mean that you have not understood. The more you ask, the better!

You are 17 years old and you are interested in local politics

You see many initiatives that have been undertaken in your local community for the benefit of young people that have been unsuccessful (due to little or no commitment from local authorities and young people themselves). The new initiative of the mayor is, in your opinion, the next failed initiative in this community. You would like to prevent this initiative from happening altogether because you find it pointless, which you make very clear whenever you can during the meeting.

You are fed up with your family

You are also fed up with the school and especially the authorities (any authorities: local ones, the government and the whole lot). You are convinced that they should just stop bothering young people and give them freedom. You think that this youth parliament is another “genius” idea of the local authorities so that they can control young people. And what you want is freedom! You do not want to get involved in anything that has any link with local authorities, but you decided to join the meeting to have a chance to tell this crazy mayor what you think: that young people need space for participation without having a controlling structure forced onto them.

You are 16 years old

Your friend from Youngtown has told you how wonderfully their youth parliament works. When you read about the mayor’s idea in the newspaper you got really excited. You find the idea fantastic, and you want to support it and the mayor wherever you can. You also would like to get involved yourself, of course.

How to implement the activity. Step by step

Timeline:

●       15 minutes – Introduction to the exercise

●       45 minutes – Preparation and meeting simulation

●       10 minutes – Discussion and debriefing

1. Explain to the group that they will be guests in a city where the mayor wants to initiate the programme “Youth in action” to establish a local youth parliament.

2. Give the time frame of the simulation and the debriefing.

3. Distribute copies of the scenario to participants and give them some time to read it carefully.

4. Distribute the individual roles and instruct participants not to show them to anyone. Allow some minutes for participants to imagine the person they will be during the simulation.

5. If there are observers, distribute the sheets with questions and give them some detailed instructions, if necessary. Ask the observers to sit at the back of the room.

Tips for the trainer

Debriefing after the activity:

1. Did you like the simulation?

2. What was your own role and how did you fulfil it?

3. At this point in the debriefing, the sheets with the descriptions of all the roles can be distributed. Alternatively, if time permits, participants could read aloud the role they were taking on during the simulation.

4. How were the decisions made?

5. What were the arguments that led to a decision?

6. Was the decision democratic? Did the process allow participation?

7. What were the impressions of the observers?

8. What would you do differently if you could run the meeting once again?

9. Was the meeting realistic? Could it have happened in reality?

10. Was the final outcome satisfactory in relation to the aim of enhancing participation and cooperation?

11. What have you learned/discovered during the exercise?

12. For trainers and group leaders: if you were to use this exercise in one of your programmes, when and for what objectives would you use it?

Materials, equipment, facilities needed

●       a copy of the scenario for each participant;

●       a personal role for each participant prepared in advance with the names of the participants;

●       a sheet with role descriptions and questions for each observer (if applicable);

●       a meeting room set up in a circle or square of tables and chairs; several smaller meeting rooms or spaces;

●       paper and pens;

●       a copy of all the role descriptions for each participant at the end of the simulation.

Links to online tools and resources

The activity can be run online, using video conference app features for creating small groups (Zoom) and collaborative documents app (i.e., Google Docs, Sheets).

Question 1

How effectively did participants take on and embody their assigned roles, and how did these role dynamics influence the decision-making process during the simulation?

Question 2

What strategies were most successful in fostering constructive dialogue and consensus-building among the diverse stakeholders during the simulated meeting, and how can these strategies be applied to real-life participatory processes?

Question 3

How did the simulation activity highlight the challenges and opportunities in establishing participatory structures for youth, and what key lessons can be applied when designing and implementing a youth participation strategy in the future?

ACTIVITY TITLE

Statement exercise

Aim/objective of the activity

●       to raise awareness of participants’ own attitudes and limitations in working on issues of participation

●       to broaden participants’ perspectives and approaches in dealing with youth participation

●       to use and develop discussion skills

Duration

 60 minutes

Age

It can be adapted for various age groups by choosing age-appropriate statements.

Online, physical or hybrid

This activity can be conducted in an online or physical setting.

Preparation for the activity

The statements “I agree” and “I disagree” should be written on separate pages of a flipchart. A line needs to be drawn in the middle of the room to show the borderline between those who agree and those who disagree.

How to implement the activity. Step by step

1.      Start with a brief introduction to the participation of young people, the importance of collaboration between the various actors and the challenges of participation in day-to-day life. 

2.      Explain that you are now going to read a series of statements with which people may agree to a greater or lesser extent.

3.      Point out the two extreme positions “I agree” and “I disagree”. Ask people to position themselves on one side of the line. Those who do not know can position themselves in the middle.

4.      Read out the statements one by one. After each statement, leave some time for people to position themselves.

5.      Ask participants to explain why they have chosen their position and what their point of view is on the question. Explain that participants are allowed to change their position during the discussion. Try to leave time for everyone to discuss.

6.      After a few minutes, read out the next statement.

7.      When you have gone through all statements, bring the group back together for a debriefing.

Tips for the trainer

Suggestions for statements:

●       young people are not interested in participation;

●       young people participate only when they have problems;

●       local authorities support youth participation when it is politically useful for them;

●       some young people do not participate for cultural reasons;

●       all young people have the right to participate;

●       public authorities should be responsible for the financing and implementation of policies in support of youth participation;

●       non-participation is a form of participation.

Statements can be chosen according to the objectives of the session and the context of the training

Debriefing and evaluation:

Ask participants the following questions:

1. How did you feel during this exercise?

2. Was it difficult to make a choice where to stand? Why?

3. What arguments were used? Those based on facts or on emotions?

4. Which were more effective?

5. Are there any comparisons between what people did and said during the exercise and what they do in reality?

6. Are the statements valid?

7. Was the exercise useful? Why?

Variations:

1. In some cases, the exercise could be performed without allowing participants to talk. The statements could be purposely very provocative and participants would have to choose a side without discussing their opinions. In this case, during the debriefing, special attention should be drawn to the frustration of non-communication when giving an opinion.

2 Encourage participants to take a clear stand concerning as many statements as possible.

Materials, equipment, facilities needed

Statements on flipcharts (one per page), markers

Links to online tools and resources

The activity can be run online, using a video conference app or collaborative documents app (i.e., Google Docs or Kahoot)

Question 1

Did I effectively introduce the topic of youth participation and set the stage for open and honest discussion? Were participants able to understand the purpose of the exercise and its relevance to their own experiences?

Question 2

Were the statements I selected appropriate and engaging for the participants? Did they provoke thought and discussion, while also being relevant to the context of the training?

Question 3

Did I provide clear and concise instructions for the exercise, ensuring that participants understood the task and the expectations? Were there any misunderstandings or confusion that needed to be addressed?