7 Appendi 1

Appendix I

Encouraging participation at meetings

A meeting that contains a mix of young people and adults has special requirements to facilitate input by everyone. It is essential that school students feel they are an integral part of the process and therefore develop a sense of project ownership.

When adults are present, young people may not speak up, and their input can be lost. The group facilitator should be aware of this and ensure that they are brought into the discussion. If the adults can be persuaded to step aside, the students will often come up with very creative ideas. Students need to be treated as equals and the meeting process must give them adequate time to freely express their ideas.

Possible strategies

Set the agenda and outcomes expected from each meeting and articulate prior to the meeting so all are aware of what to expect from the meeting.
Organise a circular seating arrangement to encourage interaction.
At appropriate times ask everyone in the group to be their thoughts by going around the circle one by one, ensuring that everyone listens without comment as each person speaks.
Use strategic questioning techniques (see below) to encourage the development of strategies.
As ideas for actions arise during the meeting, match each action to a person

(people) and develop a time-line for implementation and reporting back

Invite young people directly to express their opinions and ideas.

Questions to encourage participation

Strategic questioning is a technique used to help people to effectively examine a situation, think about it creatively, and develop strategies, priorities and achievable action plans.

One of the basic assumptions of strategic questioning is that the solution to any situation lies with the people who are experiencing it. Strategic questioning requires careful and sensitive listening and constant adaptation. The technique consists of the following types of questions:

Focus questions-to identifies the situation and the key facts necessary to develop an understanding of that situation.

What are you most concerned about in your community?

Observation questions-are concerned with what one sees and the information one has heard with regard to the situation. Key words are: see, know, hear, and find.

What do you see happening?
What do you hear?
What do you know about the situation?
What have you learnt about it?
What effects of this situation have noticed in people, in the earth?
What do you know for sure and what are you not certain about?

Feeling questions-are concerned with body sensations, emotions and heath. Key words are, feel, suffer, tired, angry, sad, frustrated, needs.

When you think or talk about this situation, what does it feel like? Where do you do this in your body?
How has the situation affected your own physical or emotional health?

Visioning questions-are concerned with identifying one's ideals, dreams, all values. Key words are: hope, wish, like, love, better, justice.

How could the situation be changed so it was as you like it?
What would you like to see happen?
What about this situation do you care so much about?
What is the meaning of this situation in your own life?

Strategy questions-are concerned with how to get from the present situation towards a more ideal situation. Key words are: people, officials, everybody needs to, government.

What is it going to take to bring this about?
How can we do this?
What exactly needs to change here?
How might those changes come about? (Name as many ways as possible.)
What can we do?
Who can make a difference?

Personal inventory and support questions-are concerned with identifying one's interests, potential contribution and the support necessary to act. Key words are: what will it take, part of change, your part, everyone has a role.

What are you prepared to do?
What do you like to do that might be useful in bringing about these changes?
Tell me what is special about you?
What support would you need to work for this change?

Personal action questions-are those which get down to the specifics of what to do, how and when to do it. The actual plan begins to emerge.

How can you get from here to there (you vision)?
What is the first step?
What can you do now to begin?
Who do you need to talk to?
How will you get an introduction to them that will establish your credibility?
How can you get others together at a meeting to work on this?

Avoid questions that suggest specific alternatives (Have you considered…?), yes/no questions, and why questions. Sometimes, however, a why question may be very appropriate and call for a deep answer because understanding history is very important in change.

Workshops on Strategic Questioning Techniques are available from. Sue and Col Lennox, Oz GREEN, PO Box 57, Harbord, NSW 2096. Phone (02) 9971 4098, fax (02) 9981 4956.