Active Community Tools for AC +

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

ACTIVE CITIZENS FACILITATOR SKILLS & KNOWLEDGE

• Values & Principles for working in communities to ‘do development differently’

• Participation ladder

• Facilitator Role – from AC to AC+ The Process (or the RoadMap) [Amr to provide
content – this is the AC to AC+ and SAP to SAP + or IBP section]

• Facilitator skills

• The Community Learning Journey [to be developed by the pilot projects as they
practice and pilot]

TOOLS FOR WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITIES

❖ IDEA GENERATION

Participant Arrival

Community Visioning [Amr to provide content – he did it really nicely]

Economic Literacy Tools

o Leaky Bucket

o Irrigation

Identifying barriers that people face when they try to do enterprising things

Community Asset Mapping [to adapt from Active Citizens tool]

❖ DECIDING

Clustering

Voting on priorities and on what people want to DO!

DEVELOPING FIRST STEPS

Forming groups around issues or ideas

Using 4 A’s
 Initial Action Plan

PLANNING TOOLS

• Stakeholder mapping

• Power Mapping including interests and incentives

• Problem tree analysis

TOOLS FOR GROWING COMMUNITY ENERGY/CAN DO/ENGAGEMENT/TRUST [to be

adapted from the AC toolkit and other sources – to be developed by the pilots]

FUN ACTIVITIES TO GROW A ‘CAN DO’ AND COLLABORATIVE ATTITUDE

• Add in appropriate energisers here

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE & SOCIAL ACTION EXAMPLES

INTRODUCTION

This toolkit has been put together to support British Council’s Active Citizens partners in
Egypt. The aim: to pilot some new approaches to engaging with communities to help make
the social action projects that experienced Active Citizens develop have a more sustainable
impact on communities. Think Tank and Fadilia have experienced a short 3-day introduction
to the tools – this draft toolkit explains some of them. It is a ‘work in progress’. The partners
will try the tools out, adapting them to their context, testing them to see what works, bringing
in their own ideas and existing tools. Making new tools, changing things – making them
better and taking out what is not working.

The pilot process is to be supported by regular meetings between the partners and the
Active Citizens Facilitators. Within the team are a broad array of very talented people – not
all have the same talents; together however they cover all the needed areas: a vision for
how this approach could work; strong ideas on enterprise; knowledge of social enterprise;
enthusiasm & fun; great listening, mentoring and facilitation skills; understanding of how
communities work – and how they don’t; connections into communities; links back out to
NGO resources that could be drawn on – such as business advice, research, gender.

All the volunteers are experienced Active Citizens who have gone on to become Active
Citizens Facilitators. All have an interest in growing more sustainable social action projects,
such as social enterprises. They have a few tasks to do in the pilot process:

1. Test tools, change them, feed back new versions or ideas

2. Document the ‘learning journey’ they think the Community needs to go through – and
see which tools from Active Citizens, or other places, can support that Learning
Journey.

The majority of these tools have been drawn from work developed or pulled together from
other sources by the New Economics Foundation (nef) – a UK think tank which focused
on the economy, as if people and the planet mattered. Those tools are available on this
website. Some of the tools have also come from coaching techniques from Erickson
Coaching

The tools generate ideas which are both social action ideas (such as a health campaign,
street cleaning and helping a youth centre to be used more by young people); as well as
more economically focused ideas (such as tourism development, setting up small
businesses or a community café). The idea to work on the economy is because in Egypt
right now, that is THE most important thing to people. There has been a very negative
downward spiral to the Egyptian economy and trying to convene community conversations
around “volunteering” or “social development” when people are finding it so hard to make a
living has led to few people getting involved. So: we are going to see what happens when
we work with them on the issue they seem to care about most: their economy. By selecting
the poorer communities, and exposing them to new ideas around how enterprise can have
social impact, we are working towards more inclusive economies.

Let’s see what happens!

ACTIVE CITIZENS FACILITATOR SKILLS & KNOWLEDGE

Values & Principles for working in communities to ‘do development differently’

The development community has realised that many of its efforts have not been successful
(see the manifesto on next page) due to their approaches being ‘done to’ people rather than
‘in support of’ people.

Doing Development Differently (DDD) shines a spotlight on recent agreements across

development practitioners of the need for the following principles to working in communities
in a way that builds in sustainability and local capacity.

For the AC + approach, remember: you are supporting the community to develop – so you
need to start with THEIR level of capacity and build out from there. For the type of work you
are going to do, ‘doing to’ the community won’t help them to develop; always ‘do with’ or be
‘in support to’ them as they take action :

Focus on issues that are locally defined and prioritised [Be locally-led]

Check with all the levels of the system to foster local [Foster local ownership]

Work through local convenors [build their capacity and their network of contacts]

Take small bets [learn through doing, rather than through external research which is
unlikely to be remembered by local people]]

Remember Whose Learning Counts (the answer: the community’s)]

Look for small concrete results [build a Can Do attitude]

 THE DDD MANIFESTO ON DOING DEVELOPMENT DIFFERENTLY
Too many development initiatives have limited impact. Schools are built but children do not learn. Clinics are built
but sickness persists. Governments adopt reforms but too little changes for their citizens. T

This is because genuine development progress is complex: solutions are not simple or obvious, those who would
benefit most lack power, those who can make a difference are disengaged and political barriers are too often
overlooked. Many development initiatives fail to address this complexity, promoting irrelevant interventions that
will have little impact.

Some development initiatives, however, have real results. Some are driven domestically while others receive
external support. They usually involve many players – governments, civil society, international agencies and the
private sector – working together to deliver real progress in complex situations and despite strong resistance. In
practice, successful initiatives reflect common principles.

• They focus on solving local problems that are debated, defined and refined by local people in an ongoing
process.

• They are legitimised at all levels (political, managerial and social), building ownership and momentum
throughout the process to be ‘locally owned’ in reality (not just on paper).

• They work through local conveners who mobilise all those with a stake in progress (in both formal and informal
coalitions and teams) to tackle common problems and introduce relevant change.

• They blend design and implementation through rapid cycles of planning, action, reflection and revision (drawing
on local knowledge, feedback and energy) to foster learning from both success and failure.

• They manage risks by making ‘small bets’: pursuing activities with promise and dropping others.

• They foster real results – real solutions to real problems that have real impact: they build trust, empower
people and promote sustainability. As an emerging community of development practitioners and observers, we
believe that development initiatives can – and must – have greater impact.

We pledge to apply these principles in our own efforts to pursue, promote and facilitate development progress,
to document new approaches, to spell out their practical implications and to foster their refinement and wider
adoption.

We want to expand our community to include those already working in this way.

We call on international development organisations of all kinds to embrace these principles as the best way to
address complex challenges and foster impact.

We recognise the difficulties, but believe that more effective strategies and approaches can generate higher and
lasting impact.

This manifesto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. THE DDD MANIFESTO
ON DOING DEVELOPMENT DIFFERENTLY Visit http://doingdevelopmentdifferently.com/the-ddd-manifesto/ to
see signatories and sign up.
PARTICIPATION LADDER
 FACILITATOR ROLE – from AC to AC+ The Process (or the RoadMap) [Amr to provide
content – this is the AC to AC+ and SAP to SAP + or IBP section]

Before, ACP was operating in different models based on the local partners’ approach and
intervention methods. Here it is represented 3 different approaches (1,2,3) used by local
organizations of ACP with partnerships with grassroots organizations within the community.
With the introduction of new approach and tools of economical empowerment of
communities, a need for AC who are competent in facilitating the process among the
community, who on their own, lead the creation of relevant SAP / IBP to their community.
That is represented in process 4.

Create
1 AC workshop AC SAP Go to community

Create
2 AC workshop AC Go to SAP /
community IBP

Create
AC From
3 AC workshop Community
SAP /
IBP

Inclusive
Community Create
4 AC+ AC+ Multipl
Facilitators Meeting
workshop Including ACP
e
SAP+
Alumni
 FACILITATOR SKILLS

Change formula –

Use this tool when you notice that a group is not fully committed to bringing about a change that
they had said was important.

D x V x FS > RC
Dissatisfaction with
X Vision of X Knowledge of the Natural
the present the future First Steps to take Resistance to
towards the Change
change
This means that their current unhappiness with the present, their future vision and their knowledge
of their first steps on how to move towards the change need to be greater than their natural
resistance to change.

The above formula reveals that you can support them to overcome their natural resistance to
change by 4 different approaches. Note: You do not need to work with them deeply on all 4
approaches at the beginning – you could simply work with them on two or three. It is however
important not to only focus on their unhappiness with the present – if you only look at this you
might actually bring their energy down so low that they simply wish to put it out of their mind (ie
forget it and ignore it). It is important to always include some degree of visioning the future – this
builds commitment and forward motion. We are motivated by positive feelings, not the negative
ones (on the whole).

So the 4 approaches available to you are:

• Helping them to understand more deeply how unhappy they are with the thing they want to
change – what problems it causes them as a community or personally. Deepen their
unhappiness with the present. Wallow in it. Commiserate with them about how hard it is. Let
them spend time really feeling it. Show empathy NOT BLAME. Write it up on a flip chart. Ask
them to write down their problems with the current reality. Etc

• Help them to imagine fully how great life will be for the community AND for them personally
when they have sorted out the thing they want to change – ask them to imagine the future (do
see vision tool!), feel it, imagine it, think through the concrete benefits. Get them to think about
how it will improve their personal life. Help them to see the impact it will have on them
personally. SHOW don’t TELL. People do not hear on the whole what you tell them: they learn
from what you help them to reveal to themselves through your good questions.

• Help them identify concretely their first steps towards bringing about the change. Ask them to
identify the actions to be taken with dates. Ask them on a scale of 1 to 10 how committed they
 are to actually doing it. If it is less than 10 ask them to say what they can do to bring that
commitment up to 10 – and build those new elements into their action plan. [This approach
helps you to spot when they are not yet fully committed and helps them to identify what is
making them feel that way – they can then plug the gaps in their own commitments]

• Get them to talk about how the change process is difficult and hence try to reduce their
resistance to the change. Get them to understand what is behind their reasons for avoiding
change and then work through each element, one by one, of this resistance so that their plan
for bringing about the change draws on this knowledge.
Listening levels [Amr to add in here the tool he introduced in the workshop]

It is the tool from the ACP manual. Listening on 3 levels. Activity 4.2 on the last
version.

Facilitating is all about listening so that you can start from where the participants in the community
are at – building on their knowledge, feeling where to ask good questions that will help them to
learn from within their own resources. We are all used to listening at level 1 – and some of us are
not yet expert at this level. Facilitators operate at level 2. Excellent facilitators operate at level 3.

Level 1 Internal Listening: You are listening to the words, but you are thinking of what it means to
YOU. You are thinking of solutions, trying to understand and match this to your own experiences,
judging, your head is busy generating ideas/interpretations/solutions/suggestions/ways forward.
Your expertise is being built upon. The attention is on you.

Signs for you to notice in yourself that will show you that you are operating at Level 1 listening is:

Your desire for more information, data, facts, explanations, answers, details.

Another indicator is your ‘internal mind chatter’ – is it at full speed? Are you thinking and thinking?
Is your ego worrying about whether you are doing a good job? Or is it congratulating itself on its
good questions?

You are likely to say things like:

• I would suggest that...

• A similar thing happened to me when...
• I usually handle that by....
• Perhaps you could try out this approach – it always works for me.....

Note that the community should be at level 1 – thinking hard, questioning themselves, with busy
minds. The AC facilitators should try to be at a higher level.

Level 2 Focused Listening: You are listening to the words. You are watching their body language.
You are noticing how they are saying things – their tone of voice, pitch, energy etc. You are focusing
all your attention on the other person. You are noticing what they are saying, how they are saying it,
and what they are NOT saying. You notice the smile or the tear in the eye or the shake in the voice.
You notice the interactions between participants; and the lack of interaction. You see their vision
and dreams, what makes them energised, their motivations; and what makes them withdraw.

An indicator that you are operating at Level 2 listening is that your own mind chatter has almost
switched off – if your attention is on your next brilliant question then that is a clue that you are still
at Level 1 listening!

You notice all that is said and how, and you notice how the participants respond to your questions.

You are likely to say things like:

• How can you build on that...?

 • What do you have time for?
• What are you committed to doing?
• So what can you do instead?
Level 3 Global Listening: Here you listen at 360 degrees – at the centre of it all, receiving
information from everywhere, consciously and unconsciously. You see, feel, hear, sense, smell –
even touch. It takes practice for most people to learn to start listening at this level. Here you get
greater access to your intuition. You will notice at a much deeper level people’s worries,
commitments, priorities, hidden agendas.

You will pick up on light/dark, energy/flatness, tight control/creativity. You will need to be very open
to receiving information – and softly focused so that you do not incorrectly judge it. Always test out
what you think you are picking up, you will say things like:

• I get the sense that you are feeling a bit worried about this part...
• You seem to be avoiding this part – what is that about?
• Your voice sounds excited….

Anyone who is successful at influencing people is skilled at listening at Level 3. This level of listening
allows you to monitor the impact you are having and to adjust your behaviour accordingly.

Everything in facilitating comes out of listening. The facilitator listens to the choices the participants
make – towards their priorities, or away from them? The facilitator listens for disturbance and
resistance, for commitment, energy, flatness, discord, de-prioritisation, irritation. The facilitator
does not avoid the difficult issues:

I sense that you want to speed through this part....

• I think I hear some tension here between how you each want to approach this issue –what is
that about?
• You seem to want to go straight into identifying indicators, however there does not yet
seem to be agreement about the key objectives, is there something here I am not getting?

By naming what seems to be happening in the room it is possible to bring to the surface issues which
need to be worked through. Be careful though – if it may be a source of CONFLICT then do not enter
into that area, since that takes a special kind of facilitation.
The Community Learning Journey [to be developed by the pilot projects as they practice
and pilot]

TOOLS FOR WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITIES

IDEA GENERATION

Participant Arrival

When people arrive in the room, often some arrive early and others arrive later – this can be
a bit irritating, so it is good to have something for the earlier people to do whilst waiting for
the others. For this type of workshop you might:

Put up summary of social enterprise ideas on the wall - or link to some videos, or some
photos. As you get more experience in this work you may put up examples of results you
have achieved from working in some places. What you are trying to do is generate ideas.

Alternatively you could do a Community Asset Map and have a big drawing or photo of the
area up on the wall and ask people as they arrive to draw on the assets. Or you could ask
them in advance to come with photos of assets to stick on maps – get creative! The idea is
to get people to start seeing WHAT THEY HAVE so they know to start with that.

Remember: Do what you CAN with what you HAVE where you ARE. In a context of
decreasing donor funding globally, and also problems with trade too, it is good to look at
your assets and work out how to mobilise them without having to pay for them if at all
possible.

Community Visioning [Amr to provide content]

This activity is based on creativity, setting, storytelling and reflective questions.

The objective is to put participants at ease from all constrains that they face in their everyday
life. These constraints impair the vision of their potential. Constrains such as laws, norms,
dependency, etc. They should think of these constrains as challenges or pumps along the
road which given the right time and planning can be overruled, but not blockers or end-lines.
This exercise helps with that.

Setting: Ask participants to chose a location around the room (but where they can clearly
hear your voice). The location they chose must be comfortable and with enough space and
quietness to feel dis-attached from reality. Ask them to sit in any position they feel best
suited for having visions (laying down, sitting on the floor, sitting on a chair with leg support).
They should have only a pen an a piece of paper in their hands, nothing else.

Ask them to close their eyes and relax. Ask them to focus on their breathing. Then you play
slow relaxing music (with no singing) that sets the mood for dreaming.

Ask them to think of the community they belong to. Think of its borders and places, and its
identity and people. Ask them to imagine a Utopian version of this community. The most
perfect version they can imagine of such community. Now you start in a storytelling form to
guide them through a walk in that community. If they want, They can doodle on the paper
without opening their eyes. Like numbering things they observe or shapes they see. No
need to write anything.
The walk goes like this (take your time when speaking, say every question on its own with
few seconds apart, don’t rush the wail). It should take 6 -10 mins max (2 mins per step max):

1- Imagine you are walking on the streets of this community. How does it look? What are the
visual images you have? Focus on materials like public spaces, buildings, roads, shops,
community buildings (city hall), religious places, green areas. In your utopian image of the
spaces in the community, how is different from reality? What has changed? What didn’t?
What emotions are triggered when seeing these changes? How was these changes
possible? What challenges occurred ? How were they overcame ?

Few seconds of silence

2- Now these materials are suddenly filled with people, like it is the rush hour in the
community. All the spaces are occupied by community members. How do they look like?
What are they wearing? How do you think they feel? What facial expressions they have?
What re they doing? How do they communicate? How do they behave in these spaces?
How do they behave with each other? In your utopian image of people living in this
community, how is different from reality? What has changed? What didn’t? What emotions
are triggered when seeing these changes? How was these changes possible? What
challenges occurred ? How were they overcame ?

Few seconds of silence

3- Now search for yourself among the spaces and the people. What are you doing? What is
your role? How do you participate in this community? How do you feel? How do you
behave? How do you communicate with others? How do you use these spaces? What are
your emotions? In your utopian image of yourself in this community, how is different from
reality? What has changed? What didn’t? What emotions are triggered when seeing these
changes? How was these changes possible? What challenges occurred ? How were they
overcame?

Few seconds of silence

4- Now you and everyone else have walked into a community meeting in one of these
spaces. You all gathered to share how did you achieve this image of the community. How
does the meeting look like? How are you participating? How is everyone participating? What
was the role of everyone? What was the challenges met by every individual? How did the
change affect every individual? What emotions does everyone share? Why do they have this
emotion? Who speaks the most? Who speaks the least? Who is facilitating the discussion?

Now ask them to open their eyes and take a moment to come to reality. Ask them to try not
to speak to each other and try to absorb what they experienced in this vision.

Then bring A3 papers, pencils and colors. Ask them to re create the visual images they had
during the vision as close as they can remember. They can use the doodles they took to
remind them. Try to put as much details as possible on the image. No matter how bad their
drawing is, they can make it a s simple as they want but with enough details using text or
simple shapes. Try to go around helping them record the vision as they saw it, remind them
of the 4 stages of the walk. Give them 20 - 30 mins.
Now the sharing part, depends on the group. It should take about 20 mins. So we can either
do it in pairs, small groups or in the big group. It depends on the number of participants and
the amount of time we have. But it is important to share the vision and exchange ideas and
common parts of the vision with at least one person.

When sharing, they shall focus on:

1- what is common? What was shocking? What was expected?

2- what has the priority to be achieved?

3- what kind of community actions were obvious in the vision? How many? Who is leading
them?

Economic Literacy Tools

THE LEAKY BUCKET

Identifying how money enters… and how it leaks

out

a) With all participants in their groups, start to

explore the idea of the leaky bucket. You can either
use a highly interactive water play approach to
presenting these ideas. Or you can use illustrations
downloaded from our website. There is also a
PowerPoint presentation on the website that you might
find helpful. But if high technology isn't your thing, a
simple flipchart with a very badly drawn bucket works
equally well! Whatever you choose, also give each
group their own flipchart with a bucket drawn on it on to which they can stick a lot of post-its.

With all participants in their groups, briefly introduce the economic leaky bucket – being sure
to stress that when the bucket is full everyone in the local economy has enough money.
Point out the holes to participants. Then ask 'How can you get the bucket full?' Participants
will point out two ways: pour the money in faster; or plug some of the leaks. (5 minutes)

You now start to ask the participants to create their own leaky bucket. If all groups are mixed
then each will be creating a similar leaky bucket. If the groups are in sectors (public
sector/private sector/citizens) then you will need to amend your guidance accordingly and
you can expect each leaky bucket to look rather different. At the start of each question tell
participants how long they will have for each part.
b) Ask participants 'How does money enter the local economy?' (if they are working in
sectors get them to look at the money entering their sector specifically). Ask all participants
to write their ideas on to post-its of a particular colour (for example yellow). Place them
above the bucket drawn on the flipchart. (5 minutes)

The general list usually includes welfare payments, council spending, tourists, income to
shops, grants, specific industries, salaries and large employers, and maybe Lotto if people
are feeling lucky…or from crime or drugs if it is a tough place to live.

For the public sector group this might include the spending budgets of schools, health
awarness, rubbish collection, road-renewal, housing development, IT and administration,
personnel, and so on.

c) Then ask participants 'How does the money

leak out?' (again, if they are working in sectors get
them to look at the money leaving their specific
sector). If working across the entire area they need to
think of:

● Leaks from individual budgets, local authorities,

community groups and businesses

● Their personal and work spending

● The spending of any groups who are not

represented in the room.

Ask participants to write their ideas on to a coloured

post-it (for example orange) and place them below the
bucket drawn on the flipchart. (25 minutes)

Generating ideas on plugs

a) Start by looking at some social enterprise ideas, or sharing stories of the best small-
scale development projectrs or SAPS you have come across. This helps to set the scene
and get people thinking about the realm of the possible. (5-10 minutes)

b) Then ask participants 'How can we keep more of the money here?' (if they are
working in sectors get them to look at the ways of keeping more of their sector's money in
the local area specifically). Ask participants to explore as many of the leaks as they can and
to suggest ways of plugging them. Ideas can be complex or simple. At a simple level you
can look at things that could be sourced locally that currently are not. At a more advanced
level you can look at ways that private businesses, or social enterprises, could be catalysed
or strengthened locally so that they would be better able to win contracts in future. People
may need prompting to think in these terms. After 15 minutes if ideas are starting to flag you
might want to add in some additional questions to get ideas flowing.

Here are a range of potential questions:

● What services are currently run by the private or pubic sector that could be delivered
through a social enterprise (for example leisure services, child care, refuse collection,
housing maintenance and so on)?

● What could they buy in bulk to reduce costs (fuel, agricultural inputs and so on)?

● Do they have any under-used local resources or waste? How could these be put to
better use?

● Are there any projects or enterprises that could be developed to help increase the
confidence and skills of unemployed people and so get them back into work?

● At several points in this task remind participants to look at their leaks and see if there
are any more ideas on how to plug them.

Ask participants to write each of their ideas on to a coloured post-it (for example pink) and
place them inside the bucket on the flip chart. (30 minutes)

IRRIGATION

'We have heard it all before, it's just about import

substitution' and' It doesn't work, you need to go for big
inward investment programmes.' If such remarks have
been expressed by your participants, then it is time to
start exploring irrigation.

The aim of focusing on this idea is to get people really thinking about the inflows of money
into their area and how to make this money work harder. This shows all present that the
approach is about helping inward investment to benefit more people. It is NOT about
stopping or reducing inward investment. It is about maximising its impact. The approach is
particularly helpful if an area is very dependent on one or two in-flows of money – such as
agricultural income.
You can approach the issue of irrigation by drawing your own diagrams or downloading
some illustrations from our website. Then simply talk people through the basic idea.. Money
comes in to an area – people spend a LOT of time trying to attract it in – large companies,
tourists, funding from the government – however it often only impacts on a few people and
‘irrigates’ the banks of the in-flow. (5 minutes)

How could you make that inward investment work even harder – how could more of the
community provide services to the tourists, get work in the nearby company, be part of the
supply chain of the different state services (rubbish
collection, education services, fixing the roads)? If
they could Irrigate the Inward Investment (I-cubed)
then the in-flow could look like this:

Then give all participants a copy of a flipchart with a

diagram of a simple central irrigation channel.

Ask participants to choose together the four major

inflows to their local economy. Use the leaky buckets that were created to help you at this
point. The selection might be inflows like tourism, welfare benefits, or a large company such
as a garment factory or manufacturing plant. Then allocate each inflow to one group and ask
the group to label its central irrigation channel with that inflow. (5 minutes)

Then ask each group to dig mini-channels off that central irrigation channel. This means
identifying ways to bring about more local re-spend of the money that is already entering the
local economy through that inflow. The ideas should then be put on to red post-it notes and
put onto the mini-channels on the irrigation flipchart. (10 minutes)

Explore what support, training, time or money would be needed to make this a reality. Write
these ideas on to red post-its and put them on the mini-channels, or on the shovels that are
digging the channels. Some of these might be quite detailed ieas. (5 minutes)
DECIDING
Clustering
The workshop participants will now need to pull together all the information on the different
flipcharts – in particular the Ideas for Action. You then need to put all the flipcharts up on to a
wall and start to move post–its from some of the flipcharts across to those ones that have
additional information on the same theme. (10 minutes). [In the Plugging the Leaks book this
is more complex process– once the AC + participants gain confidence, then revert to the
more in-depth approach in the book.].

As the post-it notes come together, group them under headings. If some post-its apply to
two headings then put it in both places.

Voting on priorities
After the information is clustered together, and if there are many people in the room and not
all can see what is on the wall, then ask one person to read out the main headings and give
some details of the post-it notes underneath it. Then encourage people to start thinking (and
chatting) about the practical action they want to undertake next. Allow a few minutes for this
conversation so people start to warm up to taking action.

The next step is to get them to vote on their priorities. We have found that in this first
workshop it is very important to engage participants in real decisions about action. This
helps to root “enterprising and active communities” in the real, practical world and make it a
much more tangible tool for participants. Otherwise people might feel as if this workshop is
simply 'one more talking shop'. Additionally, many of the ideas will be ones that could be
taken forward straight away, so why put them off until later?

Advise participants to put their energies initially into a few very tangible actions that can
demonstrate in a short to medium time frame the impact that the group could have on the
local economy. That means putting their focus on very practical direct “plug” or social project
in the initial stages (such as a one-stop social enterprise for recycling, or raising awareness
on breast cancer, or training small bed and breakfast homes in how to look after their
guests). They can then return at a later stage to those issues that might require a multi-
pronged approach (such as tourism development, or a social enterprise that helps people
improve their housing conditions, or a Marriage Service Cooperative that provides cheap
wedding support services of high quality through local people – and into which families can
pay in advance as a savings scheme so that the cost on the day is not such a shock!).

Voting with Dots

Give participants ten small circular dots and ask them to assign these dots to those issues or
ideas for action that they consider are important – they could put all ten dots onto one
issue if they wanted or spread them across several issues. They can EITHER put their does
on the summarised issue OR on to a very specific post-it note. Some people are keen on
the big picture; some have very specific things they want to do.

Then give participants small oblong dots to put their name on and stick against any issue (or
post-it note they would like to participate in. No-one should be forced to volunteer for a
group. It is fine for people to feel uncertain and not want to commit. However, given they are
in the room they can be encouraged to join in.

Then give out large dots for participants to put their name on and stick against any issue
they would be prepared to coordinate. Have TWO COLOURS of large dots – one for
people from inside the community; and a separate colour for AC participants who are NOT
from the community. Allow those from the community to put up their dots first – this
encourages the coordination to come from the community if that is possible. This keeps us in
line with ‘locally led-locally owned’ principles. If an AC wants to also work on that issue then
they can work alongside this person as part of their team to help them out and build up their
confidence, if needed.

1. With all participants standing in front of the flipcharts do the following:

Review together the dots that have been stuck to the flip-charts during the break. If there is
at least one large dot (with names attached) and some additional small dots or rectangles,
then you know there is agreement to undertake at least some follow-up action. Ask the
group to confirm if this is in fact how they feel – and then move onto the next decision.

Identify the most supported ideas for action by pulling out all those with a large dot.

2. Ask the person whose name is on each large dot if they would coordinate a
preparatory working group on that idea for action or theme in the next session. Give them a
flipchart and ask them to write down the key issue/ideas for action that people have put their
dots against in relation to that issue. Where people have put themselves forward for
coordinating more than one working group you will need to find a small dot from that group
to act as coordinator for the next session. Note the focus on coordination rather than
LEADING. Sometimes ‘leaders’ like to control others too much and exclude people. Of
course, if it is an entrepreneur with an idea they wish to invest in setting up and it is clear
that it is to be their business that is entirely fine. It is only a challenge if the action is
engaged in by others who are wanting to see a wider engagement and benefit.

3. Where you do not have a named large dot, ask if any of the named rectangle dots for
that issue would be prepared to act as coordinator until someone has been found who would
be prepared to take that role on. Give them a flipchart and ask them to write down the key
issues/ideas for action that people have put their dots against in relation to that issue.

4. Finally, for all other issues that have rectangles assigned to them ask those named
on the rectangles if they are happy for that issue to be temporarily un-addressed. You might
find that the rectangles strongly want the issue to be addressed and so are prepared to take
on the remit of trying to catalyse wider interest.

Forming Groups

In the main workshop straight away set up part of the room to each issue working group.
Note that participants are likely to have put up more than one large dot or rectangle so will
be torn between which group to join. They will need to make their own decision on this – or
you could use a World Café approach to allow them to move from group to group. Also
some participants will not have put up either a large dot or a rectangle. Let them know that
future involvement is not necessary but that it would be great if they could temporarily join an
issue working group in this session to help it set itself up.
DEVELOPING FIRST STEPS
Before you start planning in each group – help everyone to get to know one another with
4A’s – this is also important to help them see the importance of having the right ‘ATTITUDE’
to working together.

Using 4 A’S
The purpose of this technique is to encourage a group to see their potential and possibilities, rather
than only problems. It also boosts confidence and a sense of ‘Can Do’; building resilience. If focuses
on identifying local resources which may be ‘hidden’ or which they may not be consciously aware of
as being resources. After identifying the available resources they can then determine how to
capitalise on these when taking positive action or they can identify gaps in resources which they may
have to take action to fill. The process draws out the potential there may be in their community. It
also, most importantly, shows how a positive ATTITUDE and a focus on local assets and abilities is
what drives action.

For AC+ the perfect time to share this is at the start of Action Planning when a new group are coming
together to decide the initial First Steps of what they want to work on.

1. Start by asking the group to say who they are and a bit about themselves – why they are
Interested in the issue; any experience they have of the issue; any abilities or knowledge they
have that they think may be relevant to the issue; any connections they have to people with
influence or experience on the issue. If it seems to be appropriate, flipchart what people say.
After everyone has spoken – explain that this is the ABILITIES of this group on this issue.

ABILITIES – ‘what we can do’

One component of abilities is skills (developed talents). Important skills include creating, fixing,
analysing and collaborating which can then be used for stone masonry, starting and sustaining small
businesses and repairing computers. Also included are core skills like literacy and numeracy without
which lots of other skills can be out of reach.
The second component of abilities is knowledge (awareness, understanding and information) –
including where to apply for business grants, who to ask for advice at the council and what visitors to
a local area want from the area. Knowledge helps to effectively use skills to create wealth.
The final important thing to say about abilities is that even the most talented people can’t do much
without the abilities of others.

2. Then ask the group to consider what local resources already exist on the issue. For example, if
Tourism is your topic, you would include not only the tourism destination and main roads, a tourist
office, but also organisations that work on tourism, any business groups, or even virtual assets
that you could avail of virtually – such as uber or Trovago. Note these resources on a flip chart.
These are your ASSETS.

ASSETS – ‘what we have’

Assets are the building blocks of wealth-creation. They include buildings, machines, land, tourism
sites, large companies, being on a main road that is well-used and gathering places such as parks or
youth centres.
Organisations are also assets – including businesses, colleges and community organisations.
Relevant social media or websites can also be an asset – eg uber as a transportation asset – since
local people do use it to help them get work.
Some assets are formal – designed to produce a certain type of wealth – like a factory or an art
gallery. But others are more informal, e.g. a park or café can become a place where social wealth is
generated, where friends meet and catch up.

3. When the group have mapped their Abilities and Assets, then introduce the 4 A’s model by
drawing it a bit at a time on a flip chart ie local abilities, local assets and local attitudes.
 assets, abilities
and attitudes
combine to
produce actions

ATTITUDES – ‘what we believe’

A ‘can-do’ attitude is one that looks at the positive in an area. Rather than just seeing problems in
an area, this type of attitude looks at what is working locally and why and builds more success from
this.

The types of attitudes that can support wealth creation include:

• Looking for opportunities more than problems

4. Go through each A to explain it fully using the definitions in boxes. Note the power of combining
• the top
A spirit
As toofgenerate
enterprise
theto get things
bottom done Explain how important it is that they have a
A – Action.
proactive ATTITUDE – that this is what will make the difference to them being able to generate
A problem solving approach to overcome obstacles to progress
strong action.

ACTION – ‘what we do’

A wealth creating community is one that takes action! Actions are what happen when assets, attitudes
and abilities come together for a specific purpose.
The purpose can vary. They include business initiatives like a local organic bakery or a sports centre
to a scheme promoting neighbourhood safety. These sorts of initiatives combine assets, attitudes and
abilities in ways that benefit the local economy, for example by increasing local income.
Action can have direct benefits for the local economy. For example a new Internet Café might provide
jobs for a chef and a waiter and some work for a computer technician. It can also increase the
quantity and quality of assets, e.g. by providing a new meeting place for community groups or a place
for local bands to play. Attitudes can be affected positively as the Café demonstrates to other
potential business people that things are on the up locally. And abilities may be enhanced too – as
people have easier access to the Internet and computer software
First Steps action planning

So now you have identified your 4A’s you are ready to decide whether your group wants to
do something at the level of a big issue (such as ‘tourism’, housing, rubbish collection,
education) or a more focused issue (such as a tourism brochure, legal services on housing,
a street-cleaning programme, or an after-school club for children).

Look at all the details in the post-it notes that relate to the issue your group wants to work
on. Hold a discussion on the issue – encouraging people to say why they think is important,
what they are keen to do on it, what their ideas are. Allow at least 30 minutes for this
discussion. Do you think people already have an idea more or less agreed by the end of this
chat on one or more small specific SAPs or enterprises that they could do?

If you have identified a specific action: That’s a great way to take action AND learn together
at the same time. You can then move to work with the Active Citizens 4.11 tool to plan
your SAP. Or, if the action is more enterprise related then use the tools in the social
enterprise toolkit to start planning around the enterprise idea.

If, however, you are still at the stage of a larger issue, then that is also fine – it just means
you will be doing stakeholder conversations at a wider level before you agree some smaller
more specific SAPs. You should then look to the tools in the Planning section –
stakeholder mapping, problem analysis and so on – to decide what your next step is.

Remember – we don’t want to plan something big or complex – you want First Steps. You
are looking for a way to build trust, grow contacts and support yourselves and others to learn
about the issue and the community as you act. So you are NOT trying to come up with a
detailed action plan for each 'idea for action' that has been identified for your issue. You are
simply going to state what will happen next – this might mean undertaking some further
market research through a survey, or consulting with a few other people, or setting up a date
for a meeting of a formal working group on the issue, or checking out the legalities of the
idea and so on. But beware of displacement activity that simply delays real action. The vital
thing is that someone is named as coordinator on that issue, a timeframe is set for it, and it
is clear what is to be delivered and why. A flipchart could be prepared with headings such
as:

Agreed Who to Who to be Agreed

Idea
Action do it Involved timeframe

As long as you come out of the meeting with those small steps in an action plan like the one
below, then you have succeeded!
PLANNING TOOLS

There are many tools in the Active Citizens toolkit that you are all already aware of which
may be relevant (with some adaptation if needed) to help with planning both at the initial
“First Steps” stage and also later on – they are mostly in Chapter 4 of the AC toolkit. For
example, Ideas Envelope (4.5) and Problem Tree (4.2)

However, the AC toolkit is written with community as beneficiaries/recipients, rather than as

leading or as outreaching strategically to more influential actors, so some additional other
aspects to those tools may also needed to be drawn upon. Also remember the work with the
community is not a training but instead to be seen by them as a process of doing; so avoid
making things theoretical or feel like simulations – all activity should be part of a planning
process directly. Tools you may want to draw on are:

STAKEHOLDER MAPPING TOOL

Stakeholders are the people who are connected to your issue in some way. They can either
help you address the issue, or try to stop you. So, when you have identified the issue
(higher level, or more specific) that your group is wanting to take action on, then ask yourself
the following questions to help identify the Stakeholders – so you know how to engage with
them. As you identify them, write them down on a flipchart in a list like the one below

Who else (if anyone) is working on this issue in some way? Is there anyone in the
local municipality who has or could have an interest in this issue?

Who does this issue affect? How does it affect them?

Who would benefit if we worked on this issue?

Who might or would lose out if we worked on the issue?

Who may be able to help us in some way (state actors, private sector actors, NGOs,
civil society)?

As the stakeholder group is mentioned, put them on to a flipchart as below.

Stakeholder Influence Support for the chance

you want to make
(High; Medium; Low)
(High; Medium; Low)
For simple actions you may not need to do any more analysis, this might be enough. Use
the above information to guide you in deciding who to involve, who to consult and who to
include (see AC toolkit, activity 4.8 which needs a little bit of re-wording so it could be used
with a community as the main agent of change, rather than as a beneficiary).
POWER MAPPING TOOL

If the issue you are going to work on is likely to need help from state or private sector actors
for it to work, also do a Power Analysis on your stakeholders. If you are going to do a power
analysis then as you identify the group of stakeholders, also identify their level of influence
and their level of support for the issue.

Map the stakeholders according to their influence and support

Then colour the stakeholder according to: change drivers (people who are influential and on your
side); potential spoilers (people who are influential but not supportive).

What does the map tell you about how much support there is for the issue you are wanting to work
on?

Discuss interests and incentives (including what in the context influences them, further research
needs) when you consider:

• What can you do to engage with the influential supporters of changes you are wanting to
bring about(top right cuadrant)?

• What can you do to influence the potential spoilers who have influence (top left cuadrant)?

• Who are the decision-makers?

• What can you do to engage with the decision makers?

TOOLS FOR GROWING COMMUNITY ENERGY/CAN DO/ENGAGEMENT/TRUST [

Community learning journey to be created by the AC partners in the pilots, adapting from the
AC toolkit and other sources]

FUN ACTIVITIES TO GROW A ‘CAN DO’ AND COLLABORATIVE ATTITUDE [AC

facilitators to identify and provide]

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE & SOCIAL ACTION EXAMPLES

[ask DICE to provide]