C-ROADS

Participatory skills building & community involvement.

Jack is a teenager from a small town, Castletown, about an hour from a big city. Castletown is an idyllic scenic town that has kept its charm throughout the years whilst many neighbouring towns have succumbed to over modernisation with many high rise buildings and franchises. It is a close knit community where everybody tries to help each other.

Jack is passionate about the environment and sustainability and having young people’s voices heard in relation to the topic. After all - it is those young people that will be most gravely affected by the issues associated with climate change. In Castletown, there is an upcoming local committee meeting that will have various discussions but most importantly, debates about how the local people of Castletown can improve the sustainability of their hometown. Otherwise there is a chance a developer will have to come into the town and take the reins.

Jack, a natural born leader, rallied his friends around who also have the same passion for the environment as him and they mapped out their proposals. Jack and his friends are animated in their ideas and truly believe in their cause. The only problem is… Mr. Holder.

Mr. Holder is a property developer with his sights set on Castletown as his next victim to overrun with developments. Mr. Holder has gotten word back of Jack and his friends’ plans for the town and is not happy.

Can you help Jack and his friends convince the rest of the town that if they work together as a community and all participate they can be self-sufficient and won’t need developers like Mr. Holder to come into their hometown.

Jack and his friends have been working hard, rehearsing their presentation for the committee meeting . Their confidence is growing as the days lead up to the penultimate moment where they will get in front of the entire town to demonstrate their plans and try and get the rest of the community on side.

However, one day whilst he is walking home from one of his friends' houses, Jack meets Mr. Holder. The property developer recognises Jack and stops to talk to him. Mr. Holder is very tall and intimidating. Caught off guard Jack is suddenly very small under Mr. Holder’s assertion of dominance. During their conversation, Mr. Holder makes subtle remarks that chip away at Jack's confidence, skilfully exploiting the power dynamic. With every carefully curated word, the property developer leaves Jack feeling increasingly uncertain and small in comparison.

With the community meeting days away, can you help Jack’s friends work together to get his confidence back?

After completing this challenge centered around participation and community involvement, what specific insights or realisations have emerged about the significance of collective action in encouraging positive change within a community?

With Jack feeling much more confident in his own abilities to speak at the community meeting after learning about the extent to which participatory action and community involvement affects positive change, he’s ready to challenge himself further. He and his friends decide to put their knowledge to the test, to ensure that they have enough backed-up research to debate with Mr. Holder on what is best for the future of the town.

Think about your own community. This can be any community you belong to in your life. Think about how you could impact positive change within your community when it comes to climate change?

Jack needs to have clear objectives for how he wants to make Castletown as sustainable as possible through participatory action and the communities’ involvement. Tick the options that would be most beneficial for the community.

Which of the beneficial options presented do you think would have the greatest impact on the community’s sustainability and self-sufficiency, and why?

The day Jack and his friends have been thinking about for so long finally arrives. The local committee meeting takes place and Jack has the confidence, the knowledge about community involvement and a clear plan towards sustainability. His presentation to the council is a massive success.

The entire community agreed with Jacks vision for the future of Castletown nobody wanted to see Mr. Holder get his hands on the town only to develop franchises and multi storey accommodations. Jack was so successful in his presentation due to his knowledge about the need for collaboration and teamwork in order to achieve participation and community involvement.

Congratulations, you really helped Jack out along the way. You should be very proud of yourself!

Participatory action and community involvement are two very important factors that can lead to robust change. Through these challenges it has become evident that unity is the cornerstone of progress. Ultimately, reinforcing the notion that true transformation arises when individuals come together to create a brighter future for their community.