Report from the field: OS with youth from 35 countries on the MDGs

Mon Sep 15 13:21:41 PDT 2008

Hello everyone!

After reading so many useful “reports from the field”, it is now time I
write my own, hoping it can be useful in some way, however small, somewhere
in the Open Space community.

I facilitated my first international event a couple weeks ago, with 161
participants aged 15-35, with French as their common language, who came from
35 countries to Quebec City to talk about how to contribute to the
achievement of the Millenium Development Goals (MDG). The complete report is
accessible on the Web through Oxfam-Québec Club 2/3’s Interférences network,
at
http://www.interferences.net/images_upload/Recueil%20des%20discussions%20et%
20ACTION_modifi%E9.pdf 

OS being what it is, the event was a success and youth participating
embraced the process and totally made the meeting their own. I wish to thank
Bhavesh Patel here, who facilitated an OS on the MDGs and reported on this
List a few weeks before my event and was very generous in answering my
questions.

The event was public, and organized jointly by the Institut du Nouveau
Monde, an innovative Quebec non-profit organization devoted to citizen
participation and civic engagement, and Oxfam-Québec Club 2/3, devoted to
engaging youth against poverty towards justice and equality. It was part of
a bigger event, the École d’été de l’Institut du Nouveau Monde, which is a
yearly event happening during a full week during summer for youth aged 15 to
35. 

The École d’été seeks to enhance the level of social commitment of youth
through an interactive program combining education and deliberations as well
as artistic and playful activities. It features conferences, roundtables and
workshops every morning during the week, several “parcours citoyen”, themed
discussion/learning events, in the afternoon, and festive activities and
shows at night. 

Design

My OS was a “parcours citoyen”, thus happening over three afternoons, from
1:30 to 5:00. Not ideal, but OS being so flexible, it worked. 

Participants registered to the École d’été over a couple of months prior to
the event, having to choose one “parcours citoyen”. So the invitation was
sent to the registered participants, along with some reading material.

The first afternoon started with a very short presentation, summarizing the
reading material, after which I opened the space. Participants had a first
1h15 min. round of discussion and we gathered for evening news. The second
afternoon had “daily” news, two rounds of discussion and a closing circle of
the exploration phase. On the third afternoon I explained the convergence
process and then gave 30 min. to read the Book of Discussion Reports and
reflect on personal action plans. I then reopened the space for collective
action planning (1h) and presentations (50 min). 

Close to 100 topics went up on the Market Place, and after combinations,
about 35 discussions were left. The clients were a bit worried during that
chaotic 15 min. or so, but as usual, people self-organized and all of a
sudden, it was very quiet and everyone was at work. 

Computers and set up

We  had 15 computers at the Newsroom, a big expense for these non-profit
organizations. However, it was well worth it. I believe that a lot of the
discussions would not have been documented had we asked for handwritten
reports. The younger generation was raised with technology, and the
computers ensured ideas and action plans that emerged from very fruitful
discussions were indeed documented. Some participants asked for an Internet
connection in order to do research during a discussion. We didn’t have any
unfortunately. 

As the room was used in the morning for roundtables, we had to really rush
to get the tables out and set up the room every day during lunchtime. Thanks
to a great bunch of volunteers, we got better and faster every time. On the
third day, it took us only 20 minutes! That being said, I would not
recommend it. 

Masking tape was not permitted on the walls, so we had to use Velcro boards,
with little Velcro tapes for the topic sheets. It was ok because we could
move the boards easily every night, but it was also very linear –
participants filled one board after the other, in very straight lines,
instead of putting up topics all over the place. Plus the boards took more
room, so it was that much less space for the group to look at the topics on
the Market Place. 

Paper use concern

Paper was a big concern for the client, so the invitation suggested to
participants to bring their own USB flash drive. We only printed the reports
for posting in the room, and participants could get their copy
electronically on-site. We put the Book of Discussion Reports on all the
computers in the Newsroom before the start of the third afternoon, and
participants made their own copies. It was very easy, cheap and saved a few
trees. The client also e-mailed the full report to all participants after
the event, and it will soon be posted on the Web.

Action planning

Since the event gathered youth from 35 countries, from Africa and Latin
America as well as Europe and Canada, I was hesitant about action planning.
My original intention was to re-open the space for collective action
planning for those who wanted to, and personal action planning and sharing
for others who would prefer that. But the energy in the group made me change
my mind: I re-opened the space for “collective action or individual action
that can be implemented in different parts of the world”. And it worked
great! I think about 30 actions went up on the Market Place, and after
combinations, about 20 initiators were standing to gather people for their
planning session. About 15 groups, some as small as two people and some much
bigger, went into action planning. My regret there is not having insisted
enough on reminding the “Whoever” principle for people whose action didn’t
gather a group. These participants joined other groups instead of doing
their thing alone. But then again, “Whatever happens
” The presentations on
action plans were very inspiring, and two groups created space on the Web to
continue exchanging and discussing after the event. 

Closing

Of course, with 160 people, the closing circle at the end of the second
afternoon took some time. The client preferred to allow more time for action
planning and not having a final closing circle. It was the first time I did
that. So, to avoid an abrupt ending after action plans presentations, I
invited everyone to think of a person (or several) who had said or done
something nice or helpful to them during these three past afternoons and to
go and thank them for that. The surprise look on the faces in the circle,
the eyes going up in thought and the shift in energy from action planning to
focussing on people and their personal contributions to the process were
fantastic! Still, some participants mentioned to the organizers that they
would have wished for a group closing again. So the client and I both
learned something about closing. I’m curious here: anyone out there having
experienced some similar concern and tried different closings?

Participants’ comments

Comments from participants during the second afternoon closing circle ranged
from surprise at how well it worked to gather so many people and create the
agenda on-site, to how respectful and open the discussions were and how it
felt great as a 15-year-old to have a real discussion, equal to equal, with
a 35-year-old. One of the participants did not find the process efficient
and had difficulty with the chaos. The one sitting next to him, to the
contrary, found the process to be extremely efficient and fruitful. When I
left after setting down the room that night, those two were having a great
discussion together just outside the room. About chaos and order? Maybe. I
don’t know. But I had the feeling the discovery of each other’s perspective
inspired that discussion.

Participants’ process integration

At the École d’été, it is customary to have a general assembly at the end of
the week where each “parcours citoyen” presents a summary of what they did
during the week and their conclusion. This was explained by one of the
organizers just before I re-opened the space for action planning, inviting
participants to volunteer for that task. 

When I re-opened the space, another organizer put up that presentation as a
topic for action on the Market Place. A few people gathered with him and
what they planned was is an 8-10 minutes mini Open Space, complete with
opening, examples of topics, computer reporting and examples of action
plans! So the next morning, they borrowed my temple bells, Principles and
Law signs, and did this mini-Open Space on stage. It was fabulous to see how
these young people made this process their own! The presentation was taped
by the client and I hope to get a copy. There is so little material in
French, I’ll post a note here if this tape becomes available. 

In conclusion

These young people were thrilled at this other way of working as a group. I
have no doubt that some will use OS in their communities or professional
environments  or even get training. We gave participants a resource list
referring to Openspaceworld.org, Worldscape and Harrison’s books. 

After Bhav’s gathering in OS about MDGs not too long ago, this one and maybe
others facilitated by some of you on this List, these young people around
the world might just change the way we live on this planet!

Cheers everyone!

Esther Matte

Discover - Engage - Accomplish

New York: 212.755.0551

Montreal: 450.583.5849

www.excellence.ca

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