|
|
Narrative
|
|
(As part of the introduction to the workshop, participants created a
list of issues that concerned them. During the break, the facilitator
should review this list of issues and combine any that seem to be
redundant. Once the group gets back together, ask participants to
select one issue area for which they would like to develop indicators.
Try to arrange it so that no group has more than four people if
possible.)
Now we are going to break up into groups of three or four to start
working on developing indicators of sustainability. The groups will be
based on the issues that were identified during the
introduction.
The first thing each group should do is define the goal for the topic
or issue. Think about what the community might look like in 30 or 50
years if this problem has been solved. The goal should not state how
the problem is solved, however. For example, if air pollution is the
problem, a statement that says 'all automobiles have been banned' is
not a good goal statement. This is really a statement about how to
reach the goal. In this example, a goal statement might be 'people
can get where they need to go without generating pollution.' Spend
about 15 minutes developing a goal statement.
Next, discuss the linkages among your issue and other areas of concern.
For example, if your issue is childhood asthma, there is a link to
environment because of air quality issues. There is also a link to
transportation because air emissions from automobiles may be a factor.
If the area is rural, wood stoves might be a factor, in which case
there is a link to energy and resource use. The purpose of this part
of the exercise is to help everyone see the linkages among different
factors in a community. Spend about 20 minutes talking about the
different connections. Be sure to identify those links that are key
links.
Next, discuss what type of community capital is involved in your
issue. Also discuss the pressures, states and responses involved.
Spend about 15 minutes on this part.
Now that you have identified the key links, the type of community
capital and the pressures, state, and responses for your topic, use
that information to start to brainstorm ideas for indicators. This
should be real brainstorming. Don't worry about how feasible the
idea is or whether it is possible to measure. The point of this part
of the exercise is to get as many ideas on the table as possible.
Spend 30 minutes brainstorming indicator ideas.
Now use the indicator checklist to rank your indicators. You can
either do the ranking individually, compare answers, and talk about
why different people came up with different rankings, or you can rank
each indicator as a group. However, part of the learning process is
understanding why someone else gave an indicator a different rank than
you did, so try to be open about discussing your reasons. Spend some
time on how the indicator can be improved. What will make the indicator
more useful, more used, more relevant, more understandable? Try to end
up with at least three indicators that you would use to measure your
issue. You have 30 minutes to select the best indicators to present to
the larger group.
Now spend 10 minutes discussing where you might find data for the
indicators that you have selected. Be sure to consider local sources
of data. What organizations may already have the data that you
need?
Spend about 15 minutes discussing how the indicators could be
publicized so that people are aware of them and actually use them in
making decisions.
Finally, spend 15 minutes preparing to present to the entire group the
indicators selected by your small group.
(Describe the procedure and format for reporting results back to the group
as a whole. Once the time is up, the facilitator should have each
small group report back to the group as a whole.)
|
|
|
