Racism is to me a disease for which we all have to find a cure. The hate towards people with a different colour of skin is stupid and ignorant. The fact that there are people in this
world, that spend their life on nothing else than hating other people, makes me sick. At the same time it also scares me that people can be so blind with hatred. When I think about how much we know and how advanced our society is today;
I strongly believe that racism should be something of the past. It seems that mankind
still hasn't been able to successfully respect and understand that we are all equal.

Antonio Carras, 21 years, lives in Norway, originally from Spain

Session 8.2

S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS
Peer group education in your own organisation

Introduction

There are many different ways of getting individuals, groups or organisations to assess their current situation in order that future plans can be made which are realistic and, therefore, achievable. The S.W.O.T. Analysis is one such method.

Materials

• A-4 white paper

• Pens

Time

2 - 2.5 hour

Group size

10 - 30 people

Process

S.W.O.T. stands for:

Strengths

Weaknessess

Opportunities

Threats

It can be used by individuals to consider their professional or personal situation especially at points of crisis or decision. Similarly groups of people, whether social, community, temporary or work based can explore their position. It can also be used within organisations to assess circumstances and assist in future planning of a peer group education programme. When used with groups or organisations the analysis should ideally first be done by individuals.

Each person is asked to make an individual S.W.O.T. analysis of their own organisation or group. They can think about it or write or give a visual expression to the four aspects of the analysis. Then get people in pairs or small groups to share their thoughts and feelings on this trying to spend an equal amount of time on each of the four aspects. It should also be timed so that each person has a fair share of the time available. Large group discussion should then take place with all pairs or small groups sharing their perspectives. This should be focused on the S.W.O.T.'s affecting the group or organisations who want to set up peer group education programmes.

Either at this point or later, after some work has take place this S.W.O.T. analysis can form a useful base on which to build strategies for future development. (Session 6 - How to set up a peer group education programme)

Conclusion

This is good method for getting people to think about their groups and organisations, to make a critical analysis of what they can achieve and what they may need to help them.'

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