Section 7
Your project is
running - how to coach it?
Racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, homophobia
and other related forms of intolerance are forms of prejudice
and discrimination. Dealing with these issues can be a challenge
and at the same time a great opportunity for learning and
sharing. Dealing with these issues can raise very sensitive
and emotional issues. Grief about suffering from discrimination
might surface; rage, anger, shame and tears might be shed
and shared. Much the same can happen as it does in AIDS-prevention
or alcohol-prevention peer group education projects.
For all the participants the peer group
education project itself can become a process of learning
much about life and about themselves. As in any on-going
process it is natural that there will be times of stress
and difficulties that might not have not been foreseen at
first thought.
They can vary according to:
• the nature of the project
• the phase it is going through
• the subject being dealt with
• the number of people involved
• the environment
• the structure of the peer group
• leadership among the youth.
In the examples of good practice quoted
in this book (section 5) some of the most difficult moments
were described by those who contributed.
The following core problems can be cited
(and surely some more may be found):
• exhaustion
• confrontation with unfamiliar
tasks
• pressure of administrative work
load
• financial and funding problems
• growth of project into unknown
dimensions
• not enough assistance provided
• leadership problems, in-group
quarrels, team problems
• gender problems
• dealing with strong emotions in
yourself and in others
• need to help and comfort people;
limitations to do so
• confrontation with expectations
of others
• disturbing influences from outside
groups or authorities
• boredom
• risky or dangerous situations
• dealing with the media
• drop-outs
As youth worker, school master or trainer
involved in a peer group education project you may be happy
and proud to have launched such a project in your environment.
You will want the project to become a success. You will
want the young people to feel comfortable with it. You want
to coach them, but in a very unobtrusive way, leaving the
peers to their own devices as much as possible.
How do you go about this in a creative
way?
It is useful to bear in mind the
starting points of your peer group education project.
As a coach you will want to empower
young people:
• by encouraging them to identify
their goals
• by helping them to make informed
choices
• by teaching and practicing the
necessary skills
• by fostering mutual support, tolerance
and emotional healing in the group
• by creating a positive environment
for their activities
• by defending their rights
• by assisting them emotionally
• by expressing faith in their capabilities
• by creating structures and systems
for decision-making that bring in diverging view-points,
heighten perception and lead to effective use of information
and experience
to promote the message against racism,
xenophobia and anti-Semitism:
• by providing useful materials
• by helping to network some other
similar or adjacent projects
• by making yourself more knowledgeable
about racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms
of intolerance
• by learning from the day-to-day
experience of young people
• by recruiting a diverse team of
youth
• by respecting diversity and diverse
needs
• by treating everybody equally.
More practically speaking you might
consider the following suggestions:
12 Points for the supportive
and non-authoritarian coach
1. General
Different coaches have different
styles. But there are a few key points for coaches:
• They support the team spirit and
co-operation.
• They must recognize the skills
of the different partners involved and put them in the right
positions.
The team will sometimes not act as planned
or expected. The coach helps the peers reflect on their
experience so they are ready to act better next time. During
the practical work, the coach is on the sideline. At practice,
the coach plays different roles.
Identify leaders in the group and help
them before and between meetings to plan meetings, develop
strategy proposals, lead meetings, and anticipate problems.
Youth leaders need support and training so that they can
lead other youth. Without training and support they risk
'burn out'.
Discuss the establishment of a routine
of weekly or bi-weekly meetings where brain-storming, re-considering,
re-evaluating can be done in a quiet setting. Set up flip
chart or black board where everything that happened, can
be continuously noted down in an easy way, what worked,
what didn't work, what could be improved . Keep findings;
"What went well?", "What could be better?"
"What needs further discussion/evaluation?" as
the barometer of the development of the project and as the
basis of group discussions. Always start with a positive
feed-back "What went well? What have we/you as the
group and you as individuals achieved?" Be prepared
not to be needed when you might want to teach something,
but be always there when you are needed.
2. Expectations and aims. Activism and
burn out.
The coaches cannot achieve the aims
themselves. The team will have into work to achieve the
aims. do that. The coach should inject realism in the project
without breaking idealism.
Burn out is a common result of activism.
To prevent this working suggest; cherishing each other,
taking a rest, bringing in more people, delegating tasks,
setting realistic aims, finding enough resources (helpers,
money, etc). The topic of your peer group education programme,
fighting racism and xenophobia has to be treated seriously.
Working on projects and programmes can be fun and rewarding
for young people and their coaches.
3. Administration and planning
Assign a person that is ready to assist
the peer group with administration matters. The person should
offer regular visiting hours every week which can be used
without pressure of other work. Make office space and office
equipment available at certain times of the week.
Organise a session with the peer group
dealing with planning instruments. Make an exercise how
to use annual and weekly planners. Have a 'pro' and 'contra'
discussion about 'planned' versus 'spontaneous' action.
Ask the group to decide who will be in charge with keeping
up the agenda. Discuss what the prospective phases of the
project will be, i.e. for organising a camp, an event, creating
educational materials etc.
4. Finances and funding
Offer a session to the peer group
on the topic 'money' and its value in our society. Discuss
volunteer and paid work engagements. Discuss what funding
means and how funds greatly determine the size of the project.
Discuss prospective sponsors.
Use 'role play' to develop skills in convincing
a potential sponsor and getting across the importance and
uniqueness of the project to him/her. Explain different
options of budgeting, i.e. that even without huge funds
a great deal can be achieved. Work on methods for drawing
up budgets. Help looking for sponsors and promoters of the
campaign.
5. Growth of the project
Discuss how the project went so
far. Until now, can distinctive phases be named?
• What are the implications when
a new phase of the project development is reached?
• What needs to be done next?
• Who looks forward to the new challenge,
who is a little scared about it? Why?
• How can we support each other?
Do we need more people in the project, more participants,
or more support from the outside?
6. Leadership problems, team problems
What do you as coach do when you
disagree with the group? How quickly do you show opposition?
Which mistakes are learning experiences for the youth? Which
ones endanger the project? Are you sure you know better?
How can you communicate your information in a way that is
not 'adultist' ("When you're older you'll know that..."
or "Have you considered what will happen if...").
Generally give support to the youth leader
and do not allow the leader to be heavily criticised or
oppressed. Accept criticism from the group for your work
as long as it is not destructive. Ask for respect just as
you would be respectful to others.
Use a variety of educational tools;
questionnaires, dilemma boards, newspaper cuts, etc. for
exercises that deal with the following questions:
• What does leadership mean?
• Who wants to fulfill that role?
Why? Who does not want such a role? Why?
• Are there only advantages about
being a leader (admiration, power, fulfillment, pride) or
can there be disadvantages as well (workload, leading eats
up energy, exhaustion, burn-out).
• Can there be alternative leadership
models? Shared leadership? Leadership on rotation?
• What is a team? Why are we a
team? What are our goals? Why could we be divided, which
are the disturbing factors?
• How do we deal with divisions
early and openly in a healing way?
• How do we say good-bye to disruptive
people?
7. Gender problems
Use educational tools to tackle the
following questions:
• We have launched a project against
racism and intolerance. Does racism and intolerance have
anything to do with sexism or (vice versa)?
• Racism and intolerance also touches
our individual feelings. How do young people in our group
feel about their individual identity and about their role
in society? How did we, as girls and boys, learn about our
life roles in childhood?
• Do girls of different ethnic groups
feel differently about their position in society?
• Can we fight discrimination on
the outside of our group if there is discrimination within
our group?
Consider breaking up the group in a female
and male sub-group. Let them first work separately, then
together. Let them discuss if such a separation would be
the right thing for ethnic groups as well.
8. Dealing with emotions
Use different educational tools to evaluate:
• What are emotions? How do they
influence us?
• What does society (family, friends,
lovers, teachers, TV, movies, our boss) tell us about emotions?
• Are there situations when emotions
are "allowed" and when they are not "allowed"?
• When we look at other cultures
- are emotions lived in another way?
• Who finds it easy to show emotions?
Who doesn't?
• Do boys and girls express emotions
in different ways?
• Why could emotions scare us?
• What do emotions have to do with
discrimination?
• What does discrimination do to
us?
• How does it feel to be discriminated?
Do we know this feeling?
• When we felt bad about something
in our life, who was the person that would comfort us? How?
In the past? Who is it now?
• How can we comfort somebody who
expresses sorrow, pain or sadness?
• Can we exercise how to comfort
and soothe? Do we go about it in different ways (For boys
and girls, taking on board the need to respect a persons
sexual orientation, cultures, religion, etc)?
9. Dealing with outside pressure
Institutions and individuals - this could be the
parents of the young people taking part, a funding body
or other groups - might try to disturb and cut short your
peer group education project. What can you and the group
do to counter this outside pressure? As the coach you will
defend your project and your group in the best way you can.
This could be done by making a presentation to an important
board or an influential individual or with your superior
or manager.
At the same time it might be useful to discuss with your
group power, pressure and counter-pressure and the role
of pressure groups. It is important that young people know
their rights and can exercise them.
• Who has power in our society?
Why?
• How is power connected to racism?
• Where can we make out counter-powers?
Or where is there a balance of power? How can a compromise
be reached?
• What are the expectations that
we have to other sectors of our society? (Institutions,
school, youth club etc).
• How far does the group want to
yield? What are the conditions for compromising?
• How can one be diplomatic - and
reach most of your goals
• Do the members of the group have
less rights than adults because they are young?
10. Risky or dangerous situations
Your peer group may encounter resistance
or aggression of racist, anti-semitic or xenophobic groups
or individuals. Discuss what is considered to be risky or
dangerous. Discuss what could be the outcome of an encounter
with racist or aggressive groups.
• Would it be useful for the project
to encounter such a confrontation?
• What would help to reach our goals
without too many risks?
Maybe you want to add a discussion about
violence, what is violence in its different forms. How does
it relate to racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and other
forms of intolerance?
11. Contacts with the media
Contacts with the media are important
for your project and for the group members as well. Discuss
the role of the media.
• How do the media influence our
perception of the world?
• Why is media coverage important
for our project?
• Do we need to appoint a 'media
specialist' in the group?
• Do we need a policy on working
with the media?
Offer exercises in how to write a letter
to the editor, how to answer at an interview. How will the
answers be reproduced by the media?
12. Drop-outs and how to ' keep the flame
on '
There might be moments when some
people want to leave the project. Discuss and explore with
the group through exercises the impact of people dropping
out. Maybe you want to use role-plays.
• How do different members of the
group feel about it?
• What might be the reason to stop
with the engagement? Burn-out? Other new interests? Do they
have anything to do with the project?
• Is this a natural thing that happens,
or are the drop-out somehow considered to be traitorous
to the group?
• How can the project live on?
• How can successors be found? Could
it be negotiated that people leave from the project only
when new persons are ready to come in for them?
• Do new-comers offer new chances,
new insights?
And finally
How can you and the peer group measure
the success of your project? You might have reached other
people, you might have shared stories of discrimination,
you might have stood up against racist jokes and slurs,
you might have organized an event, you might have embarked
for further goals and activities, you might have built a
network, you might have changed the atmosphere within your
group or youth club, or school.
As the Taoist say: the way is the goal.
Everything that happens by doing such a
project can be a worthwhile development if
• it does not destroy or endanger
the project or burn out the young people or yourself
• it does not go against the aims
you have set for the project
• it does not hurt people involved
in an inadequate manner
• the group learns by mistakes.
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