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Understanding the Issues workshop

Know Feel Do
• Understand how climate • Personally engaged • This workshop provides
change is affecting the lives of with the human a basis for young
the poorest. impact of climate people’s thinking
Emphasise the immediacy and change during sessions 3 and
severity of the human impact of 4 which are focussed
climate change in developing on action
countries

This workshop was held with Elvis an Oxfam employee in Malawi. However you can
use anyone who has an experience of climate change affecting people’s lives.

If Elvis in at end

Time Time Number Activities Resources Facilitator

slot slot of mins
10.15- 11.15 -
11.10 12.10
10.15- 11.15- 10 Vulnerability Small character
10.25 11.25 exercise.1 outlines (pg 4&5)
–questions to
prompt
discussion (pg 3).
10.25- 11.25- 15 Consequence 1 ball, flipchart
10.40 11.40 change with ball paper with
throwing.2 beginning of
spider diagram
stuck in middle
(pg 7), pens
10.40- 11.40- 20 Hot seating. Hot seating
11.00 – 12 Use Elvis to profiles - 1 for
Elvis – Elvis adopt a each student
should should character to set
arrive at arrive at the workshop
roughly roughly off.3
10.45 11.45
11.00- 12- 10 Asking Nothing.
11.10 12.10 questions of
Elvis.4

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If Elvis in at beginning

Time Time Number Activities Resources Facilitator

slot slot of mins
10.15- 11.15 -
11.10 12.10
10.15- 11.15- 10 Asking questions of Nothing.
10.25 11.25 Elvis.4
10.25- 11.25- 20 Hot seating. Use Hot seatng
10.45 11.45 Elvis to adopt a profiles – 1 for
Elvis Elvis will character to set the each student
will leave at workshop off.3
leave 11.40
at
10.40
10.45- 11.45- 10 Vulnerability Small character
10.55 11.55 exercise.2 outlines (pg
4&5) –questions
to prompt
discussion (pg
3).
10.55- 11.55- 15 Consequence 1 ball, flipchart
11.10 12.10 change with ball paper with
throwing.1 beginning of
spider diagram
stuck in middle
(pg 7), pens

1. Vulnerability exercise.
To deliver this session you will need:

1 to prepare the ‘Play the role of…’ cards – (pg 4 and 5). (Print and cut out individual
squares).
2 to have at hand the series of statements on page 3

In this activity participants will play the role described on their role card – they must
keep their role a secret from other participants. Ask the participants to line up at one
end of the room in groups. Give out the ‘Play the role of…’ cards to small groups of 2
or 3

students or 1 per student. Ask participants to spend a few minutes imagining the
daily life of the person whose role they are playing and to think of a name for their
character.

Read out the list of statements below and ask those participants whose role can
agree with the statement to take a step forward (give them time in their groups to
decide if they would agree with the statement). Encourage those participant groups
who are unsure how to answer to ask you for advice. Eventually participants will be
spaced out across the room according to how many steps they have taken forward.
Once you have read out all the statements, the participant groups stay where they
are and introduce their role to the group. Ask the other participant groups if they think

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that role is correctly placed in relation to others (e.g. should the married man be
further forward than the 12 year old girl?). In some cases this can create a lot of
discussion. Ask the participants to identify what factors make some people more
vulnerable to climate change than others and if they were affected by climate
change. What did they learn overall from the activity?

Who is vulnerable?

1. You receive or received a primary school education

2. You receive or received a secondary education
3. You can afford to meet your basic needs
4. You are never short of food
5. You do not rely on good local weather for growing crops to make a living or
have food to eat
6. You can afford to see a doctor and buy medicine when you have health
problems
7. You have the power to influence people in your community
8. If there is an emergency the emergency services can come out and help you
and your community
9. You have people who care about you and protect you
10. You have savings (i.e.money)
11. You don’t have to do dangerous things in order to survive
12. You can afford a place to live
13. You live in a sturdy house safe from bad weather
14. If you have a place to live, it is insured
15. You have good enough reading and writing skills to get a job that provides a
regular salary if needed
16. If you loose your way of making an income, you can probably find another

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Play the role of…a 12 Play the role of…a Play the role of…a
year old girl from a female subsistence married man with four
farmer’s family taken farmer growing maize. children running a food
out of school because You only grow enough centre in a small town.
her mother needs help food for you and your You lost an arm in a
collecting water and family to eat. war, but have a good
wood. The walk is income.
becoming longer every
month.

Play the role of…a Play the role of…a

woman displaced from local government
your village and hiding officer. You have
in a forest. You forage influence and can afford
for food and water but everything you need.
often go hungry and are
very scared.

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Play the role of…a 16 Play the role of…a Play the role of…A
year old boy working in farmer who’s cotton worker for a national
a diamond mine. You crops have failed for 2 human rights
are given some food but years in a row. You are organisation. You do a
no money. now collecting charcoal dangerous job and work
30km away from your very long hours for a
house to support small salary.
yourself and your
family.

Play the role of…a Play the role of…a

newborn baby born to a former warlord living in
rich family living in a a rubber plantation. You
rich community. Your make a lot of money
parents care about you from the rubber and
and are protecting you have influential
and trying to give you connections.
the best future they can.

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2. Consequence change with ball throwing.

Preparation – Decide how many groups you will have for a writing activity (4 or 5
groups). Print 1 worksheet (page 7) per group. Stick each worksheet into middle of
flipchart paper.

Activity - Stand in a circle holding a ball.

Ask students if they’ve ever had a day where everything just seems to go wrong. The
ask them for an example of a little thing that may go wrong day to day.

Shout out one of these suggestions and ask the class to put they’re had up if they
can think of something bad that may follow as a result. Pass the ball to a student with
their hand up. Keep repeating this with students passing the ball to each other. Carry
on until the class can think of no more.

E.g. Student 1: Student 2: Student 3: Student 4:

Your alarm You’re late You miss You fail the
clock for school out on an exam
doesn’t go Throw Throw exam Throw
off ball ball ball

Student 5:
You fall behind in
your education
Throw and get in trouble
ball at home

Then repeat the game but using one of the top line climate change affects in Malawi
(from the worksheet).

Now split the class into 5 groups with on flip chart paper per group. Ask the students
to draw a spider diagram using the worksheet with the beginning of the spider
diagram. The ball throwing activity should have given them a good idea of the type of
consequence chain they can write on their spider diagram - let them work until the
flipchart paper is full or the time allotted to this task is completed.

When they have finished explain to the students that in real life things don’t inevitably
spiral downwards into awful situations. In real life poor people are fighting back with
flood protection, irrigation, flood/drought resistant crops etc.

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They miss

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they’re
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You take your

children out of
school

You need
more help

You get really

tired

Energy
Water Drought and
You have to Erratic rain means floods affect
farm more water availability hydro-electricity,
and quality is the main source
disrupted of electricity

Affect on women
Women’s farming Agriculture
and household Drought and
activities increase flooding results in
most, and HIV also lower yields,
affects them more especially maize

Human health
Fisheries Increased
Fish production is malnutrition and
lowered, in both diseases such as
ponds and Lake malaria
Malawi Forestry
Extended
droughts damage
forests and fire
risk is increasing

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3. Hot seating. Use Elvis to adopt a character.

Explain that the aim of the next session is to try and get under the skin of people
being affected by climate change and explain how you want each student to use the
worksheet. The worksheet contain profiles of real people living in Malawi and
affected by climate change. You would like them to read the worksheet through a
couple of times and think about the person on the worksheet. Brainstorm questions
as a group that you can ask the people on the character profiles (you could
brainstorm for questions beginning with Why, What, Where, Why, When e.g When
did you first feel the effects of climate change).

Then they need to work in pairs asking questions and answering as if they are the
people described on the worksheet. If students don’t know the answer they can
make it up. This is an exercise in empathising and imagining rather than scientific
fact finding. Get the students to change pairs and repeat the activity.

Then invite Elvis to sit on a chair in front of the class adopting one of the characters
of the worksheet. Invite the students to ask questions and for Elvis to answer in
character. Lead a small discussion as to what students learned from that activity.

4. Asking questions of Elvis.

Ask the students to brain storm in pairs/threes for questions to ask Elvis and then
allow Q&A’s to take place.

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