MOSAIC - The training kit for Euro-Mediterranean youth work

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Tips for the facilitator
Depending on how well participants know each other, and how comfortable they
feel discussing personal issues, you may want to encourage them to share their own
stories about discrimination in the small groups, rather than looking at discrimination
in a more detached way. Using personal stories will be a more powerful use of the
activity, but you will need to allow more time and you should be aware that it may
be difficult for individuals who may feel uneasy about sharing personal experiences.
After showing each sculpture, you may want to ask participants to shake their arms,
or jump up and down, to get out of their roles. Make sure, in the discussion at the
end, that people are back in their own roles and do not feel the need to continue
thinking about the cases they have illustrated.
Since some people may feel that they still have feelings that need to be expressed,
allow some time when you begin the debriefing for people to express any personal
feelings about the cases. After that, try to encourage them to adopt a more “objective”
attitude and think about the concept of discrimination as a whole.
Variations
Instead of using snapshots, each team could present a short theatrical sketch. This will
take slightly longer, so you should allow more time.
If the group are very comfortable with each other and there is a high degree of trust,
you might ask them to think about cases where they have been not the victim, but the
“offender” in an instance of discrimination. This is only recommended if you know
the group well and are sure that everyone feels this is a safe environment where they
are happy to talk about personal difficulties.
Ideas for action
Help the group to draw up an anti-racist policy: the activity “Responding to racism”
in Compass is a good way of leading them through this.
Suggestions for follow-up
You could look at other examples of discrimination, such as sexism or discrimination
against the disabled. Activity No. 9 “Ideal woman – ideal man” in this T-kit encourages
participants to think about their own prejudices in relation to gender. For activities on
disabled issues, look at “Young and disabled” in the online version of Compass.
Reshaping racism