SUSTAINABILITY FOCUS GROUPS GUIDE TO FACILITATION

PREPARED BY COMMUNITY NORTHWEST

VENUES

The venues should be easily accessible by road and public transport.

They should have sufficient nearby car parking, which should be free or reasonably priced.

They should have good disabled access and facilities. Allowances may need to be made for those with special needs, such as large print packs, signer.

We would suggest that meetings should be held in Lancashire, Merseyside and Cheshire. Delegates should be given the choice of attending whichever venue/date they wish and should not be restricted to the one closest to their locality.

Reception/Green Room

Name Badges should be handed out on registering.

There should be someone on hand to welcome delegates and make them feel at home.

Tea, coffee, water and biscuits should be available. The biscuits should be organic and/or fair trade and labelled accordingly.

If possible, lunch should be set out and served in this room. If necessary delegates can then filter through to main meeting room. Allowances may need to be made for those with special dietary requirements, such as wheat or dairy allergies and vegetarian/vegans.

Meeting Room

It is useful for delegates to have a writing surface so, as the numbers for each meeting are likely to be quite small, 10-20; boardroom or ‘U’ shape layout would be preferable. This enables everyone to feel equal, see and hear all that is going on and take part.

Water should be available.

MEETING PACKS

These should be handed out when registering

They should contain:

· Contents Sheet

· Agenda

· Attendees List

· Background Information on:

North West Regional Assembly

Community North West

Tyrer Sorrell?

· Contact Details for:

North West Regional Assembly AfS Team

Community North West

Tyrer Sorrell?

· Background Information on Action for Sustainability

· Visual Aid 1

· Visual Aid 2

· Visual Aid 3

· Evaluation Form

· Notepad and Pencil or Pen

THE MEETING

Observers

Representatives from the North West Regional Assembly’s AfS Team and Community North West Executive should be present to observe/participate in the Focus Group Meetings.

Video

It is suggested that the events should be videod. If well edited the final video could be used as a tool to access hard to reach groups and individuals and perhaps put on the North West Regional Assembly's Web Site.

Delegates should be advised in advance that the sessions are going to be videod and the reason. They should be asked if they have any objections to this.

Assessment

The facilitator should assess the successes and failures of the first meeting and make any alterations to format deemed necessary.

The facilitator should ensure that the Group returns to him the Questionnaire and Evaluation Form. These should assist when assessing the outcomes of the meetings.

Equipment

Flip Chart and Pens

Sufficient suitable Magazines/Newspapers for First Session exercise.

2 Large Boards to pin/stick cuttings to, plus pins/blue tack/Pritt Sticks.

Post-it-Notes (at least two different colours).

Depending on room size/layout and number in the group, it may easier to just include the Visual Aids as handouts in the meeting pack, rather than use overhead project and slides. A3 size prints of the Visual Aids could be pinned as necessary to the Flip Chart for reference.

ITINERARY

First Session

We would suggest that the meeting should start at 10.00 a.m., with registration and coffee from 9.30 a.m. This should allow sufficient time for those travelling some distance to get to the venue in time.

Firstly, it is important that everyone fully understands about Sustainable Development. “What Does it Mean, How do we achieve it.

The Facilitator should open by stressing this. He/she should apologise to delegates who may have attended an AfS Seminar and already be familiar with sustainable development, explaining that in order for the group to advise on how to take the issue forward it was vital to first ensure that all delegates fully understand the issue and we are “all singing from the same hymn sheet”.

Magazines and Newspapers should be laid on the table and delegates should be asked to cut out pictures or headlines they consider depict a “good life” or a “bad life”. Two boards should be available so delegates can pin their cuttings to the relevant board. The Consultants should gather together a good variety of Magazines and Newspapers for this exercise.

The facilitator should then analyse the boards. Any pictures that appear in both scenes should be referred to and reasons discussed why some would consider these bad and others good images.

For instance, one person may consider a large flashy car as good, whereas other may perceive it as bad because of the harm to the environment.

Refer the Group to ‘Visual Aid 1’

It should be stressed that in an ideal world economic, social and environmental issues should go ‘hand in hand’ and all three considered when decisions are made about regional development.

For ‘Economic Well-Being’ we need to increase wealth for all, while tackling poverty, raising skill levels and access to employment opportunities.

For ‘Social Well-Being’ we need to recognise the needs of everyone to have access to quality services by improving existing services and tackling social exclusion.

For ‘Environmental Well-Being’ we need to counter environmental degradation and climate change and use resources more efficiently while protecting local habitats, wildlife, landscapes and historic buildings.

It is necessary to support all three aspects as they all impact on our quality of life. No one element should be achieved to the detriment of another.

It should be pointed out, however, that we do not live in an ideal world and rarely everything is nicely equal. Therefore, at any one particular time or in any one particular project one of the objectives may need to take priority over the others. However, all three aspects should be supported and achieved in the long term.

Refer the Group to Visual Aid 2

Say that this is what sustainability means – A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE FOR US ALL AND FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS.

Point out that as individuals, we need to consider this in every day life to effect a change. When shopping, we should consider buying organic and Fair Trades produce, local produce, biodegradable products, longer lasting and more efficient items, e.g. light bulbs. In our homes we should recycle waste, be mindful of saving energy. In our lives we should take responsibility for our health, use public transport or walk/cycle wherever possible. The list is exhaustive, but it is important to be ever mindful of sustainability in our every day lives.

Hand out post-it notes and ask delegates to write down three barriers to people adopting sustainable living. Debate the barriers and ask for suggestions to overcome these. For guidance and if necessary to stimulate the debate some of the barriers/solutions could be:

· cost of producing/how to reduce the cost of organic biodegradable, longer lasting, more efficient products

· Accessible waste recycling facilities - other forms of collecting recyclable waste.

· Public Transport - how can it be improved - reliability/cost/frequency/ accessibility

· Information - how can it be improved - how often is it misleading, e.g. advertising (farm fresh does not mean organic, low tar cigarettes still damage health, drink advertisements are often glamorised), misleading and confusing information about diets, exercise, vitamins.

Stress that as part of any organisation, including community groups, we also need to consider all three elements in our work.

Hand out the ‘Sustainable Development Questionnaire”.

Ask them to complete Page 1.

Then ask them to turn over the Form and complete Page 2 and total up their score.

Ask each delegate what he or she put on the first page.

If they ticked ‘Yes’ to the first question, ask what they considered they/their organisation contributed to sustainable development. Ask if they ticked anything on the second sheet that they had not included on the first sheet.

If they ticked ‘No’ to the first question, ask if they ticked ‘Yes’ to any of the questions on Page 2. If they had then point out that they do, in fact, contribute to sustainability.

For illustration and aid to understanding, ask some of the delegates who did tick 'Yes' to any of the questions on Page 2 "how their organisation achieved that particular goal, for example "HOW they reduce local poverty levels?"

Explain that the questions used on the Questionnaire are taken from the North West Regional Assembly’s Sustainability Toolkit for the North West aimed at Planners, Investors and Decision-Makers (and not at community groups). Even though, quite a lot is still relevant to communities.

Point out that there is a mystification about sustainability but in reality most community/voluntary groups are involved in it but don’t realise it.

This is what we have asked this group here for today, to help us demystify sustainable development and make people more aware of it and to engage in it.

We want to effectively ‘TURN SUSTAINABILITY INTO SOAP POWDER’. We need to get this message across to hard to reach groups and need the Focus Groups to advise us on the best way to achieve this.

BREAK

There should then be a mid-morning coffee break to allow people to fully digest the first session before reconvening to debate the best way forward to access hard to reach groups.

Second Session

Refer the Group to Visual Aid 3

Outline how AfS arrived at these top ten.

That the Action for Sustainability team held a series of sector-specific events during 2001 and 2002 to encourage wide involvement and engagement in the development, monitoring and delivery of their Action Plan. Debate with the group which of these are most relevant to communities.

Explain that in this second session we want this group to help us refine the message about sustainable development so that it is easily understood by everyone and to discover the best methods of reaching hard to reach groups.

A series of debates and brainstorming exercises should then take place.

The exercises should be carefully facilitated to ensure that everyone has their say and feels comfortable and valued. The ideas/suggestions should be written up on a flip chart.

First Exercise

Write on Flip Chart “What are the barriers to community groups attending events/seminars/meetings”. Hand-out Post-it-Notes in two different colours and ask delegates to write down as many barriers as they can think of on one colour and suggest solutions on the other colour (separate Post-it-Note for each barrier/solution). It should be interesting to note how many times an individual barrier or solution is identified, which may also give an indication as to their relevance/importance. Debate and discuss.

If not already identified by this exercise also discuss:

· What are the best locations/times (daytime and/or evenings)?

· What is the preferred length of a meeting – full day/half day?

· What incentives are necessary to get people to venues?

· What influences groups to attend events

Second Exercise

Write on the Flip Chart “From Sustainability to Soap Powder”.

Explain the need to demystify sustainable development, make it easy to understand. Ask the following question and ask the group to use Post-it Notes to jot down their responses (one per Post-it-Note):

· Had you considered or thought about sustainability before coming to this meeting

· What would make you think/consider sustainable development in your every day life - when you go shopping/when you are socialising in the pub at a restaurant and so on/when you are at work

· What would it take to make you become more sustainable

· In the last week is there anything that you have done about sustainability

· Following our discussions today, can you think of anything you can do next week towards sustainable living

Third Exercise

Write on the Flip Chart “How to reach hard to reach groups”

Hand out Post-it-Notes and ask delegates to write down what they consider are the best methods of reaching hard to reach groups about in particular sustainable development. Debate and discuss.

If not raised by the group, cover the various methods such as press advertising, video and best ways of distributing, questionnaire.

Ascertain if there are any groups that may have specific barriers and need particular help – such as, language barriers, visual barriers (large print/Braille). Groups that may not belong to umbrella organisations and, therefore, not informed of current initiatives.

SUMMARY

Summarise the outcomes. Ask if anyone has anything else to add or has any concerns.

Thank the delegates for their contribution and ask delegates to take 5 minutes to complete their Evaluation Forms. Request that these and their Questionnaires (if they have not already been collected) be given to the Facilitator.

Inform the Group how this project is now going to progress. (Tell them they will receive a copy of the final report and their input will be acknowledged.)