Workshop 1 - self-organization and resources

Questions of the first workshop:

What makes us feel strong and ready to face challenges? 

And what takes that strength away from us? 

For the first workshop, we created two forms of activities to allow people to deliberate on their personal resources, being in Polish centers. Individuals were given information about what the purpose of the workshop was, a plan for the entire workshop, and the materials needed to complete the activity. 

The first activity, which was used exclusively during the workshop in Warsaw, was a jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle resembled a classic jigsaw puzzle, but in order to solve it, we had to look for a different way of doing things than in the case of a jigsaw puzzle in order to successfully complete it. The puzzle is a group task. We have a team of several people who try to solve it and one person who observes the group's actions. 

The purpose of the puzzle is to understand one's role within the group activity and to see how the group interacts when measuring itself against a problem. In the conducted activity, the groups bottom-up adopted a democratic model of solving the puzzle, combined with an internal discussion on the next actions. After completing the task after about 20 minutes, the Warsaw group moved on to deliberate on how much on an individual or group level, when dealing with their difficult situations, the participating individuals can interact with other individuals, institutions or organizations on the same basis as with the puzzle. 

The second activity was to map their relationships, strengths and resources. Each person was to draw out their network within which their resources are built or taken away to deal with difficult situations. Participants were divided into two subgroups. Then, individually, on their maps they were to place each person, institution or organization that gives or takes away their resources. The network was divided into several life spaces, such as family, work, institutions, NGOs. Participants were then to draw out how each person and entity in their maps affects their resources.

After the individual stage, a subgroup discussion began on the similarities and differences in the participating people's maps. The purpose of this stage was to see what similarities and differences exist in the experiences of interaction with different private or public entities. We wanted to see whether there are patterns in the gaining or taking of power by other people or organisations. After deliberation at the level of subgroups, a similar discussion was held at the level of the entire group in a given city.