Taking Positions

From Peacebuilding

Content Processing Activity – Taking Positions

Contents 1 Aims: 2 Participants: 3 Time: 4 Materials: 5 Procedure: 6 Debriefing: 7 Source:

Aims:

• To explore content in a participatory and interactive way

• To generate argument in order to deepen understanding of the content processed

Participants:

Four to forty

Time:

At least 30 minutes (10 minutes for content introduction; 5 minutes for in-team preparation; 15 minutes for discussion between teams), but allow more time if necessary

Materials:

• Visual aids illustrating the specific content being processed, such as flip charts, PowerPoint presentations, overhead slides or handouts

• Flip chart paper

• Markers

Procedure:

I) Before the training course, prepare a presentation of the content you’d like to introduce to participants. Prepare visual aids to help participants follow your presentation. Try to keep your presentation down to less than 10 minutes. Get participants to ask questions for clarification if necessary, and answer their questions.

II) Divide the plenary into three teams. Assign team A and team B to support two potentially controversial and opposing positions related to the content you’ve introduced. Assign team C as the neutral team. Tell team A and B to build a solid argument in support of their respective position or proposal, and tell them they’ll debate with each other. Their task is to convince the other team of the rightness of their proposal. Tell team C to observe the debate and assess the strong and weak points of each team’s position.

Example: You’ve just introduced a lecture on soft and hard positional bargaining. You’ve illustrated the characteristics of both. You assign team A to support soft positional bargaining and team B to support hard positional bargaining. Team C observes, taking note of the strong and weak points of each team’s arguments and providing feedback at the end.

III) Give a signal to start the debate between the teams. Let people freely express themselves, and don’t control the dynamics of the interaction.

IV) After 10-15 minutes (or when you deem appropriate), give a signal to stop the debate. Ask participants to think silently for one minute about what emerged during the debate.

V) Now ask team C to provide feedback. Note emerging issues on the flip chart.

Debriefing:

If necessary, encourage discussion on the emerging issues.

Source:

This activity is inspired by and adapted from a model developed by Sivasailam Thiagarajan (Thiagi) called “Shouting Match”. See http://www.thiagi.com.