INTERGENERATIONAL CONVERSATION CAFES (IGCC)
Every Intergenerational Conversation Cafés empowers young people to lead Community Conversations on critical local or global issues. It requires them to establish partnerships, research a theme and find experts and an audience to discuss it with. They also have to plan the meeting logistics, host it and evaluate its impact – all of which provides them with a perfect lesson in project management.
Resources
2. IGCC Case Study: NOTES from a typical school-based / youth-led IGCC on Climate Issues;
Goal
Peace Child International’s mission is to “Empower Young People” – and nothing empowers them more effectively than getting their parents generation to share a stage with them as equals. That’s what these Intergenerational Conversation Cafés do – just by happening. 3 x Adults and 3 x Youth face an audience of all ages, and a student host leads them through a fun and fascinating evening where they get to discuss an issue of local or global significance. And the only goal is to get the voices of people of all ages – from 9 to 90 – heard and respected by all. Some have the goal of creating an Action Plan – or Next Steps: but that is not essential. For most, the only goal is to get different age groups in a community listening to each other’s views and finding a new respect for each other,What you need
· A Team of young students who want to do an Intergenerational Conversation Cafés
· A Team of Teachers, Parents, Community Leaders who are prepared to help organise;
· A Hall that can hold 50-100 people, seated at tables (preferably round tables);
· A stage or platform at one end on which 6 x panellists and a host can sit comfortably at tables;
· A Sound System with microphones + an AV Projector and Screen (Not essential)
· Facilities for serving tea, coffee and other refreshments
· Mechanisms for promoting the event: Newsletters, flyers, letters home, email lists etc.
STEP ONE: ESTABLISH A PARTNERSHIP
The late, great W C Fields advised friends “never to work with children or animals…” – and you may find some adults nervous about taking part in a youth-led event like an Intergenerational Conversation Café even today. So step ONE: be sure that you have a robust partnership between a group of students and a group of adults:
It could be a school eco-group, or special interest group along with the PTA or the Town Council, or a specific citizen group – Amnesty, Friends of the Earth or such. But the partnership you nurture between the organisers will be reflected in the success of the partnership you create between the youth and elders in the audience. So take the time to make a good one – and make sure you all agree on the important things. Like Step TWO – the choice of a theme.
STEP TWO: CHOOSE A THEME
The choice of theme is crucial to the success of your Event: you can propose a motion – as in an Oxford Union or DebateMate Debate – but the point is NOT to win an argument: the point is to tease out ideas and concerns from different sectors of the community. So a theme can be a question: “How do we get young people to stay in our village?” or “How do we transition from a fossil fuel to a green, sustainable economy in this community?” As an election approaches, there may be community interest in a specific topic like: “How do we stop the destruction of the Green Belt around our town?” The question we chose for our first Pilot ICC was:
“What does the generation currently passing through our schools have to do differently to make a better job of ending the Climate Crisis and protecting / regenerating the Natural World than previous generations have?”
A bit of a mouthful – but it did get the participants going. In choosing a theme, go for consensus as far as possible, using a majority vote only as a last resort. And do it in stages:
1. Local or Global;
2. Time-limited (like ahead of an election) or Timeless;
3. Area of interest – business, economy, environment, health, welfare, community concerns;
4. Question or debate of an assertion? Good luck – this is the most important decision of the process;
STEP THREE: SET A DATE / TIME / PLACE
Agree a place to which all are comfortable coming? In industrialised countries, you have a wealth of places to choose from:
- A School Hall
- Old People’s Home
- Pub Family Room
- Town Hall
- Youth Club
- Church Hall
- Gym or Club House
- Restaurant
Other countries may wish to do it in open air cafés, under trees, in a barn or farm building. Choose a place that both Partners feel happy and comfortable with.
Then set a day: weekend or week day?
Up to the partners; if a week-day, it should be in the evening, but not too late as children have school home work. But at a weekend, it could be at any time – but not to conflict with religious services or sport activities.
And it might not be everyone’s idea of a good Saturday night out? Or it might? Up to you!
STEP FOUR: CHOOSE YOUR PANELLISTS
3 younger / 3 elder + 1 or 2 hosts: all have to make 2-3 minute speeches on the Theme
& facilitate discussions at one of the Round Tables
Elder Panellists - must be tailored to your Theme: for an eco-theme, choose staff from local eco-NGOs, or the environment / sustainability officers at local councils or businesses. At election time, it is important to have representatives of different parties, or backgrounds; Always try to be gender-balanced, and balanced in relation to age, ethnicity, religious or spiritual values, and – where known – their views about your chosen Theme: it is boring to have all the elder panellists say exactly the same.
Young Panellists – should nominate themselves and then be selected by the class or youth group to represent them. They can even have their speech co-created by themselves and others – co-researching the Theme; again, gender and ethnicity balance is important + knowledge and ability to empathise and draw out the views of others is important. For remember, young panellists have to facilitate, and listen carefully to, the discussions at their tables just as the adult panellists do. Stress the need for listening skills in your invitations to all of them: Cafés can be completely destroyed for some audience members if the Panellist at their table chooses to continue their lecture, rather than coax everyone at their table to speak, and listen carefully, taking notes of the ideas that are raised and felt important.
Young Host(s): We recommend that you have two young hosts – one male, one female – each sharing the hosting duties 50:50. It looks good – it gets an extra youth voice on the panel, and it empowers an additional youth to research the Theme.
STEP FIVE: PROMOTE IT WIDELY
Design and put up attractive Poster / Flyers around your school and/or your community. Make a target list of key people you really, really want to be there – and write letters to them. Send emails home with students from all local schools: pester students and teachers to come. This is the major task of the Partners – making sure that there is an equal number of youth and elders in the audience. And – if possible – an equal number of women and men – as it always seems to be the women who come. If it’s a big one – try to get on local media: local radio – and article in a local newspaper, even local TV;
STEP SIX: RESEARCH YOUR THEME
In Peace Child, we have a slogan: FIRST INFORM YOURSELF – THEN TAKE ACTION! Young people often come off looking stupid alongside adults as they have not taken the trouble – or had the years of experience – to really understand, and get the right data, on your chosen Theme. The best Inter-Generational Cafés are the ones where ALL the panellists have done 5-8 hours of very thorough research on the theme: student teams are great at this – because, the more people doing the research, the more confident you can be that your presentation at the Café will be brilliant. Go for it!!
STEP SEVEN: PLAN – TEST AND RE-TEST – THE LOGISTICS
CHECK EVERYTHING including the following:
1. Directions to the Hall: print or scan a map for the back of the invitation. You want your audience to be able to find the venue!
2. Parking? – is there enough? Is it clear where your Audience and your Elder Panellists will park?
3. Security on Entry: does the venue require bag checks or full body scans? If yes, have you got a budget to staff those security controls? Are you sure that you have the necessary keys and codes to access to all the doors and cupboards that you may want to enter;
4. Coffee / tea-making equipment, cups, saucers etc. Have you got enough cutlery and/or crockery for all the refreshments you want to serve?
5.Test, re-test and test again any Video or PowerPoint projectors, public address and computers you may want to use: in our experience, the technology is what will always go wrong; do a sound check on the PA system to make sure that microphones are not squawking with feedback and a balanced level throughout the hall so that everyone can hear.
6. Consent for Photographs: Decide if you want to take photographs and/or record your event on sound or video: if you do, you must get Consent forms signed (** see sample copies at the top of page) by every child and adult as they come into the meeting. If any audience member does NOT want to be photographed or filmed, make sure that you have a table which you don’t photograph. Also be sure that your Panellists are happy to be photographed and/or video-ed before you confirm their invitation.
STEP EIGHT: RUN YOUR CAFÉ
Get the Running Order for the event agreed at your 1st Meeting – then it’s out of the way – and everyone knows what is happening, and what is expected of them. The Running Order / format of an Intergenerational Conversation Café is pretty much set, as follows:
1. The Host / Co-Hosts Introduce the Theme; (with Video or PowerPoint optional) [7-mins]
2. 1st Youth Speaker / 1st Elder Speaker; 2nd Youth Speaker / 2nd Elder Speaker; 3rd Youth Speaker / 3rd Elder Speaker; (up to you if you allow panel speakers to use PowerPoint or video) [20-mins]
3. All 7 or 8 Panellists go down to the audience to listen to the views of the audience on the Theme; one per table; Intergenerational Conversation Café; [20-30 mins]
4. All Panellists return to stage and report back on the most interesting things they have heard at their tables; 2-minutes per panellist & host(s); [15-mins]
5. General Discussion, Q & A leading to preparation of Action Plan or Next Steps; [20-mins]
6. Host(s) wrap up, thank the partners and organisers; Good bye; [2-mins]
Appoint a Rapporteur or note-taker to take notes of each panellist speech – and the report-backs from each table + the outcomes of the General Discussion. This will form your main record of the event;
Also, remember to appoint some one to take photographs – IF – you have organised to get permission for them: the photographer should be able to take part in the café – but s/he must ensure that there is a good record of the event – otherwise your notes of the meeting will look as boring as our’s does!
STEP NINE: WRITE UP NOTES
Set yourself a deadline to write up the notes of your meeting within 48-hours: that way – you will remember it all – and supplement the Rapporteurs notes with your own memories. Also – if you take photographs ( - we didn’t for the sample notes below - ) they will help you remember the personalities, the funny moments, the memorable remarks and gestures. They don’t need to be very long: fine just to summarise the conclusions, priorities and next steps you agreed. It’s just important to have something – any record of the meeting – to send out with your thank you notes below.
STEP TEN: THANK EVERYONE & PLAN THE NEXT ONE
Really important to thank everyone involved – from the Panellists, to the teachers and head teacher / SMT who lent their support, to the parents who came: the Thank you notes should be very short: “On behalf of all of us at ?? – we thank you for attending our Intergenerational Conversation Café on <<-DATE->> at <<- PLACE ->> and for sharing your wise thoughts on <<- Your THEME ->>. Signed – by the youth organiser(s) or host(s). Each note should be personalised and be sent by either email or by post or by hand, along with the Notes & Pictures of the Meeting.And this Thank You note is, of course, the perfect time to announce your next Intergenerational Conversation Café: if it goes well, think about making it a termly event – or an annual event. Empowering young people to lead events in communities is a habit we all need to get into and improve. And that can only be done by doing events like these regularly.
Good luck – and any questions, don’t hesitate to ask at: info@peacechild.org