Our first interaction with the students was crucial and had four main goals. First, to get to know each other through icebreaking activities. Second, create a welcoming space for open discussion of sensitive topics. Third, empower everyone to contribute to group discussions by building the confidence that we all have valuable experiences and knowledge to share. Finally, provide a clear roadmap of the week. By achieving these goals, we set a positive and productive learning environment for the rest of the week.
We started the day with small interactive games to assess the group's knowledge and build trust: a "Where Do You Stand?" icebreaker; a round of presentations; a presentation of the agenda; the rules; the “Fridge”; a Self-Assessment Survey; and a "Baccalaureate Game" on humanitarian aid.
<aside> <img src="/icons/meeting_yellow.svg" alt="/icons/meeting_yellow.svg" width="40px" /> Baccalaureate Game
It is a simple exercise in which students have to find a word related to the humanitarian sector for every letter of the alphabet. The time stops when the first person completes the alphabet. We then collectively share our words to evaluate similarities and differences.
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During the Baccalaureate Game, students were struggling to find a humanitarian-related word starting with the letter "Z". During the sharing phase, a student said "Zimbabwe" and another student quickly replied, out of curiosity, "is there an ongoing humanitarian need in Zimbabwe?".
This discussion showed us that we had created the right atmosphere where students could freely share their doubts and questions. The whole group quickly concluded that they wanted to learn the names, locations, and contexts of African countries. Since we had 20 minutes before lunch, we adapted our agenda and shared a mnemonic method to remember the 55 African countries (2022). After lunch, we had a warm-up quiz about countries' locations, and they guessed all of them right.
All the words shared during the Baccalaureate Game.
After the first break, we asked the students to define humanitarian aid. Since the official definition is quite broad, we knew it would spark a debate that would enable us to discuss the important principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence.
Then, we had a collective mapping exercise where they wrote on post-its all the organisations they knew. Quickly, the group decided to create an axis x going in the order of "local, national, international, institutional" and an axis y to divide "humanitarian," "social," and "environmental" organisations.
Although the mapping was intended to be completed during the week to showcase our collective learning and share new opportunities for future careers, it also revealed that the humanitarian sector is often international, while the social sector is often local and national. Therefore, this visual tool provided them with food for thought.
Students mapping NGOs they know about.