This page provides a number of different resources and exercises to be used in an educational setting. The Forb-learning platform also provides courses for educators. Check them out here.

Exercises

Here you find a variety of different resources arranged by theme.

Icebreakers

Ground Rules
An exercise that helps to create a positive learning environment by helping participants to define the ground rules together. 

Coat of Arms
An ice-breaker that helps participants to introduce themselves to one another, by drawing their personal coat of arms and presenting it.

The Star Exercise
A simple quick icebreaker that introduces the theme of human rights.

Human Rights Squares
A good ice-breaker exercise for starting human rights trainings with, in which participants ask each other questions about human rights.

Energisers
A selection of easy energisers. We particularly like the fist fight exercise!

The Assumption Game
A game that helps participants to recognize and analyse their own prejudices.

The Water Pitcher and Water Glasses
A good ice breaker to introduce to interactive learning methods to groups that aren't used to workshop style trainings.

Human Rights

The Human Rights Timeline
A useful exercise to introduce the subject of human rights in which the participants create a joint human rights timeline that includes both personal and global events.

Human Rights Squares
A good ice-breaker exercise for starting human rights trainings with, in which participants ask each other questions about human rights.

The Human Rights Baloon
​An imaginative  discussion game in which participants have to rank how important different human rights are to them. 

The Newspaper Exercise
A group work exercise that aims help participants to recognise human rights/freedom of religion or belief violations in different contexts, understanding that they occur all over the world and in all sectors of society. 

Human Needs Human Rights
A really good interactive exercise that combines group work and plenary discussion to help participants identify the connection between their felt needs and the rights given in international law. 

Paradise Island
Another great interactive exercise that combines group work and plenary discussion to help participants identify the connection between their felt needs and the rights given in international law. 

Exercises on FoRB

The Trans-Siberian Railway
An exercise that explores our prejudices by asking participants to choose which passengers they would most or least like to share a sleeping compartment with on a night train.   

The Dots Game
A simple, quick exercise highlighting our tendency to think and behave in terms of ‘them’ and ‘us’

The Picture Exercise
A reflection and discussion based exercise using pictures to get people thinking about what freedom of religion or belief means to them.

One Step Forward Exercise
An great exercise that helps participants put themselves in other people's shoes and think about how different people can be affected very differently by social, political and economic challenges.

The Presidents Advisor
What advice would you give the President when people or groups complain that their rights have been violated. Would you recommend changing the law.

The Heart of FoRB
A quick buzz group exercise that helps to make sure participants have understood what they have heard in a theory presentation on the contents of freedom of religion or belief.

The Traffic Light
A great exercise to get small and very large groups interacting and sharing their knowledge about and attitudes towards FORB. A twist on the classic agree-disagree exercise.  

The Barometer Game
A good exercise for the beginning of a training, this 'agree-disagree' exercise helps participants reflect upon how they perceive Freedom of Religion or Belief (FORB) and the extent to which it is in line with their values.

Case Study Discussions
A group discussion exercise in which participants learn to do a simple analysis of FORB violations in pre-prepared cases, using the three phase tool. 

Legitimate Limitations
A plenary discussion exercise in which participants use the knowledge they have learned to assess whether concrete examples of limitations to freedom of religion or belief are legitimate or not.

Questions for Freedom of Religion or Belief Booklet
A useful set of discussion questions that can be used for buzz-groups during teaching sessions on FORB. The questions relate directly to the contents of the Stefanus Alliance booklet Freedom of Religion or Belief for everyone, but selected questions can easily be used with our films, or in teaching you design yourself.  .

Exercises on Context and Conflict Analysis

FoRB Context Analysis
This exercise aims to help participants to be aware of and recognize different types of restrictions and religious freedom violations in their own context. Participants use the three phase model introduced in the booklet ‘Freedom of religion or belief for everyone’ to analyse FORB violations in their own context. 

The Problem Tree
This exercise aims to increase participants’ skills in using the Problem Tree tool to analyze the root causes of a problem and its consequences. The exercise includes both familiarization with the tool and applying it to a specific FORB related human rights violation in their local context, as a first step to creating constructive change.

Five Steps
This short guide to human rights programming is designed for organisations working with social development and guides the reader through the steps that can be taken in designing projects and programmes from a rights based perspective. You can use these steps to help design elements of your training. The five steps are context analysis, problem analysis, an analysis of rights holders and duty bearers, capacity analysis and a programming checklist. You will find that some of the exercises mentioned here relate to these steps.  
Produced by SMC. 

Exercises on Strategy and Method Development

The Forum Theatre
Forum theatre exercise with the purpose of allowing participants to explore and increase their understanding of FORB and other human rights violations, and social conflict through drama

Mainstreaming in Organizations
A reflection and discussion exercise that aims to help organisations to integrate an awareness of freedom of religion or belief into the life and work of the organisation as a whole.

New Tactics in Human Rights
A group work exercise using case study examples to make participants aware of the wide range of practical strategies that can be used to promote human rights and encourage them to think outside the box, instead of sticking to the way we always do things’ without reflecting on alternatives.  

If instead of strategy development exercises you are looking for guidance on how to put together a whole strategic planning process for human rights (or other) work then why not take a look at the Strategy Development Toolkit from New Tactics - you'll find it here! 

Exercises on Evaluation

My Backpack is full of...
​A good closing activity to help participants reflect on the learning they will take home with them, by drawing it in a 'backpack'.

Change Back Again
A simple closing activity to provide the participants with room to reflect on what they have learned and to emphasise the need to avoid falling into old patterns and methods when returning home. 

Other Valuable Resources

The Human Rights Education Toolbox
A practitioners guide to planning and managing human rights education. A useful guide that is packed not only with advice for planning your training but with great exercises to use in trainings, several of which we recommended for example on Ice breaker, Human rights and evaluation exercises pages - see links to these pages above. 
Published by the Danish Institute for Human Rights. 

New Tactics in Human Rights
A workbook for practitioners, that helps identify new strategies and ways of working to prevent and stop rights abuses, and to work for restorative justice and to build human rights cultures and institutions. The workbook is full of short, concrete case studies that can be used to inspire reflection and new ideas when thinking about strategies and methods to promote FORB.  Other language versions of New Tactics resources can be found here.
Produced by the New Tactics in Human Rights project of the Center for Victims of Torture. 

Lifting the Spirits
A toolkit of 21 lessons on FORB, designed for use in secondary classrooms, religious institutions, and youth advocacy organizations around the world.

Guide for Facilitators
A practical guide for learning how to facilitating inter-active human rights training from Amnesty International.