Bystanders and healers

In this exercise, participants reflect individually on times they have intervened to stop injustices (however small) and times they have done nothing.

About the exercise

  • Plenary exercise
  • Time required : 25 minutes
  • Target audience : Best suited to grassroots-level groups/faith communities, civil society organisations, human rights defenders and faith leaders.

Purpose

  • To help participants move from problem identification towards action planning.
  • To help participants recognise that each of us has, at some point, acted both as a ‘bystander’ – keeping quiet when we see injustices and a ‘healer’ – standing up for our own or somebody else’s rights, in however small a way.
  • To help participants identify the deliberate choices and steps they can take towards becoming more active ‘healers’ in relation to rights violations.

Description

In this exercise, participants reflect individually on times they have intervened to stop injustices (however small) and times they have done nothing, discussing in plenary the factors that make us more likely to act. This exercise works well as a follow-up to ‘A FORB map of our town’.

Source: Adapted from The Human Rights Education Handbook: Effective Practices for Learning, Action, and Change, p90. Human Rights Resource Center, University of Minnesota

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