Human rights squares

• One copy of the ‘Human rights squares’ handout and a pen for each participant.

Prepare your own ideas for each human rights square in advance, to aid you in the plenary discussion.

Ensure there is enough space in the training room for participants to walk around freely. Ask participants to move tables and chairs if necessary.

Explain that the group is going to use each other as sources of information to learn about human rights together. Distribute one ‘human rights square’ handout and a pen to each participant.

WALK AND TALK (15 MIN)

Instruct participants to mingle in the room, asking other members of the group for examples of as many of the statements on the handout as possible and writing their answers in the appropriate squares. Each answer must come from a different person, who has to write their initials in that square.

Call time after around 10-15 min and ask them to stop.

TIP! Find a balance between allowing enough time for participants to collect plenty of answers and keeping the exercise short and energising, with time left for discussion.

PLENARY FEEDBACK AND DISCUSSION (15 MIN)

Ask participants to put up their hands if they were able to fill in more than five squares. And to keep them up if they got more than ten… more than 15… until you have a top scorer. Give everyone a round of applause.

Lead the discussion by asking participants open questions such as:

• Share something new that you learned from another participant.
• Which squares did you find easy?
• Which squares did you find difficult?
• What answers do you have for the squares about our society/country?
• What do you think those answers say about the state of human rights in our society?

Congratulate the group on their collective knowledge about human rights. Thank them for sharing their reflections about the state of human rights in their country/context.