The Journey

Recently, a group of young people decided to set off on a journey. They weren’t sure what lay ahead, how they’d cope and where exactly they were heading. But they knew they had each other and a lot to learn, that the journey would be challenging and rewarding, with many discoveries. They agreed to keep a log of their journey, a checklist to make sure everything was in order and in place for each stage of their quest.

Thinking of the road ahead, they realised their most important asset was themselves and those around them, so they spent time understanding each other, appreciating and respecting other people and gaining confidence in representing others they knew they would meet on their journey.

Our team then realised much would depend on their understanding of the terrain they would travel through. So, they began understanding their community better and mapped its strengths and needs. They identified community support, finding some surprising sources of help for their journey.

Coming to a junction, the group soon had hard choices to make about which trail to blaze. They took stock and agreed the group’s priority for action, developing an action plan for change they were seeking. They took care to build alliances that would be crucial to help them when the going got tough.

As the group grew in confidence, knowledge and skills in what it was about and where it was heading, people took notice and started to ask questions. The group created a clear message about its campaign and found many ways to get its message across and to keep its message alive.

As our intrepid campaigners took a breather on their long march, they questioned how far they’d come and how far they still had to go. Understanding about evaluation and its importance, they tooled up with a range of equipment to do an evaluation of the ups and downs of their journey.

Invigorated by what they realised they had learnt and achieved, our brave and wise travellers set off on new quests, gaining new group members, mapping uncharted territory and aiming to scale new heights.