Unit 3: Getting ready for action

In the first unit, you have taken time to get to know who you are as a group and looked at how to listen and represent other people and their interests. In the second unit, you explored what you understand by community and how your group links with other people and networks. Having developed a community map of its places, people and power, you looked at the sorts of allies who can be important to help take forward your priorities for action. This third unit takes you through the stages of effective planning to get ready for action and the importance of creating a sustainable campaign against climate change.

Agreeing the group’s priority for action
Developing an action plan for change
Building alliances

Ten Penrice Community School pupils from Cornwall wanted to make a big change in their local community but in a way that was simple and easy for everyone. “We started thinking about the amount of time, money, effort and energy that all sorts of people waste when they are driving around trying to find an address – not to mention the pollution.”

They realised that the solution to this problem was that every house should have its number clearly displayed for everyone to see very easily. The students carried out a survey to discover homeowners' views about what the house numbers should look like and found that people preferred simple black signs with white numbers. “We’re working on a pilot scheme” said student Kieran Rowe “and we’re asking people from the local community to help us.” A local sign company has sponsored the pilot scheme by providing sample house numbers and local fire, police and ambulance personnel have been helping to test their effectiveness by carrying out 'emergency' dummy runs.

Below are the three aims of the unit. Use activity sheet 18 to rate your current knowledge. Give yourself a personal score on the scale 1-2-3-4-5. 1 is low and 5 is high. What proof do you have? Refer to the list in the Introduction for examples of what might be good sources of evidence. This is particularly important if you are using this unit to gain credits towards an award. What score would you give yourselves as a group?

Aim	Personal score		Group score
	Low	High	Low	High
Agreeing the group's priority for action	1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5		1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Developing an action plan for change	1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5		1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Building alliances	1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5		1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5