Unit 1: Getting to know each other and representing others

To be good at making change happen, you first need to have a good understanding and appreciation of yourself as a group and of those around you. This unit helps you explore how you as a group see each other and can develop your skills in speaking out for young people. These are the essential building blocks for working well together to help combat climate change in your local and global community.

• Understanding each other better
• Appreciating and respecting other people
• Representing other people

The Youth Delegation to Copenhagen came together to represent the 11 million young people of the United Kingdom at the United Nations talks on climate change in December 2009.

The young people on the delegation came from diverse backgrounds and before they could start representing other young people they needed to understand where each other had come from, their different backgrounds and their individual stories for what climate change meant for them.

On a residential weekend in London they learnt more about the project and about each other through games, workshops and using their personal stories as a starting point for the project. They thought about how where they had come from would affect how they represented other young people particularly what strengths this gave them and what they needed to improve on.

Below are the three aims of the unit. Use activity sheet 1 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 toward an award. What score would you give yourselves as a group?

Download the Unit 1 - What Do We Know worksheet

1.1 Understanding each other better

• 1.1(a) My Passport
• 1.1(a.1) My Carbon Footprint
• 1.1(b) Our Passport
• 1.1(c) Our Best Team

1.2 Appreciating and respecting other people

• 1.2(a) Who Gets Heard?
• 1.2(b) Whose Priorities Count?
• 1.2(c) Agree – Disagree

1.3 Representing other people

• 1.3(a) Did You Hear What I Said?
• 1.3(b) Putting The Case
• 1.3(c) Remotesville - Different Angles

Unit Review