Josa is an environmental activist and vegan who wants to help.
Exercise 1
- Recommended time approx. 5 minutes
- You have some information about Josa. However, you will need more information to be able to continue the game.
- Develop Josa’s character by using a mind map.
- List, write and, if needed, draw information about Josa on the map:
- What kind of information do you think is missing about Josa? For example, where does s/he live? How old is s/he? How does s/he live? Who are the other people in Josa’s life? In other words, give her/him more substance.
Once you have completed exercise 1, you can move on to exercise 2.
Exercise 2
- Recommended time approx. 3-5 minutes
Examine Josa's dreams next:
- Which dreams of Josa do we already know about?
- What are Josa’s goals?
- What else does Josa dream about?
Examine the below list of character traits, too. Select traits that you think Josa will need to achieve her/his dreams and to overcome her/his challenges. Select at least two traits that you think will support Josa’s journey.
- creative
- calm
- tense
- funny
- curious
- enthusiastic
- hardworking
- energetic
- empathetic
- decisive
- trustworthy
- sensitive
- dreamy
- lively
- vain
- responsible
- understanding
- easy-going
- reflective
- positive
- spirited
- suspicious
- vivacious
- talkative
- unsure
Once you have discussed dreams and selected Josa’s traits, s/he is ready to start her/his journey and exercise 3.
Exercise 3
- Recommended time approx. 10 minutes
Next Josa has to face some challenges in her/his everyday life. Your task is to help Josa overcome the challenges as well as possible.
Josa’s everyday challenge is long distances. The distance from her/his home to all daily activities is so long that s/he cannot go on foot or cycle. S/he also has to spend an unreasonably long time waiting for transport or travelling on them.
1. Familiarise yourselves as a team with the following value of the Youth Strategy:
#6 Moving rural youth forward
- Background: Despite the EU-wide commitment to rural development and given the fact that by 2015 almost one third of the EU population were living in rural areas, prevailing differences exist between living in urban and in rural areas. Therefore, it is important to ensure equality for young people in urban and rural settings.
- Goal: To create conditions which enable young people to fulfil their potential in rural areas.
2. Make a plan for Josa how s/he could save time for things that s/he needs to do and that s/he’d want to do.
- How to build Josa’s week in a way that s/he’ll have time for everything s/he needs to or wants to do?
- What other chances Josa has to organise her/his days sensibly?
Timetable
- Josa’s school (upper secondary school) starts every day at 8.15 am and ends at 3.45 pm (in town 1)
- The meetings of the local environmental organisation take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 8 pm (in town 2)
- A photography course, another hobby Josa likes, takes place on Wednesdays from 4.30-5.30 pm and on Saturdays from 12 to 1 pm (in town 1)
- Josa’s closest friends live in town 2 and close to her/his home (approx. 15 minutes’ walk away)
- An online preparation course for applying to the Faculty of Medicine is organised on weekdays from 4 to 5.30 pm.
Public transport connections
- The duration of travel from home to both towns on weekdays is as follows (there is no public transport in the weekends and public holidays):
- By private car 25 minutes (leaving home at 7 am and returning from school at 4.15 pm)
- 50 minutes on a local bus (departures on the hour from both directions)
- 30 minutes on the express bus (departures on the hour and every half hour)
- There is an upper secondary school, library and two grocery shops in town 1.
- There is a youth centre, sports facilities and a primary and lower secondary school in town 2.
Discuss different options for Josa. Come up with a solution.
Once you have tackled exercise 3, you can move on to exercise 4.
Exercise 4
- Recommended time approx. 10 minutes
There are still things to do before achieving the dream.
Environmental issues are very important to Josa. S/he is trying to make other people hear and understand the importance of the issue. Josa is planning to participate in a demonstration calling for protection of the environment.
1. Familiarise yourselves as a team with the following value of the Youth Strategy:
#10 Sustainable green Europe
- Background: Nowadays we consume in a way that our environment can’t handle. Society needs to act against climate change and the growing environmental threats. But our society cannot solve a problem that it is not willing to acknowledge. That is why everyone including young people has to start taking responsibility for their actions, and impact on the life of future generations. Becoming sustainable is not a choice, it is an obligation.
- Goal: To achieve a society in which all young people are environmentally active, educated and able to make a difference in their everyday lives.
2. Help Josa come up with 5 slogans for the demonstration.
- Think of an angle that Josa can take to participate in the demonstration.
- Think also how Josa could influence her/his nearest people in addition to the demonstration.
After completing exercise 4, you can move on to exercise 5 or the wild card exercise.
Exercise 5
- Recommended time 5-10 minutes
Josa has now overcome her/his challenges and is heading to the future and her/his dreams. Your journey with Josa is nearing its end.
The value #11 Youth organisations and European programmes of the EU Youth Strategy focuses on the significance of European youth organisations and programmes in building the European society and providing opportunities for the future of young people. European programmes include programmes such as the Erasmus+: Youth and the European Solidarity Corps If you have the time, you can do the wild card exercise instead of this one.
- How does Josa’s life continue from now on?
- What advice would you give Josa on her/his journey?
- How do you feel about Josa’s chances on her/his journey?
- Could Josa benefit from the Erasmus+ or the European Solidarity Corps programmes?
- If you wish, you could have a look at what the programmes cover.
- Be prepared to give a 1-minute elevator pitch to present Josa and her/his journey to the other participants.
- So, there is only one minute to give the presentation.
Wild card exercise
- Recommended time approx. 15 minutes
- Do this exercise after exercise 4, if you have the time.
- If you choose the wild card exercise, you don’t need to do exercise 5.
Josa has been doing great and her/his journey towards her/his dreams has become clearer! You are almost done! Is there still something else you could offer Josa to help her/him get closer to her/his dreams or to make them more achievable?
The value #11 Youth organisations and European programmes of the EU Youth Strategy focuses on the significance of European youth organisations and programmes in building the European society and providing opportunities for the future of young people. European programmes include programmes such as the Erasmus+: Youth and the European Solidarity Corps.
The wild card exercise allows you 5 minutes to plan a project that would offer Josa opportunities on her/his path towards her/his dreams.
- The project can offer Josa something new, too.
- Choose one of your first ideas and be brave developing your project.
- Be prepared to give a 1-minute elevator pitch to present Josa and your project to the other teams.
- So, there is only one minute to give the presentation.
After the exercise, teams come together to present their projects. All teams will comment on each other’s projects.
Conclusion of the game
- no set time for the duration
It is soon time to say goodbye to Josa. Thank you for the shared journey with Josa and the team!
Now gather together with the other teams.
At the end of the game, the facilitator will pose you some questions.
Posters linked to Josa’s values
Poster 6 Moving rural youth forward (pdf, 14.51 MB)
Poster 10 Sustainable green Europe (pdf, 13.94 MB)
Poster 11 Youth organisations and youth programmes (pdf, 1.86 MB)