Citybound is about sending participants out to meet the local people to make inspiring connections with them - they receive small tasks they need to complete with the inclusion of local people. These small tasks vary from volunteering, storytelling to having fun together. It is more about how they can create rapport and be together with local people in an intimate but playful way.
Number of participants: 6 - 40
Location: Outdoors
Duration: 1,5 - 3 hours
Group work | challenge
Purpose: Entrepreneurship, connection, prejudices
Materials
- small pieces of paper
- markers
- challenges prepared for each participant
Preparation
- The facilitator prepares 1 “citybound” challenge for each participant. The tasks vary from offering/giving something to asking/getting something from local people.
- It is useful to prepare the participants emotionally - not to intervene much if they receive a no, just continue and find somebody who says yes and is willing to cooperate.
- When participants are out in a location, facilitators also follow them just toshow that they are present. This is not about observing them, since their reportwill be much more important, but to “hold the space” and remind them that it is an important learning process.
Steps
1. The group is divided into trios that will move together and support each other, but each of them will receive their own “citybound” task to accomplish on a small piece of paper given by the facilitator.
The “Citybound” rules are:
• they cannot use money to buy thing.
• It takes some courage to come up to unknownpeople with the task - it is important that the participant cannot tell the locals they get into touch with that this is an activity, or that they are on a training course before the task is done, only afterwards.
2. (1,5 hours) The trios go out into the city to start their challenges and come back on agreed time.
3. The facilitator gathers the group in a circle to share and reflect on the experience.
Comments
This activity can be used when the group has worked together already and the facilitator wants them to connect with the local surroundings - villages, small towns where people are generally positively responsive to these kinds of actions. Usually it is a great learning process.
Task examples: find the oldest man in the village/location and ask what was the best experience of his life?; find the priest and ask how satisfied he is with his job; learn a folk song from a local person; do a volunteer job in somebody’s garden; ask the mayor about his future plans; make a football match with locals; cook something in somebody’s homefor the owners; get yourself invited fora coffee without paying for it; collect ingredients for a sponge cake (later they can bake it as a celebration) etc.
The facilitator has within creating this activity the opportunity to recognise entrepreneurial skills before, during and after the activity via reflection questions.
Photo by Nate via Pexels