Module 6: Where did we get to? What did we learn? What can we share?
Constellation Tool: Review
Exercise 1.Learning from the experience of The Constellation: Where did we get to? What did we learn? What can we share with others?
In the Community Life Competence process, now is the time to look back over the journey that we have made together. One reason to do this is to decide where we want to go next. The other reason is to learn from our experiences to make the next stage of the journey easier.
We have found that different groups approach this step in the process in their own way. Some go into lots of detail and some are content with much less detail. But there is one consistent message to come from communities that do this step successfully. You must look at the review as an introduction to the next cycle in the learning process. This is not the end of anything; it is the start in the next step in the process.
Here are some of the questions that you should ask yourself:
Exercise 2. An opportunity to organise and to run a Learning Festival
When we started to organise Learning Festivals, we thought that their natural place was after communities had finished a cycle of CLCP. We thought that the time to share was when you had learned from the experience of the process. We found that things did not turn out in the way that we planned. Some of the people who turned up had been through the cycle, some were part way through and others had not started. And it didn't seem to matter. People had experiences to share and everyone gained from the experience. There were no experts.
That is why we now see the Knowledge Fair as a tool that we can use at any time during CLCP. Using an opportunity that arises so that people can learn-and-share is much more important that asking the stage that a group is in CLCP.
With this in mind, look for an opportunity to organise a Knowledge Fair in which you will take part. The community that you have accompanied is one group that you will want to invite. But think about other groups that might be interested in the process and who might bring new perspectives to the process. Look at the sample agendas that you will find in the document on Knowledge Fairs in the File Storage section of the programme. See what happens.
After the Knowledge Fair, do an AAR and present what you found in the forum.