Work in four mixed groups of about five participants each. The task is to discuss what they could do to reduce discrimination against women and against men and to note down major points that they will later present to the others. The time for group work is about 20 minutes. Then each group presents their work and is asked questions for clarification. The presentations are followed by a discussion in the plenary.

Discussion in the plenary

Suggested questions for the discussion:

• Whose responsibility is this?
• Who should be dealing with this?
• What does this topic have to do with peacebuilding?

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The participants split into same-gender pairs. The topic is “What bothers me about us women/men is…” First one person speaks (for about two minutes) and the other just listens. Then the roles reverse.

Discussion in the plenary

Suggested questions for the discussion:

• Who felt uncomfortable doing this exercise? Why?
• What did you not like about it?
• How did you feel about what your partner was saying?
• How would you feel about sharing the details of the conversation with a member of the other group?

An extension of the exercise

After the exchange in pairs, the participants find a partner of the opposite gender and repeat the exercise. Additional questions for discussion in the plenary: “Was it easier to talk with a member of your own group or of the other group? In the second part of the exercise, talking to a member of the other group, did you change what you said in the first part of the exercise?”

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Examples of Discrimination in Our Societies

Groups of People Discriminated in Our Societies

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Exercise description Every participant gets a sticker on his/her forehead without seeing what the sticker is. For example, seven get a red square, five blue, two green, two yellow, one person gets black and one white. In addition, some people may get a combination of colours, for example, one person may get a red and blue square, and another a yellow and red square. Instructions: Get into groups without verbal communication.

Evaluation Suggested questions to evaluate the exercise: What happened?

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The barometer method

Suggested statements for the barometer:

• I have prejudice.
• I have the right to my prejudice.
• Prejudice leads to discrimination.

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Workshop Example

Game

Associations

Type of exercise: Independent work, discussion in the plenary

Duration: 35–45 minutes

Materials: Post-its, Flipchart paper, pencils

Exercise description

For this exercise, you need to prepare a dozen terms denoting different social groups. For example: religious persons, soldiers, feminists, fundamentalists, female politicians, homosexuals, atheists, Americans, Germans, NGOs.

All participants are given a dozen or so post-its. They are told that the trainer will give them a term and their task is to write on one of their post-its the first thing that comes to their mind when they hear it. They only have a short time, maybe 15 or 20 seconds. After each round the training team collects all the post-its and attaches them to a flipchart paper where the terms have been written as a heading. Then the trainer says the next term and the participants write their association on a new post-it.

When the exercise is complete and all the post-its have been attached under the corresponding terms, the flipchart papers are displayed around the room so that everyone can read the various associations.

Discussion in the Plenary

Suggested questions:

How much did you censor yourself? How surprised were you by what you wrote? Where do these associations come from? How are these associations related to prejudices?

Note

It is useful to have some of the terms denote social groups that some of the participants belong to. Some participants may be hurt by some of what they read, and those who wrote it may feel guilty or act defensively. If the point does not arise clearly in the discussion, point out that the instructions were not for people to write their personal opinion, but just the first thing that popped into their head. All the notes illustrate the images and prejudices present in our environment that we are often bombarded with. We can deny that prejudice exists and censor ourselves, but that will probably not do anyone any good. On the other hand, we can discuss prejudices openly with other people and try to find ways to change things together.

Prejudice about Ethnic/National Groups

Type of exercise: Work in small groups, presentations and discussion in plenary

Duration: 90 minutes

Materials: Flipchart paper, markers

Exercise description

Step One (prejudice about your own group): The participants split into groups according to ethnicity. Each group should write on the wall newspaper what they have heard about their ethnic group in their environment (to be clear, it does not have to be what they themselves believe), or answer the question: What are [Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, Albanians, Macedonians, Montenegrins, etc.] like?

Step Two (prejudice about other groups): Participants pick an ethnic group they do not belong to (from among the ethnic groups that at least one of the other participants belongs to). It is important that each group has roughly the same number of participants. They write on the wall newspaper what they have heard that ethnic group is like.

The wall newspapers from Step One are presented, then from Step Two, followed by a discussion in the plenary.

Discussion in the plenary

Suggested questions: What do you think about this? How does it make you feel? How often do you encounter these prejudices in everyday life? What can be done about them?

Note

It is very important to carefully introduce this exercise and give precise instructions. The task is to write down opinions you know exist, not your personal opinion. There will often be participants who do not want to define themselves in terms of ethnic belonging and will therefore not want to participate in an exercise that puts them in such a position. This is another reason why it is important

to clarify the purpose of this exercise. In our contexts, often nobody asks us what ethnic (or other) group we belong to, they simply classify us whether we like it or not, without regard for how we feel about it. You can suggest to those who do not want to identify themselves in terms of ethnic belonging that they pick the group they are most often categorised as by others. Some may decide to form a new group in protest and call it “extraterrestrials” or “cosmopolitans”, which should be allowed, although it does deviate from the topic.

There may also be self-censorship, because “it’s not nice to write such things about someone”. It should be clarified that the purpose is to map existing prejudices (that may not necessarily be ones we subscribe to ourselves, but are something we heard said around us), and then think about how to deal with them. One approach is denying their existence, but that is unlikely to do much to dispel them. Bear in mind that this exercise is often difficult for people because it is the first time they are put into a situation where they have to tell those “others” what kind of prejudice exists about them. However, if the exercise is conducted carefully it can actually lead to building mutual trust.

Prejudice Barometer

Duration: 30 minutes

Exercise description

The barometer method is described in detail here.

Suggested statements for the barometer:

• I have prejudice.
• I have the right to my prejudice.
• Prejudice leads to discrimination.

Brainstorming: Where Do Prejudices Come From?

Duration: 10–15 minutes

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1. Prejudice against me: Each of the participants describes to their group an experience when someone treated them with prejudice. Each person has five minutes to tell their story.
2. My prejudice: Each of the participants describes to their group a situation when they acted with prejudice against another person.

Discussion in the plenary Which of the stories was more difficult to tell and which was more difficult to experience? Why?

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Flipchart paper, markers

Exercise description

Step One (prejudice about your own group): The participants split into groups according to ethnicity. Each group should write on the wall newspaper what they have heard about their ethnic group in their environment (to be clear, it does not have to be what they themselves believe), or answer the question: What are [Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, Albanians, Macedonians, Montenegrins, etc.] like?

Step Two (prejudice about other groups): Participants pick an ethnic group they do not belong to (from among the ethnic groups that at least one of the other participants belongs to). It is important that each group has roughly the same number of participants. They write on the wall newspaper what they have heard that ethnic group is like.

The wall newspapers from Step One are presented, then from Step Two, followed by a discussion in the plenary.

Discussion in the plenary

Suggested questions: What do you think about this? How does it make you feel? How often do you encounter these prejudices in everyday life? What can be done about them?

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Exercise description

Determine categories beforehand and write them out as titles on flipchart papers/wall newspapers. Examples of categories: my friend from another region, my foreign friend, my friend of a different race, my friend of a different sexual orientation. The participants are tasked with going up to the flipchart papers and writing down the names of their friends under the relevant category. Then invite people to come up and read what was written on the flipchart papers.

Evaluation

Suggested questions to evaluate the exercise:

What was it like doing this exercise?

How did you feel putting your friends into categories?

How did it feel to see your name on the flipchart paper?

What does this remind you of?

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Exercise description

A few days beforehand, the participants are split into four groups. The training team makes a list of who is in what group. Each group is assigned a colour (e.g. blue, purple, green, red). The training team determines instructions beforehand that will discriminate two groups: the blues to lose, and the purples to win.

When the exercise begins, all members of the group must be marked as belonging to that group (e.g. they can attach a paper in the colour of their group to their chest).

Two rows of chairs are set up back to back. There is one chair fewer than the number of participants.

Instructions to participants: “You move around the chairs while the music is playing. When the music stops, everyone is supposed to try to grab a seat. If you manage to sit in a chair, you win a point for your group. The group with the most points wins.”

Each group is also given additional secret instructions.

The green group: to help the purple group win;

The red group: to try to make sure the blue group loses and to try to get as many points as they can;

The blue group: to check that no one is cheating;

The purple group: to be careful they don’t get hurt.

As the exercise progresses, there are fewer and fewer chairs (the training team takes away one, two or more chairs each round).

The people who do not manage to get to a chair continue participating in the exercise but cannot win a point for their group.

Examples of instructions prepared by the training team beforehand, knowing who is in which group:

Persons whose names begin with A, D or N will stand in front of a chair while the rest move around.

Those born in 1975 should count to five before sitting on a chair.

You will stand in two circles around the chairs: an outer and an inner circle. All those born between May and August will be in the inner circle.

The trainer reads one of the prepared instructions and lets the music play. The participants move around the chairs, sometimes dancing, until the music stops.

If two or more people sit on the same chair when the music stops, the training team act as referees and say who’s out, and if it happens to involve someone from the blue group (in this case), then they are definitely out. The training team should conspicuously discriminate against the blue group, always taking away their chair, accusing them of cheating, writing on the board that they have fewer points.

The game of musical chairs should last 15 minutes or so.

Evaluation

Each group, one by one, is asked the following questions (starting with the winning group):

What instructions did you receive?

How did you feel in your group?

Did you notice any discrimination?

Then they are told about the secret instructions.

How do you feel now? Did you notice anything?

What could have been done to prevent/stop it?

How does this experience relate to real life?

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