Working with minorities

Goal:
To prepare participants for work in programs oriented on majority-minority relations

Graduate profile:

Graduates of this course will understand basic concepts of intercultural communication, dynamics and possilbe solutions to ethnic conflict. They will learn about specific international and Slovak cases as well as about activities in Roma education. Their necessary communication skills will be improved to train in meetings of various cultures.

Depending on the chosen course sessions:

  1. The graduates will understand the process of cooperative planning, the gist of cross-sector planning in developing integration programs and in working with minorities. They will also be able to implement these into practise with various groups made up of local or regional representatives.
  2. The graduates will understand options for and forms of civic advocacy and they will be able to assess the situation and choose appropriate methods of civic advocacy or lobbying, particularly in cases of advocacy and lobbying to the benefit of minorities. They will also know the procedure to buding a coalition and organize a campaign.
  3. The graduates will understand the principles of developing, implementing and evaluating projects. They will be able to put together a project in practise including its budget so that it corresponds to the local needs and competencies of implementors.
  4. The graduates will understand aspects of working with the public and be able to design a PR strategy for a specific program and take better steps with different types of media strategies (press conferences, interview etc.). They will learn several principles of working with the media which help spread impartial information on minnorities and conflicts and will learn to consider influence of publicizing information on possible escalation of the conflict.

Total scope:
72 hours (3 x 3 days, 3 day = 24 hours) with three required three-day sessions. Second and third sessions are mandatory but may be selected from two options.

The course includes three compact sessions which follow each other and which together give the participant knowledge and skills necessary for working with minorities, working in integration programs etc. The first session is required for each participant, the other two sessions offer two alternative approaches to session themes. In this way, the course offers enough flexibility for customization for participants' needs in view of the various roles they take when working with minorities.

Session 1: Inter-cultural communication and inter-cultural conflicts in working with minorities (24 hours)
Session 2: Choice of one of two options (24 hours):

  • Cooperative planning in developing and implementing integration programs
  • Civic advocacy and lobbying related to work with minorities

Session 3: Choice of one of two options (24 hours):

  • Project design and management
  • Public relations in working with minorities: publicizing information on minorities and conflicts

Specific curricula for individual blocks are detailed below.

SESSION 1: INTER-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION AND INTER-CULTURAL CONFLICTS IN WORKING WITH MINORITIES (24 HOURS)

  1. Terminology
    • Inter-cultural communication - defining the term, areas of application in integration projects
    • Cultural diversity and handling cultural diversity when working with minorities (concept of 6 phases of cultural sensitivity of M. Benett)
    • Specifics of inter-cultural communication at various levels (individuals, groups, communities, national or state units or globally)
  2. Forms of conflict of cultures
    • Forms of ethnic conflict
    • Conflict based on value differences and differences of social norms
    • Process and development of ethnic conflict
      • Spiral of conflict development
      • Culture shock (adaptation, accommodation), phases of coming to terms with a different culture
  3. Prevention and solution of ethnic conflict
    • Ways of solving a conflicting meeting of different cultures (assimilation, separation/segregation, amalgamation, integration) and examples of such approaches in social policies in the history of Slovakia
    • Approaches to interpretation and solution of ethnic conflict:
      • Ethologic and biologic approaches
      • Culturologist approaches
      • Cognitivist approaches
      • Approaches of civic diplomacy (third-track diplomacy)
    • Negotiation, mediation and reconciliation in ethnic conflicts
  4. Roma education
    • Roma education abroad (experience from Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Romania)
    • Approaches to Roma education in Czechoslovakia and Slovakia (approaches from the past)
    • Principles of nonformal out-of-school education of Roma
    • Principles of education of non-Roma majority (toward tolerance, reduction of prejudice and toward cultural sensitivity)

SESSION 2: CHOICE OF ONE OF TWO OPTIONS (24 HOURS):

  1. COOPERATIVE PLANNING IN DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING INTEGRATION PROGRAMS

    1. Relationship of the non-profit sector to the public sector in social policy programs when working with minorities internationally and nationally
      • Possibilities for cooperation between state and non-state institutions (cross-sector partnerships, cross-sector cooperation)
      • Models of state contracting of services (de-centralization, de-establishment, de-regulation, delegating capacities)
      • Concept of public-benefit services applied internationally and in Slovakia
      • Nongovernmental organizations and governments - participation in international programs (World Bank, UNDP, IOM etc.) and the consequences for integration programs
    2. Examples and analyses of possible cooperation of state and third sector in working with Roma and non-Roma communities in areas of:
      • social help and social work (e.g. equality programs, Act on Social Help etc., nonstate institutions of social assistance)
      • education and minority schooling (such as examples of non-state schools and educational programs)
      • working with majority population in reducing prejudices and developing tolerance
    3. Process of cooperative planning
      • Advantages of cooperative planning for community, structure of the process, different roles in the process of cooperative planning
      • Assessment of current and potential problems in the community
      • Assessment of needs in the community, developing community profile
      • Important opinion-makers ni the communities - who is an opinion-maker, how to involve into the process important opinion-makers; role of local government in the process
      • Specifics of inter-ethnic process of cooperative planning
      • Creation of a coordination group
      • Methods for summarizing and analyzing of and drawing general conclusions from results
    4. Reaching agreement
      • Techniques helpful in achieving agreement
      • Public decision-making with focus on selection of areas of support
      • Principles of harmonizing different opinions
      • Prevention and solution of conflicts between the majority and minority, types of conflicts
      • Basic strategies for conflict management
    5. Working with the public
      • Possibilities for informing the public
      • Development of materials for informing the public and for a public meeting
      • Ways to inform the public
      • Types of public meetings
      • Principles of public meeting preparation
      • Ways of conducting a publci meeting and negotiating with problematic persons
      • Working with the media

     

  2. ADVOCACY AND LOBBYING RELATED TO WORK WITH MINORITIES
    1. Strategies of civic advocacy and lobbying
      • Terminology definition:
        • civic advocacy, lobbying, public vs. private interest, coalition
      • Starting points for civic advocacy and lobbying
        • specific roles of three sectors of society in developing public policies, concept of civil society according to L.M. Salamon
        • cooperative and confrontational approaches in civic participation
        • trends in influencing public policies (international networking, …)
      • Strategies of civic advocacy
        • Analysis and examples of various strategies and tactics of civic advocacy when working with minorities
        • Role of media during campaigns and media strategies
        • Creating pressure on local and national parliaments through petitions, public meetings, meetings with politicians, increasing self-confidence of NGOs and representatives of minorities, information campaigns and trials
        • Concepts of campaign organizing (S. Alinsky, S. Milbrah and B. Moyers)
        • Motivating citizens for participation in campaigns and public events, encouraging active citizen participation
    2. Coalition building
      • Various types of coalitions (ad hoc, long-term, strategic)
      • Identification of potential partners
      • Leadership and effective communication inside coalition
      • Conflict resolution inside coalition
      • PR coalitions
      • Coalition ethics
    3. Training of skills for civic advocacy
      • Preparation and planning of advocacy events
      • Roles of participants in advocacy campaigns
      • Formulation of goals, presenting campaign goals, presentation in the media, winning supporters, winning political support
    4. Examples of successful campaigns from Central European countries
      • Local campaigns: Zvolen square, Gas station in Radvaò neighborhood
      • Environmental campaigns, women campaigns (5th Woman)
      • Nonprofit sector campaigns: SOS Campaign, 30 Day for Nonprofit Sector
      • Civic campaigns: OK'98 Campaign, Campaign to Support Information Access Law 

SESSION 3: CHOICE OF ONE OF TWO OPTIONS (24 HOURS): 

  1. PROJECT DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT
    1. Fundamentals of project planning and management
      • Terminology used in the context of project design, management and implementation (terms: project, task, objective, goal, logical framework, stakeholder, feasibility, monitoring, evaluation etc.)
      • Central vs. participative project planning (advantages and disadvantages of procedures in specific situations)
      • Involvement of community and future project implementors in project design
      • Characteristic of a successful project
      • Problem analysis as part of project design and management
    2. Project cycle
      Participants are going to implement in practice presented principles - in their own project which they design in this session.
      • Seven steps in the process of problem solving
      • Defining problem
      • Setting project objectives
      • Setting project goals
      • Project tasks
      • Identification of project needs and resources (Gantt scheme)
      • Assigning of roles and responsibilities within the project
      • Testing project feasibility
      • Setting measurable indicators of successful implementation
      • Project monitoring and evaluation
    3. Designing and testing project budget
      • Identifying sources for project implementation
      • Financial and nonfinancial resources in the project
      • Developing multiple-source project financing
      • Financial “matching”
    4. Prerequisites for successful project implementation
      • Methods to measure and minimize project risks
      • Methods for project feasibility study
    5. Project evaluation
      • Differentiating between project outcomes and project impact
      • Formative and summative evaluation
      • Evaluation of goals, methods and strategic evaluation
      • Trevor L. Young: Successful Project Management. Kogan Page, London 2000 
  2. PUBLIC RELATIONS IN WORKING WITH MINORITIES: PUBLICIZING INFORMATION ON MINORITIES AND CONFLICTS
    1. Terminology
      • Public relations
      • Marketing, advertising and propaganda
      • Media strategy, campaign and mass communication
    2. Media strategies
      Following theory, participants design their own media strategy for their project, possibly according to special instructions.
      • defining target groups
      • steps of media strategy
      • developing a framework for media strategy
      • role of spokesman in a media strategy
    3. Forms of working with the media
      Presented forms of working with the media alternate with practical training of report writing, event organization and simulated event implementation with feedback using audio of video-recording.
      • press conference
      • briefing
      • press phone calls and materials, press release and press announcement
      • interview for radio and television (debate with two partners, group discussion at a round table)
      • interview for a printed periodical
      • contact with foreign media
    4. Presentation of mission, product and organization of ideas to various grouops (representatives of state administration and local government, business, non-profit organizations and the public)
      • Making decisions and expressing oneself under time stress, presentation to a big group of people in cricital situations
      • Public relations in long-term perspective, contact maintenance
      • Effect of chosen strategy and method of communication on various target groups (possible risks of conflict escalation, factors increasing risk of misunderstanding etc.)
    5. Legal and ethical issues of releasing information to the media
      • In different formats: interview, press announcement, press conference

On the basis of practical examples and role plays in model situations, particiapnts find and train suitable methods of contacting media. They gain information on appropriate steps for media campaigns from analyzing case studies and specific documents (press materials, audio and video-recordings).