The "Toolkit" of LiberaMente
[Project's news]
Participatory democracy is a label that contains a set of rules, principles, methods and tools usefull to be able to discuss effectively, and therefore make shared decisions that are in many cases "better", because closer to the real needs of targets.
The basic idea is therefore based on the knowledge that is not enough to have the will to exchange and discuss, but we it has do be done in specific ways: The more clear the rules of the game are, the easier it is to move inside them and exchange ideas in an efficient way.
In theory LiberaMente is a project of participatory democracy. In practice these ideas are manifested in the structuring of the various phases of the project: every time you want to reflect on a theme, or design new solutions together, we must choose the most appropriate methodology in order to turn a simple conversation between "many heads" into something effective and efficient to achieve the goals that we have chosen.
An example: The workshops organized in the previous edition of LiberaMente divided the participants into three thematic groups (identity, development and new technologies) - three perspectives through which deepen the main theme, accompanied respectively by three scientific tutors.
In this year´s edition we opted for a more dynamic and inclusive formulation, designed precisely according to the principles mentioned above. Supported by experts of facilitation, the workshp was based on the technique of the the World Café method, dividing participants into small groups and moving at regular intervals (20 minutes per session) between six tables. Each table was moderated by one of the peer leaders (LiberaMente participants previously trained in order to play the role of moderator in the debates), who had the task of representing six sub-topics of discussion on the topic of the day, leading the participants through the different sessions. This methodology has allowed us to discuss about many issues in depth, allowing each participant to take an active part in the work, all in a proposals way and giving to each one participant an overview of the development of discussions. At the end of the full tour there was a time for sharing all in a plenary session.
These techniques (World Cafe or Bar Camp EASW ) are thus one of the pillars of LiberaMente, and will be used also during the International Youth Meeting in October.
