Where I live

To illuminate this period of social distancing and offer you meaningful activities, Equitas has adapted some of its activities to offer them online.

Here is the online version of Where I live, drawn from Speaking Rights.

This activity can be done individually, with your family or other members of your household, or it can be facilitated in a virtual meeting.

• Age: 8+
• Time: 45-60 min
• Purpose: To think about respect for rights and responsibilities in the community

You can download the instructions of this activity as a PDF to share it more easily: Where I Live Activity.pdf

Material:

• Piece of paper
• Different colour pencils/colours/markers/highlighters etc.

How to play:

1. To introduce the activity, ask the group what the word community means to them. They can just say one word that comes to mind or type it in the chat function.

2. Invite each individual to draw a map of the community on their piece of paper, that includes key community resources that are important to them. This can include their homes, schools, bus stops, community centers, parks, stores, etc.

3.After they have had a chance to complete their maps, copy a list of rights from the Convention on the Rights of the Child into the virtual meeting chat or share it on your screen.

Right to life

Right to express yourself

Right to education

Right to practice a religion

Right to health care

Right to food

Right to play

Right to rest

Right to be protected from sexual abuse

Right to legal aid

Right to privacy

Right to equality

Right to information

Right to choose my friends

Right to be protected from abuse

Right to a name

Right to live with your parents

Right to a clean environment

Right of children with disabilities to lead a life with dignity and respect for their autonomy

4.Ask the individuals to identify the places on their map that are linked to the rights on the list and to mark them on the map (they can use a different colour, highlight, etc). For example, their school could be about their right to education, their community center could be about the right to play, grocery store about the right to food, etc.

5. Ask youth to note how their access to rights has shifted during (or as a result of) the pandemic. Ask them to mark it with a different colour. For example, changes in public transportation schedules, public park closures, etc.

6.Ask youth to think about their ideal community after the pandemic . What would they need to add to their map to ensure that rights are better respected and promoted for all youth in the community? Ask them to mark the additions with a star or a different colour.

Group discussion:

Feel:

1. How do you feel about your community? What are you most proud of?
2. How have your feelings about your community shifted during this pandemic?
3. How have your access to rights shifted during this pandemic?

Think:

1. Do you think all youth in your community experience rights in the same way? What factors influence how youth are experiencing their rights now?
2. Do you think this has changed because of COVID-19? In what way?

Act:

1. What could you do to see some of the changes you suggested happen in your community?
2. How can we better respect the rights of everyone during a time when our access to rights has shifted?

Human rights education for building welcoming and inclusive spaces.

This activity uses our 3-step participatory approach to promote learning about human rights and human rights values leading to action:

1. Children and youth participate in activities that promote learning about human rights and human rights values (e.g. inclusion, respect for diversity, responsibility).
2. Children and youth discuss how an activity made them feel, what it made them think about, and what they can change (act) in their own attitudes and behaviours and those of their peers.
3. Together children and youth take action to promote respect for human rights values and children’s rights, and greater understanding, acceptance and inclusion in their classrooms, school playgrounds and communities.

Creative Commons Licence

Except where otherwise noted, content in this document is licensed under Creative Commons, Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Where material is attributed to a copyright owner other than Equitas, this material is not subject to the Creative Commons licence.

• If you have not modified the material in anyway, use the following: Equitas – International Centre for Human Rights Education. Speaking Rights: Human Rights Education Toolkit for Youth is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
• If you have modified, adapted or remixed the material in anyway, use the following: This work, [NAME OF YOUR PUBLICATION] is adapted from Equitas – International Centre for Human Rights Education’s Speaking Rights: Human Rights Education Toolkit for Youth used under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. [NAME OF YOUR PUBLICATION] is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.