These tools are for developing a more rigorous collective analysis of social, economic, and political structures.
Activity 2.4 The union democracy triangle tool.
Adapted from "The triangle tool" in Educating for a Change.
Summary:
Using a simple analytic tool, this activity helps people become aware of the different factors -- structure, culture and participation -- that combine to make a union more or less democratic. It also emphasizes the role of the rank-and-file as well as the officers and staff.
Good for:
Sample "Problem Trees"
Some problem trees (from around the world):
"Problem-cause-effect tree diagram" from Our People, Our Resources
http://www.iucn.org/themes/spg/Files/opor/fig5_1c.html
Another tree, from Eric Mar's Asian Studies and Activism website.
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~ericmar/tree.html
How-to description of the problem tree activity, with a link to an image (near the top), from Dublin radion station Near 90.3 FM's Community Media Participatory Learning Manual
http://www.nearfm.ie/plm114.htm
Description of the problem tree activity, from a BBC article about women organizing in Malawi.
Activity 1.2 Putting our work in the picture.
Adapted from an activity by Eleanora and Joao Paulo Castano Ferreira
Is problem-posing good for educators? Our working conditions as educators are a crucial part of the context in which we are trying to do popular education, influencing everything from the materials we use today to our long term goals. This activity, which I learned while teaching at the ILGWU Worker-Family Education Program, helps educators look at our own work as work, using our own experiences and issues as material for problem-posing.
Activity 3.3 Reinventing the Grievance Procedure
Grievances – complaints about workplace conditions – are a central focus of day to day trade unionism. There is a lot of educational material available on the various types of grievances and how to handle them – how to identify grievances, how to investigate, prepare, and present grievances, arbitration, etc. (See Schwartz guide, TDU book in Spanish and English, IBT Turn it Around, etc.)
Activity 3.1 The Problem Tree
No popular education technique has spread as far and wide as this one. I first learned it from Eleonora Castano Ferreira and Joao Castano Ferreira, thanks to Maureen LaMar at the old International Ladies Garment Workers Union Worker-Family Education Program. To my mind the authoritative version is the one found in Volume 2 of Alforja's Tecnicas Participativas Para La Educacion Popular.
Summary:
