TEMPLATE FOR PROJECT IDEA (please use attached Guidance Notes to Complete this form) 1. Name of Proposing Organisation Eco Drama 2. Contact details Address: Studio 236, The Briggait, 141 Bridgegate, GLASGOW G1 5HZ Phone: 0141 552 9920 Email: sian@ecodrama.co.uk Web address: www.ecodrama.co.uk 3. Named individual which community groups can contact for further information about the project proposal. Name: Emily Reid Job Title: Creative Director Direct dial number: 0141 552 9920 Email: emily@ecodrama.co.uk 4. Geographical focus of project idea CCF groups- Scotland. 5. Outline of Project Idea (500 word limit) Over the last 5 years, Eco Drama has been in high demand amongst other CCF groups who are looking for creative and innovative ways of engaging their communities, in particular the young people in their communities, with carbon reduction and carbon literacy. In fact, over the course of the 5 years, 25 CCF groups across Scotland have booked our plays and workshops to complement their own projects, resulting in at least 6762 young people and members of their communities being exposed to our work and the messages we communicate. In addition, it struck us at the recent CCF Gathering that a lot of the discussions taking place were about the challenges involved in engaging and making meaningful connections with communities (especially young people), and the ways in which projects could ensure a long lasting legacy. As a group with quite unique engagement processes, we found ourselves being approached for advice and were enthused by the number of enquiries about booking our shows and workshops. Whilst Eco Drama is always happy to engage with CCF groups by performing our shows and workshops for them on a paying basis, we feel that we have experience and knowledge that can be shared with other CCF communities that could help them to engage more deeply with their communities and create a stronger legacy. Eco Drama believes that drama is one of the most effective teaching and learning tools, as it places people inside the learning context; they become involved, active participants in the learning process. Drama has the unique ability to connect with different learning styles, and engages the emotions as well as intellect thus reaching greater audiences and on a deeper level.
Tell Me & I ll Forget; Show Me & I May Remember; Involve Me & I ll Understand By harnessing the power of drama and involving young people emotionally in their learning, we aim to increase carbon literacy and reduce carbon emissions through inspired, positive behaviour change. We believe that we can assist other groups in achieving their CCF goals by sharing our creative tools and practices and by helping groups develop their own creative engagement techniques and ideas. For this project, Eco Drama would employ a Creative Learning Practitioner to engage with selected CCF Community Groups who have shown interest in our way of working. In partnership with each CCF group, Eco Drama s Creative Learning Practitioner would lead an ongoing program of Continuing Professional Development (CPD). 1. CPD Eco Drama s Creative Learning Practitioner would design and deliver Creative Learning CPD sessions to suit the needs of other CCF projects, shaping it around the needs of each community through consultation, ultimately empowering these CCF groups to use more creative community engagement methods. For example, this could involve working with volunteers to develop new ways of engaging with their community and customers on a day to day basis, developing a workshop or activities for a CCF group to take into their local Primary schools, or it could involve developing workshops or presentation techniques that will better engage with youth in the community. The actual outputs, will be shaped by the groups themselves, however, the outcomes will be aimed at better, deeper, stronger engagement with each community and ultimately increased carbon literacy and reduced carbon emissions. 2. Performances To consolidate our association with each community, we would also provide performances of our touring shows and workshops for example, The Worm, The Worm Inspectors, The Oil of Life & Recycling Heroes. There is also potential for Eco Drama to roll this out to other CCF groups looking for support*. *For this we would gather interest to gauge demand, and then submit a realistic budget that would enable the delivery of the number of performances required through the year. 6. Fit with CCF Criteria (500 word limit) How will the project support communities to address climate change? How will the project deliver a realistic and measurable reduction in CO 2 e emissions and leave a legacy for the communities after the funded period? Supporting Communities to Address Climate Change Throughout the course of our CCF projects, Eco Drama has proven that drama is an effective tool for behavioural change. For example, our program for S1 students The Oil of Life which took place over 3 months in secondary schools in 2013 has delivered a reduction of an estimated 99.84 tonnes of CO2e emissions annually through behaviour change such as switching computers, chargers and lights off and increased recycling of waste materials. In addition, Between April 2011 and March 2012, following a range of workshops and productions in West Dunbartonshire schools, the company was successful in making a CO2 reduction of 548.72 tonnes from positive behaviour change in the areas of waste minimisation,
reductions in energy usage and sustainable travel. By using our experience and existing skills, Eco Drama will work in collaboration with the interested CCF groups to help them engage more effectively with their communities, either through specially developed CPD from our Creative Learning Practitioner and/or visits from an Eco Drama performance or workshop at their school or community event. Ultimately we aim to increase awareness of climate change, improve carbon literacy, and to inspire positive changes in behaviour through this work. It is through this behaviour change that Eco Drama anticipates having the most impact on CO2e emissions. Measuring Reductions in CO 2 e Eco Drama has developed evaluation methods tailored to suit each of its shows and workshops. Generally, it involves Before and After Questionnaires and Teacher and Pupil Evaluations. We analyse the qualitative data from pupils taking part in these workshops, and how the experience affects their attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, values and understanding, and ultimately their behaviours. We analyse the quantitative data to gauge if any behaviour change is taking place and thus reducing C02e, and input this into the Carbon Calculator. The evaluation methods and Carbon Calculator have been developed around our own project; however we would share our methods and sources which we use to calculate behaviour change and C02 reductions with the CCF groups, supporting them to measure their own projects reductions. For example, if they would like a visit of Recycling Heroes or The Oil of Life, we would share with them the questionnaires we use for before and after visits and how we calculate carbon. Or if they book The Worm or The Worm Inspectors we would support them with the resources and support materials we have developed around the wormery and kitchen caddy, and the food waste measuring processes which we are developing. Legacy By providing ongoing training and support to groups, for example providing volunteers with new skills and confidence, Eco Drama will leave a legacy of increased skills and knowledge about creative learning techniques and stronger community engagement. As part of the CPD programme, each community would be left with a range of resources such as activity sheets and workshop scripts which they can use in the future. We would also consider launching an online resource bank so that CCF communities could share their resources, thus empowering each other. 7. Previous work with communities short summary (500 word limit) of any previous experience of, or proposed activity for, providing project support to community organisations As previously mentioned, we have successfully provided our workshops and performances to 25 CCF groups across Scotland, with our work going into the CCF Groups local schools, community events, festivals, and evening community performances, all as an integrated part of the CCF Groups planned events and activities. We also have experience in providing CPD in creative engagement practices. As part of The Oil of Life workshops for Secondary schools, we offer Secondary teachers the opportunity to take part in a workshop session in creative learning: -
I want my children to understand the world, but not just because the world is fascinating and the human mind is curious. I want them to understand it so that they will be positioned to make it a better place. Howard Gardner Within the workshop we practically explore the potential of integrating drama within the curriculum as an interactive and effective way of learning. We explore creative learning techniques and consider how these can be integrated within each teacher s specialist curriculum subject. These sessions have proven to be very popular on both years we have run them, and the feedback has been positive & encouraging: - Lots more teaching tips for active and visual learners I d like to try all of them and Teacher in Role I will definitely be exploring Great relevant, reflective, relaxing. (Enterprise and Technology Teacher, St Peter the Apostle High School) I found the CPD very useful as it adds variety to the teaching methodology I found all areas interesting and would like to try all of the techniques to explore them more. (Biology Teacher, Vale of Leven Academy) I could create a drama unit from this workshop (Drama Teacher) I want to start using more practical creative activities in my lessons and this gave me loads of ideas (English Teacher) It complements the workshop the pupils experienced and gives me ideas for further extension work (Drama Teacher) Totally different approach to teaching key ideas and big issues in science. Motivates and inspires pupils while also being very educational (Biology Teacher) Excellent experience refreshing and opens up possibilities for the future! (Drama Teacher) Although these sessions were geared towards secondary teachers, we believe this type of CPD session is adaptable to community groups needs and many of the techniques and ideas just require enthusiastic community leaders or communicators open to new ways of working with their communities. In 2015 we are also intending to expand our CPD work in schools and any new experiences and skills gained would permeate into the work we develop with CCF communities. Classroom Activity Packs We also have a range of existing resources in the form of Classroom Activity Packs covering topics such as food waste, food miles, orchards, energy and recycling which we can develop and share with the CCF communities.
8. Other Support and Resources (500 word limit) Reclaimed Vegetable Oil If keen to use bio fuel in their own vehicles within their communities, we would share knowledge with them about The Magic Van and the process we went through in picking a suitable van and engine, why reclaimed oil is a more sustainable fuel choice than vegetable oil, and connect them with Apple Fuels where we collect our reclaimed fuel from.
GUIDANCE NOTES FOR COMPLETING CCF PROJECT IDEA TEMPLATE - GENERAL Proposing Organisation - The Proposing Organisation is the body which is submitting the project idea to the CCF Ideas Bank. This can be an NGO, a national or local charity, a local authority, a community based organisation, an umbrella organisation or federation of organisations this is an indicative, not comprehensive list. The Ideas Bank aims to open up the CCF process to enable previously ineligible bodies to contribute ideas and expertise to grass roots communities to enable them to take action on climate change. In general, Proposing Organisations should be not-for-profit bodies. Community Group The CCF criteria for a community-led project is that those who are the target for the project activities (i.e. the individuals and households who will be the recipients of the awareness raising and behaviour change activities) should be involved in the design of the project at the development stage, and in the management of the project if successfully funded. A project which is delivered to, or imposed upon, the community from an external body would not meet the CCF community criteria. Partnership Agreement The unique element of the Ideas Bank applications is that a Partnership Agreement between the community group and the Proposing Organisation and must be agreed and submitted with the application form. This is a vital element of the application and will evidence the relationship between the organisations involved and the sharing of project implementation. Guidelines for the Partnership Agreement will be provided with the full CCF Application Form, but the main aim of the Partnership Agreement is to encourage the two parties to discuss and plan their respective roles, responsibilities and division of actions/project resources at the application stage. A Partnership Agreement will demonstrate to the CCF Team and CCF Panel the commitment of both parties to the success of the project, and will be used as a monitoring and assessment tool during project delivery. GUIDANCE NOTES FOR COMPLETING CCF PROJECT IDEA TEMPLATE 1 & 2 Details of Proposing Organisation Name and contact details of the organisation 3 Please include a named individual who is familiar with the Project Idea and can be contacted by community groups who are interested. If this named individual is only available at certain times, please include this information. 4 Geographical Focus if the organisation only works in a certain area (e.g. a local authority area) please ensure this is identified here. If the Project Idea could be delivered anywhere in Scotland, make it obvious here too. 5. Outline of proposed CCF Project Idea this should be a brief outline (500 word limit) which explains the main focus of the project, what the key outcomes could be for the community and examples of the types of activity that would be part of the project. The aim of this description is to sell the idea of the project to the
community group and help them to decide if it is something they would like to take on. There will be further information available through contact with the organisation and negotiation of a partnership agreement, but there should not be any detail in this description which the organisation would not be willing to share with the general public this will hopefully assure you (the Proposing Organisation) that intellectual copyright will be maintained. 6. Relation to CCF Criteria brief (500 word) description of how the project will support community action on climate change, what the CO 2 e impacts will be in the community and what legacy will be left behind after the funded period. This section is to enable the CCF Team to assess the project for inclusion in the Ideas Bank, and to ensure that the Proposing Organisation is both familiar with and committed to the overall objective of the CCF. 7. Outline of experience of working with groups at a community level the Proposing Organisation should include an outline of how they would ensure community engagement and a sample of what they would include in a partnership agreement. This is especially the case if they have no previous experience of community based action. 8. Other Support and Resources available Additional resources that the Proposing Organisation could provide in the way of support, resources, experience, etc. This could be identified through a link to the Proposing Organisation s own website, where further information about both the Project Idea and other resources could be provided.