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GRADUATION CEREMONY

It is always nice to be recognised for your efforts. A symbolic graduation ceremony is a great way to end the reflection stage. Gathering participants and celebrating their achievements is not only a heartfelt gesture to the participants, but also a way to nurture Community Champions in your project. To go from ‘participant’ to ‘Community Champion’ is not only symbolic, but can also be a way of increasing agency and accountability. This means having more vocal champions, and more hands-on-deck for future activities.

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Format MethodTimeframe < 1hGroup Size AllFacilitation Level LowRequired Materials Pen and paper / computer and printer

Steps

  • Gather all the names of the participants who have made it to the end of the project.
  • Design and fill out a diploma with their details. This can be as serious or as playful as you like.
  • The certifier should describe the contribution made by each participant to the group, inviting that person forward to receive his or her diploma and to share a word or two about the process. (Take note of any participants’ experiences that might help devise future pilots.)

Benefits

Community belonging is an excellent way to encourage engagement with a project. By ‘graduating’ participants to members of the organising committee, or simply to fully-fledged citizen scientists, this can go a long way to creating attachment between participants, the organisation and the cause.

Tips

Keep in mind the following guiding question while implementing this method: what did you learn?
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