How to: Deliver a community project

PASt Explorers Outreach Guide

A properly planned and resourced community archaeology project can be extremely engaging and worthwhile for all involved. The repeated contact involved enables you to explore subjects in more depth and hopefully leads to a much deeper connection than is perhaps possible with a one-off session.

However, many projects suffer from a lack of clear purpose or, worse, become something that is done to the community rather than being a genuinely collaborative effort. Therefore, planning is absolutely essential. Before embarking on a community archaeology project, ask yourself: Why do you want to engage with this community?

What is the objective of the project?

What do you expect to achieve?

What impact will the project have?

What level of engagement is appropriate?

How much time do you have and how long will it take to complete?

Then:

Plan the project out using the tools available (there are lots of tools and resources available in this Toolkit to help you with this)

Take advice from others Monitor and review as you go along and provide feedback constantly Evaluate the project and its impact at the end As with all forms of outreach, consult with the community you are hoping to engage with and make sure you do this in the planning stages so you can tailor your project to their needs and motivations. This way your project is likely to be more engaging and ultimately successful. Think about capacity building. Throughout a project, participants will develop their skills and confidence to participate, not just in the current project but also with future projects or outreach activities. This is how to build a sustainable community team.

Clear lines of communication are essential. Make it clear who the point of contact is and try to only have one point of contact. It can be off-putting to have to contact multiple people for information and can end up being a barrier to participation for some. A regular name and/or face is reassuring. Be flexible and listen to the people involved in the project. If something isn’t working, they will let you know. Be open with your participants and make sure they know they can feedback to you throughout the project and not just at the end.

Choosing partners

You may approached by a group in which case your partners will already be determined. However, if you are planning from scratch, think about not only who might be interested in taking part but who can help you deliver the project. HADAS and the Hendon School project is a good example of a sustainable community project. It advocates a bottom up rather than a top down approach. Their model of a community partner, a local archaeology unit and a university department is a strong and replicable combination. You can read about the project here: https://bit.ly/32i9AU3

How to: Deliver a community project

PASt Explorers Outreach Guide

Recruiting participants

You need to identify and inspire people to participate in your sessions/activities. More than simply telling them about your project, you want them to take part. Consider:

What are the different types of media they might access? How technologically able are they? Any disabilities which may prevent them accessing the materials you create? How do you reach those that are housebound? Think about language. Not just in terms of what languages potential participants speak but

also will some words be off-putting? Tone is also important—something very formal is unlikely to attract lots of people.

A good starting point is to approach individuals with a common bond. This will give you a good platform on which to build and will make it easier to find common interests and learning goals going forward. For example, you could approach nursing homes, faith groups, employers, residents of a particular street or a special interest group.

Once you have identified a group (or a group has identified you), you may need to do some work to generate individual interest. How do you encourage people to actually get involved? Ideas to try include:

Coffee mornings – a good way to stimulate interest is to visit the group informally and make initial contact and start building a relationship.

Posters – posters and leaflets are a good way of maintaining a presence between or before the sessions (templates in this toolkit).

Staff – establishing good relationships with relevant staff is useful for encouraging participation e.g. youth club leaders and care home staff.

Partners not pupils

It is vital that the group involved maintains a sense of ownership of the project as this will help to make the partnership sustainable. The more someone is invested in a project, the more likely they are to stay involved and to participate in the future. If your project only involves you telling people what to do, it will likely fail because it won’t engage people. There should be a continuous dialogue with the community from start to end. You want their input and ideas, not just their presence. If you are hoping to repeat the project annually, consider appointing a key member of the community who is involved every year. This will keep communication channels open and can help with recruitment for future projects.

Copyright: Leigh Dodds, Flickr, CC-BY

https://bit.ly/32i9AU3

How to: Deliver a community project

PASt Explorers Outreach Guide

Planning

Planning is important for all outreach activities, but even more so for a long-term project. First you will need to have an overall project plan that outlines the goals and engagement aims for your project, as well as practical considerations including:

Number of sessions

Length of each session

Date/time of each session—for regular sessions it is a good idea to stick to the same time and day to avoid confusion.

Frequency—how often will you run sessions? Short timescales can make the project feel too intense, but too far apart could cause participants to lose interest. Remember to give yourself enough time in between to prepare for each session and to evaluate afterwards.

You will also need to have individual plans for each and every session. This will help with capacity building as you will set incremental goals for each session. Session plans are also vital to work out what resources you need and to keep each session on track. By going through this process you will begin to identify what needs to be done and when in order to ensure the success of the sessions. Think of them in a similar way to the lesson plans that teachers produce—in fact it’s a good idea to have a look at some examples of these. There are templates and guidance for drawing up session plans in Appendix B of this Toolkit.

Safeguarding

Your project is likely to involve several sessions with the same group of individuals. It is vital therefore that you observe relevant safeguarding procedures, especially if you are working with children or vulnerable adults. Speak to your FLO and/or host organisation for help with this.

Communicating the idea – communicate in language and ways appropriate to participants. Formal learning set-ups can be off-putting for some, as can specialised language. An emphasis on learning can stifle enjoyment. Learning should be a fun part of the process not the sole goal.

Before you start recruiting it’s a good idea to think about numbers. What size group is appropriate? What size group can you manage? Obviously, the larger the group, the more resources are required. Large groups can also become fragmented, making sessions difficult to manage. Participants may also feel ‘lost’ in a large group. On the other hand, if the group is too small, you will not have enough group interaction. 10-12 is a good number.

You should also expect fluctuations in numbers throughout the project, especially longer projects. Word of mouth is a powerful tool and if participants have fun in the first session, you may find you have more for the second session. You should also expect some drop-outs as not everyone will be able to attend every session due to illness, prior engagements, childcare issues and other commitments.

Copyright: James Cridland, Flickr, CC-BY

How to: Deliver a community project

PASt Explorers Outreach Guide

Facilitating sessions When it comes to running each session, the key is to keep things relaxed and informal. You want to make people feel at ease and to enjoy being there. You also want to keep people engaged and keep the conversation going. This can be difficult at first but the more sessions you do, the easier it will become as you’ll start to see what makes the group click. Here are a few tips to get you started! Create a relaxed environment that enables easy interaction between participants and allows

people to focus on the facilitator, Where will people sit? How will you make sure you will be heard and seen by everybody and vice versa? If you have staff recording/photographing, where will they be and how intrusive will it be?

Icebreakers, warm-up and closing activities help newcomers to engage with the group without feeling awkward.

Remember that different people learn in different ways so try to include different types of activity in your sessions.

Understand that disruptions can happen. Planning well beforehand should prevent disruptions, as will good communication about start times etc. but it is a good idea to rehearse what you would do if a disruption did occur.

Keep your language clear and straightforward without being patronising. Avoid language that may appear too highbrow or specialist, and try to find analogies relevant to the participants when it is hard to explain a particular issue or topic.

Speak clearly and articulate well but don’t go over the top. Remember to pause and allow enough time for people to digest information and perhaps reflect on it through discussion or comment. Allow time for questions and the odd diversion.

Have fun! If you are enjoying the session then chances are that your participants will too.

Things to include in your session plan: Practicalities - date, time, location, number

of participants, equipment and resources. Learners’ starting point—make sure you

have an understanding of where your participants are starting from. This includes prior experience/interest as well as any disabilities you may need to be aware of.

Session goals—identify what you would like to have achieved at the of the session. This will help you to map your progress and if you don’t achieve all that you set out to, you will be able to see why and adapt future sessions accordingly.

Session activities—identify activities that will help you to achieve your session goals. Think about how you will introduce your topic, think about what you want your participants to do and ensure that each activity is related to and builds upon the last. Avoid introducing too many topics in one session.

Timings—plan out with timings how you expect each session to run. This will help to keep things on track and avoid overruns. Plan in plenty of breaks to allow people to refocus and move around.

Evaluation—reserve a section on your lesson plan for evaluating the session and identifying issues to consider when planning the next one.

It’s a good idea to end each session by recapping what has been achieved and looking ahead to the next session. Remember to give participants the opportunity to give their opinions and feedback so that you can make any adjustments for next session.