There’s more than one way to plan your Global Call to Action project. But here are some basic steps we think everyone should follow.
You’ve already started. Take some time and explore this site – look at the 10 issues, learn about the Nobel laureates, browse through the project pages to get ideas from other groups.
You might also want to check out the PeaceJam Curriculum and the book "PeaceJam: A Billion Simple Acts of Peace."
A project is a big undertaking – you’re going to need a lot of friends. You could form a club at school, with your neighbors, at a community center or at your place of worship. You could also raise the idea to a group that you already belong to or that already exists. Get the group members to look at this site and learn about the GCA.
Use the PeaceJam website to create your project page, which you can do via the blue box on the right. On this page you can invite people to join your project, create your project plan, upload pictures and videos of your group and project, and connect with your group members through your thread on the message board and through private messaging on your profiles. You can also use the Project Newsblog to update the world on how your project is going. This is not only an organizing tool, it is also the only way to get your project counted toward the One Billion Project goal!
Your group meetings are where you will create your project and plan action steps. This is where you can talk about the issue(s) you are working to address and where you can coordinate your individual efforts toward the overall goal.
Spend some time in your group meetings taking a look at the Global Call to Action in-depth. You will likely need to discuss all of the points below, but don’t try to do it all in one meeting! - What are the different pieces of the GCA? How do you interpret the topic areas?
- Which Global Call to Action issue do you want to address? If you've already picked an issue you want to address, where does it fit into the GCA? Maybe there are many issues areas that you want to address.
- Why is this GCA issue important to the members of your group?
- Are you addressing a real need? How do you know?
- What specific action can you take to address the issue?
One of the principles of the Global Call to Action is Thoughtful Action. It is important to be prepared before taking action. Here are some suggestions.
- Research the specific problem you want to address.
- Try to identify and address the root causes of the problem. It is ok to do projects that meet immediate needs, but how can we solve the problem entirely? To find the root cause of a problem you can:
- observe the problem yourself
- interview people about the problem or hold community meetings with those affected by the problem.
- gather facts or data about the
- problem from books or other sources
- read the papers and watch the news for
- current information on this issue
- Find out what others have done about this problem already.
- Think Solidarity! GCA projects should not be done "TO" anyone, they should be done WITH the people who are affected by the issue. Spend some time Brainstorming about who else should be involved and how you can include community members and stakeholders. Get the input of those who will be affected by your project before you start!
- What are some creative solutions that have not been tried?
Once you have decided on a project you need to create a detailed plan. Exactly what are you trying to accomplish? How will you know if you are successful. Be as specific as possible.
- Assign tasks to group members.
- Set intermediate goals and deadlines as well as a final goal.
- What resources will you need and how will you get them? What groups or organizations will you get to help you?
- Be ambitious but also set a goal you feel you can reach.
- You can use this worksheet to help create your plan.
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