MObilise!
Exploring the power of stories to inspire political and civic engagement
Mobilise! wants to enable active citizenship and increase people's confidence about engaging in political and civic life. It is a partnership between Global Link, a development education charity, and a team based at Lancaster University.
The project will explore historical and contemporary stories of activism collected by two Heritage Funded projects, Documenting Dissent and Remembering Resistance, to learn what inspires active citizenship, what barriers exist and how they can be overcome. To do this we're going to work with volunteers & local communities of asylum seekers and refugees.
A report from Global Link on the challenges facing refugees in Lancaster found that although there was overall satisfaction living in the city, refugees can feel isolated. The report showed a need for more opportunities for integration, and that refugees feel that sometimes British people don't understand them.
By exploring the resources the projects have collected about political and civic participation we want to enable the local community to better understand refugee and asylum seekers' experiences, and for them to feel more confident about participating in political and community life.
The project will explore historical and contemporary stories of activism collected by two Heritage Funded projects, Documenting Dissent and Remembering Resistance, to learn what inspires active citizenship, what barriers exist and how they can be overcome. To do this we're going to work with volunteers & local communities of asylum seekers and refugees.
A report from Global Link on the challenges facing refugees in Lancaster found that although there was overall satisfaction living in the city, refugees can feel isolated. The report showed a need for more opportunities for integration, and that refugees feel that sometimes British people don't understand them.
By exploring the resources the projects have collected about political and civic participation we want to enable the local community to better understand refugee and asylum seekers' experiences, and for them to feel more confident about participating in political and community life.
We're going to be sharing what comes from the project in a few ways
exhibition
We're going to collaborate with asylum seeker & refugee community partners to create an exhibition. In a series of workshops, we'll use stories of active citizenship as prompts to enable participants to express their interests, needs & barriers relating to political & civic life through creative activities. We'll share the outcome in an exhibition in 2020.
mobilise! guide
To capture the learning from the project we're going to co-develop a guide to exploring active citizenship with asylum seeker & refugee communities through heritage, arts & story. It will include engagement & creative activities, resources for workshops & a model of how to work with activist stories to explore & support active citizenship.
The project is guided by a number of ideas
PARTICIPATionMobilise! is a partnership between the community, the charity sector & the university. It is collaborative & is committed to being positive, rewarding & ethical
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CREATIVityWe believe that creative methods, heritage & storytelling are great ways of supporting active citizenship & political engagement
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IMPACTThe project wants to create real change, for those involved in the project & for others interested in civic engagement. To enable this, we'll create resources to share our learning
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Mobilise! is funded by an Economic and Social Research Council Impact Acceleration Account grant