*this workshop was created by Ecoar's NGO.
In Portuguese, one mean about workshop is “place where happen big changing”. Future’s Workshop is a technique to help how we development 21’s Agenda in schools and others group’s projects. It has some topics, how and what we can do to thing together community.
Topics of Future’s Workshop
Dream’s Tree
To achieve something of value you need space to dream. During the ECO-92 was built a huge tree in Flamengo’s Beach, in Rio de Janeiro. In this place, where the conference was held in civil society, people wrote on sheets of paper their dreams of a decent future for humanity and hanging in that tree.
To criate 21’s Agenda in school, you can do your Dream’s Tree. You can draw a big tree in your blackboard or do it in big paper. People should get together in small groups to answer a question, like that:
How is the school my dreams?
How is the community of my dreams?
Each group write yours dream in piece of paper, and put it in the Tree’s Dreams. The negotiation of collective dreams will show what the goals are.
Stones in the Road. 
Speaking of stones on the way to serve the class to talk and think about the difficulties they must face to reach dreams. A great way of stones can be drawn on board, and so on the floor. Again the participants are divided into small groups to think this question:
What are the problems that make it difficult to reach in our dreams?
Each group conversation selects and writes a problem on one of the stones designed. After examining all the difficulties, participants of the workshop choose which wish to see resolved in the first, second and third;
Mural’s News (news in the Wall): journey to the past and present
All problems and difficulties have a reason to exist. Hence, the third step of the workshop is to gather information to learn the history of the community. One way is to answer the questions:
As these problems show?
How was the community before?
The older people can tell how things were before. Collect photos, drawings, films and other information about the past help. But we must also know the current situation. What interesting experiences already happened here? All this can turn a Mural’s News. This will facilitate the dissemination and understanding of the local situation.
Go and Do
Now we must hold the shares and prepare a project. This will help the group to take action to transform the current situation and reach the dreams. To do this, we must respond to new questions:
What actions should be undertaken ?
What we need to place them?
When each action will be carried out?
Who will be responsible for them?
How to assess whether the group has achieved what we planned?
A plan of action is like a map of direction. It sometimes can take to be built, but if careful and complete can avoid many headaches. Note that there are plans to run. Therefore, it is important to monitor and evaluate the achievement of all the steps, always wondering if the dreams of the Tree of Dreams are being made.
source: Builinding COM-VIDAS Committee of Environment and Quality of Life School - Brasilia, 2004 - Construindo COM-VIDAS Comissõa de Meio Ambiente e Qualidade de Vida na Escola.
