Make it Grow Facilitation Toolkit: Supporting Community Groups to Create Participatory Video Proposals

<p dir="ltr"><i>Make it Grow</i> is a project affiliated to the Institute for Sustainable Food, University of Sheffield. The aim of <i>Make it Grow </i>is to support hard-to-reach community groups to develop, express and fundraise for their food-related project ideas, through the creation of Participatory Video Proposals. The <i>Make it Grow </i>process involves workshops to support skills development at community level. Participants gain know-how in basic smartphone video-making and project planning.</p><p dir="ltr">A video proposal can be used for applying for small grants, setting up crowdfunding campaigns, communicating with donors or promoting a group/project more widely. With consent from all contributors, a video can be shared on social media, sent directly to targeted recipients, or screened at public events.</p><p dir="ltr">The <i>Make it Grow</i> process involves a series of workshops to support practical, collaborative group learning for video-making and project planning. Our facilitation approach focusses on building supportive learning groups, celebrating creativity, seeking inclusivity, fostering self-awareness and reflexivity. This approach prioritises co-learning and co-creation. Facilitated workshops can take place online or in-person. These digital skills are valuable and transferable, so that participants benefit from the workshops in the longer term.</p><p dir="ltr">The purpose of this toolkit is to provide <i>facilitators </i>with a step-by step handbook/guide and some helpful resources for facilitating community groups through the process of co-creating a participatory video proposal. In the sections that follow, the handbook offers practical workshop steps and activities, helpsheets and facilitation tips.</p>