PERSONECO: Learning about Gender Equality with a board game
INTRODUCTION
On September 14, 2018, the city of Manaus, located in the State of Amazonas, hosted the first edition of the Global Goals Jam event, the GGJ of Manaus 2018, focused on finding solutions for the impact of the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. The three intense days of true learning, brainstorms and connections. All at an accelerated pace, enabling a series of concerns and attitudes, such as learned practices proposed from the beginning.
THE FIRST DAY, GROUPS INITIATION
The first day, held at Samsung Ocean, located at the School of Technology of Amazonas State University (UEA), was surrounded by surprises since the beginning. Led by Camila Lima and organized by the Staff with the support of a group of volunteers, the first day brought together a group of 30 people from different areas in order to make the world a better place and of course to do a lot of networking. As a first step, Camila clarified the role of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (ODS) and brought tools that we would use over the next few days, such as Design Thinking and Scrum. The moments of inspiration were diverse, but one of the most relaxing was applied by one of the volunteers, who asked us to close our eyes and breathe deeply to slow down the thoughts. Undoubtedly, the ideas became less obscure and relaxation was general.
At the end of the first day as a criterion to form teams, we would have to direct us to the front of the questioning that awaken our will to find solutions and generate some sort of impact. Then our team, made up of four females, selected work for the ODS 5, entitled as “Gender Equality”, and answer the following challenge:
“How can we encourage a change in behavior in everyday life of people in relation to gender inequality?”
The GGJ staff reserved the September 18th to mentoring teams. This time we went to the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (FAS), where we had the opportunity to show the team canvas, the map of stakeholders and the questions below that had been prepared for the questionnaire for teachers, who commented on the online research. We also got feedback from mentors on the project’s progress. We conducted an online survey with a total of 224 responses, mostly women and other online survey of 16 participating teachers. To confirm the research on the male side, a field survey was carried out in some strategic points of the city for a diverse audience. In total, there were 33 respondents, mostly men.
BRAINSTORMS: HANDS ON
Time to make your hands dirty, at the Impact Hub Manaus, who received us for two intense days, September 21st and 22nd September. During Friday and Saturday, we stayed from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and perhaps a little bit more, completely focused on turning research results into action, determining how we would solve the problem of gender inequality, and setting up an MVP for a pitch. Wow!
The 21st was marked by ideas and actions. As requested, we wrote down everything we absorbed during the research on white boards. At first we made the mental map where we wrote some words and phrases that referred to gender equality research ideas, such as:
“Do not believe it,” “Only women are interested…”, “My grandmother does not let me wash the dishes”, “women wash dishes and men do the heavier work”,
“women should not only work but study”, “ women are not in charge”, “ put yourself in”, “ women should work, just like me! “,” Women stay at home is a thing of the past”, among others.
With the help of the method, we were able to organize our thoughts and focus on the idea of the game. Other methods employed were Theory of Change, feasibility matrix and business canvas.
THE IDEA, THE GAME
Finally, for us to continue with the journey of GGJ Manaus, we should mention the solution that we have arrived after so much research, brainstorms and cups of coffee: Personeco! — a board game with question/answer cards, to spread learning about achievements, not only of men, but also for women present in four fields of society: sports, entertainment, history and science. The idea is that the game is spread among young people of 12 years of age, both within the public and private schools, and outside of school, among friends and family, generating a closer approach that only board games can achieve. The purpose is to convey that both genders have the same potential and accomplished great achievements in history, presenting women unknown so far to male supremacy in various fields of knowledge in a playful and entertaining way. The game a comes with the “extra” field, which contains pranks, mime, among others.
ON / OFF: PLEASE, DON’T STOP THE GAME
To make the game accessible, the goal is that after it is better formatted, we can make it available through a website, with the option of a paid version and a free version for printing, which can be done with the makers movement of this city. In the future, we also want to turn it into an app version with different games for the same purpose. So, everyone will have access to the game and learning it can provide, regardless of how it’s played.
DON’T TOUCH MY … PROTOTYPE!
The last day was there and much of it was spent on prototyping and, as this would be a board game, it was necessary that it was as close to the initial idea as possible. Because of the short preparation time, this was one of the most difficult moments, in which we had great concern about the contents of the cards, since we planned to form a reliable database regarding the information to be able to show to people. However, with the available time it was not possible to conduct a thorough research. Still, we believe it was important to take a sample of how the cards would be to show to the evaluators. That’s why we made 10 cards with two questions per category for testing.
To fabricate the board, the designers of the group, Camila and Samara, developed the cards, board and logo, after the prints were made we divided between the graphic design and the maker responsible for the local movement. To have a base the board was glued on paper in Styrofoam, but the material in the future will be different and waterproof. The other part of the team had the partnership of Makers Manaus, contributing to the pieces of the game, such as pins and the data that was part of the construction of Personeco. They also gave us some gifts, as well as stickers.
Other surprises came at the last stage, when we had the pitch presentation for guests. To accomplish this stage there was not much difference than usual, we prepared everything together and with the same adrenaline rush ever. And of course, the mentors were there all the time to help us with feedback. At the end of the pitch, we wrote down suggestions and tips for future contests and edits.
The tips that were important: to better define the next pitches, the idea of the product, how to present it more clearly, as well as the tip of expanding to the countryside and other places, and the game can have numerous possibilities such as thematic games according to holidays, for example. The possibilities and games can be several, besides the connections that we had with the guests and the support of the people that will provide us with more suppport after the event.
ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCE
The first edition, the GGJ Manaus 2018 was surprising. We were happy to have found a team that managed to stay without great conflicts, to have had space to make connections, networking and to have put in place tools that we can use more.
The volunteers were an essential point throughout the event, with great advice and opinions at every stage of the process. Undoubtedly, the diversity in the area of study of the volunteers, as well as the experience they have, was a positive point of the event. Moreover, the coordination of Camila Lima and all staff support made all the difference so did not stay discouraged in no time and we think all the time out of the box.
TALK TO US, WE JUST LOVE PEOPLE
We are excited to meet you and find partners! For suggestions, networking, partnerships and any valid tip, please contact us through personecothegame@gmail.com.
We thank the Global Goals Jam Manaus event and all the partners involved, thank you for everything! See you later!
*This article was written by four hands by “The Marocas” ( Camila Falabella, Déborah Nogueira, Samara Nina and Victoria de Souza Guimarães)
Keywords: Globalgoalsjam18; Design; Prototyping; Brasil; Amazonas; GGJManaus; ODS5; SDG5; Gender Equality.
