Ebook: Games and Exercises. A Manual for Facilitators and Trainers Involved in Participatory Group Events

UNICEF, 1998. — 201 p.This manual was written to fill a gap. Although there are many collections of games and exercises for group processes for business and educational settings, only a small percentage of these have proven to be useful in international and cross-cultural settings. Many are heavily grounded in one culture and do not easily translate. The games and exercises in this manual have been carefully selected with an intercultural application in mind, especially, but not necessarily, in the area of international development.
But why a manual on games and exercises? What does this have to do with such serious business as international development or organizational renewal? The answer to this question is grounded in learning theory. Educators will tell us that we learn very little through passive listening and note taking. We remember only 10 percent of what we read, 20 percent of what we hear, 30 percent of what we see. However, when we combine senses, the memory curve increases sharply: 50 percent of what we see and hear, 80 percent of what we say in a particular context and 90 percent of what we say and do. The doing is all important.
Games and exercises activate more senses to increase creative learning of new information and assimilation of new ideas. This is especially important in international work where new criteria, values and world views must be taken into account. Dominant intellectual or cognitive processes can marginalize these important factors, impeding intercultural exchange and progress. Games and exercises produce new dimensions to human experience and allow us to share perceptions.
This manual is written as a resource for facilitators and trainers who are involved in participatory group events, especially but not exclusively in international settings. There are many different systems and philosophies of participation for various applications.
This manual is not an original piece of writing. It is a compilation of games and exercises which have been tried and tested in many settings across the globe. They have been adapted from a wide collection of existing publications and have been found to be the best for facilitation and training in diverse settings.