Organisational meetings 1: Promoting participation

The essay analyses the organisational meetings held daily in CISV villages and summer camps in order to plan educational activities. The chapter explores the ways in which adults discuss and decide on the kinds of activities and their organisation, underlining the ways in which active participation is either promoted or reduced in interactions. It explores if and in which ways empowering dialogue is enhanced during these meetings and which obstacles can prevent its achievement, focusing on (1) the linguistic and cultural differences between projection of empowering dialogue and projection of normative expectations, (2) the linguistic and cultural differences between processes of coordination and mediation in decision-making – which realise empowering dialogue – and forms of assessment – which realise disempowering monologues.