Bees guarding their nest. These tiny black bees are stingless bees, and they live together in a sticky nest with just one small entrance. Some of them stand guard at the doorway to keep their home safe, while others fly out to find flowers for nectar and pollen. The sticky entrance helps keep the nest safe, because it can trap tiny invaders that try to sneak in!

Recap & Overview | 2 mins

Briefly reconnect the Ambassadors to their journey so far. 

Ask: "Who can remember what we explored together last week?"

Take a few quick responses. 

Say: “Last week, we went on a Nature Walk! You spent time noticing nature in your local area, enjoying the sense of calm and connection it can bring, and you might even have thought of something you would like to do for your Project Planet Love. This week, you are going to work again in your Project Planet Love teams and decide on an idea you love.”

Part 1: Welcome Back to Your Ideas | 5 mins

Bring the Ambassadors back into their Project Planet Love Teams.

Make sure each team has:

• Their Project Planet Love Planning Sheet

• Their brown Project Planet Love envelope

• The ideas and the Post-it notes that they generated in previous sessions

• Pens

Say: “Over the last few sessions, you have explored your passions, discovered different ways of taking action and generated lots of possible ideas for your Project Planet Love. Today, it's time to choose the idea you want to take forward.”

The 5-Minute Challenge

Say: “As a team, you have five minutes to choose your top idea. If you're finding it difficult to decide, use these three questions to help you:

1. Can we actually do this in the time we have?

2. Will it make a positive difference?

3. Are we excited about it?”

Explain that by the end of the challenge, ideally every team should be able to complete this sentence:

“We are the __________ team and our Project Planet Love idea is __________.”

Remind them: “You don't need to have every detail worked out yet. Today, you're choosing the idea. Next, we'll work out how to make it happen.”

Facilitators, you have a choice. You can either continue supporting them as they work through their Project Planet Love  Planning Sheet (separately supporting those who are struggling).  Alternatively, you can keep working through the session plan.

Part 2: Get Ready to Share | 2 mins 

After approximately 5 minutes, bring everyone's attention back.

Say: “Some teams may now be really clear about their idea. Some might have the beginnings of an idea, and some might still be deciding. That's OK. Ubuntu reminds us that we don't have to work everything out on our own. So we're going to use the ideas and creativity in this whole room to help one another.”

Explain that you are going to create a Circle of Support

Say: “Each Project Team will have a very short opportunity to tell us where they are with their idea. Then the rest of us can offer encouragement, questions, or suggestions that might help them make their idea even stronger.”

Part 3: Circle of Support | 12 mins 

Gather everyone into one circle where all teams can see and hear one another.

Keep Project Teams sitting together.

Give each Project Team some giant Post-it Notes and a pen.

Explain the process before beginning.

Each team gets approximately 1-2 minutes.

Step 1: Share | 30 secs 

Ask one or two people from the team to say:

“We are the __________ team and our Project Planet Love idea is __________.”

If they haven't decided yet, they can say:

“We are the __________ team. At the moment we're thinking about __________, but we need some help with __________.”

Encourage them to keep it short.

Give an example:

“We are the Waste Warriors. We want to reduce the amount of single-use plastic in our school by creating a campaign that encourages people to bring reusable water bottles.”

Step 2: Celebrate

Before offering advice, invite the room to recognise something positive.

Someone might say:

“I really like your idea because...”

or:

“I think that's interesting because...”

This helps young people experience feedback as support rather than criticism.

Step 3: Support

Invite one or two suggestions only.

Encourage the Ambassadors to begin with:

“If I were in your team, I might...”

or:

“Have you thought about...?”

For a team that is still stuck:

“One possibility you could explore is...”

Remind the Ambassadors that they are offering ideas, not instructions.

The Project Team decides what is useful.

Step 4: Capture

One member of the Project Team writes down any useful suggestions on their support giant Post-it Note. 

Ask the Ambassadors to give the corresponding teams Post-it Notes at the end of each round. 

Then move quickly to the next team.

Facilitator Note:

KEEP THIS MOVING. This activity can easily overrun. If you have six teams and 12 minutes, each team has approximately two minutes maximum. You can say: “You've got 30 seconds to tell us your idea.”

Then take one celebration and one or two suggestions. Move on. The purpose is to give each team a useful spark, not redesign every project as a whole group.

Facilitator Support

If a team has too many ideas:

Ask:

• “Which idea are you most excited about?”

• “Which one connects with the interests of your team?”

• “Which one could you realistically begin making happen?”

• “Could any of your ideas be combined?”

Avoid choosing for them.

If a team cannot agree:

Say: “You don't all have to think the same idea is perfect, but you do need to find something you are willing to explore together.”

Ask each person to briefly say:

“The idea I'd most like us to explore is _____ because _____.”

Then look for common ground. If necessary, use a simple vote.

Explain that voting is a way of helping the group make a decision, but once the decision is made, they will work together as one Project Team.

If a team has no idea yet:

This is where they may need more facilitator support.

First, look through the ideas already in their brown envelope.

Ask:

• “What have you already talked about?”

• “What does your team care about?”

• “What do people in this group enjoy doing?”

• “Was there anything from Greenville, the Marketplace, young activists or the Ideas Generator that interested you?”

If they are still stuck, use the resources from Workshop 7 - Project Planet Love 2: A Passion to Change for project ideas or examples of young activists connected to their Project Planet Love  area to provide inspiration.

Do not simply give them a project.

Help them find an idea that feels like theirs. Give them agency.

If a team already knows exactly what it wants to do:

Great. They do not need to wait for everybody else.

Ask them to begin their Project Planet Love Planning Sheet.

They can start discussing:

• What exactly are they  going to do?

• Why do they want to do it?

• Who is it for?

• What difference do they hope it will make?