Dear friends
I have had this activity for some time but have never written it so that
any one else can make use of it. Hope you can use it.
A good activity to get your class thinking about issue of inequality and
fairness is 'If there were 100 people in the world'. This activity is best
run with an actual group of 100 students, so is most suited to an assembly
but can be run with a large class (thirty plus) - it also best run in a
very large room or hall.
Divide up £1000 of monopoly money equally between the class (if you have
100 then £10 note for each). Clear the classroom of tables and chairs and
then divide the class into continents, using the figures in table 1 (e.g.
if you have a class of 33, then 2 would live in Eastern Europe, 11 in
Eastern Asia, etc). These groups should be then placed geographically about
the room (roughly in the shape of the continents) to show the spatial
difference.
When this is completed you can use the demographic map you have created to
challenge certain development myths, such as poverty is due to overcrowding
and 'them overpopulating'. If you have done a good job it will be shown
very clearly that 'rich' Europe is a lot more crowded than 'poor' Africa.
From this set up we can introduce other issues about global citizenship and
inequality. Redistribute the money between the continents (i.e. steal most
of the money from the 'South' and give it all to Europe and America)
according to the figures in table 2. This activity is a very visual way of
highlighting the distribution of wealth globally. Now it is your job as a
professional to get the pupils to think about their role as a global citizen:
· Is this situation is fair?
· What can we do to make it fairer?
· What has this to do with the role of businesses?
· Where do transnationals produce their goods and where are the headquarters?
· Where are MNCs profits repatriated?
· Why do campaigners say the WTO rules governing World trade are unfair?
· Is this situation sustainable?
TABLE 1
If there were 100 people in the world…
5 would live in North America.
8 would live in South and Central America.
7 would live in Western Europe.
6 would live in Eastern Europe.
13 would live in Africa.
6 would live in Central Asia.
22 would live in Southern Asia.
33 would live in Eastern Asia. (Of whom 3 would live in Japan)
0 would live in Australia. (Approx. 0.3% of the worlds popn. live in
Australia)
(These figures are based on data contained in the Population Information
Network website of the United Nations Population Division.)
TABLE 2
If there were £100 in the world…
£31.00 would go to North America.
£7.00 would go to South and Central America.
£30.00 would go to Western Europe.
£2.00 would go to Eastern Europe.
£2.00 would go to Africa.
£3.00 would go to Central Asia.
£3.00 would go to Southern Asia.
£22.00 would go to Eastern Asia. (Of which £15.00 would go to Japan)
£1.00 would go to Australia.
(These figures are based on data contained in the website of The World Bank
[International Bank for Reconstruction and Development]).
Finbarr Carter ([log in to unmask])
Project Co-ordinator
'Just Business'
www.jusbiz.org
Norfolk Education and Action for Development
38 Exchange Street, Norwich, NR2 1AX
Tel: 01603 610993
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Registered Charity: 1010853
Registered company: 2237 424
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