We start by getting to know key members of our target communities, building trust and gaining entry. These people are respected and so more likely to be influential within their communities.

Our Brazilian partners, have built an extensive network of contacts within vulnerable communities in the state of Goiás. We get to know these community members better by meeting up regularly and talking with them about their news, lives, interests, aspirations and so on and in this way become more and more familiar with their daily lives, living and working conditions, the things that trouble them, their dreams, beliefs, experiences and so on.

After gaining their trust and partnering with local researchers, we start the training of local researchers to identify leaders and active members. Then we begin interviewing people (20 members from each of our 4 target communities by April 2021). We ask questions and listen to their stories. We ask where they get their news and information on various topics, what sources they trust, who they trust and do not trust, what they believe and do not believe, what they fear, how they react to news, how they work out what is genuine, reliable news and what is more likely to be fake news and what guides their decision making.

Then, as we collect information, we use it as a basis for the development of workshop materials that we think our community members can relate to and engage with.

While our Brazilian partners were on site, Prof. Angelelli led the UK team in the design of empirically-based materials for the creation and design of Critical Thinking Conversation Circles. We developed materials for facilitators and participants, all illustrated by Luis Fernando Cazo, a well-known local artist. Prof. Angelelli met remotely with local community leaders and local researchers. She held training sessions for facilitators and community leaders to use the materials and run the “Conversation Circles” to develop critical thinking skills. Our materials focus on building trust, getting to know our communities, developing critical thinking and learning to identify fake news. After 5 meetings we end on a more playful note, with an educational game that underlines the effectiveness and necessity of cooperation and collaboration in team work, as well as the need for critical thinking and collective decision making in order to achieve a goal and, as a result, ‘win’ the game together.

To apply what we learn in the workshops we have developed and supported a network of local researchers who act as collectors and providers of information relevant to the project as well as being facilitators in workshops. The idea behind creating this network is not only to enable the smooth running of the project and the on-going development of materials, but also to carry on offering opportunities and benefits to community members after the project ends.