Author: Mary Tago (Kenya) | Published on 11 December 2025
Read what Mary says about this activity:
This activity helps build students’ understanding of responsible citizenship to promote good governance by identifying community problems and using role play to model responsible decision-making, teamwork and responsible communication to solve them.
Stage 1: Warm up (Pre-Teach)
Engage students in brainstorming what an ideal country would look like.
Ask:
“What kind of country would you consider an ideal place to live? Why?
“What negative things are happening in your own country that prevents it from being ideal?”
Encourage the students to think for some time and then allow them to share their ideas.
Write a few key points on the board.
Stage 2: Vocabulary
Write the following words on the board:
- Governance
- Citizenship
- Social issues
- Harmony
- Responsibility
- Corruption
Elicit the meaning of each word and a relevant example.
Check the students’ understanding by giving a matching test. Write out definitions and ask students to pick the correct word to match each definition.
| Definitions | Answers (write these as you elicit them) |
| The way decisions are made and services are provided in a community or country. | (governance) |
| Being a member of a country and having rights and responsibilities. | (citizenship) |
| Problems that affect many people in a community. | (social issues) |
| When people are living or working together peacefully. | (harmony) |
| A duty you are expected or trusted to do. | (responsibility) |
| Wrong use of authority for personal gain. | (corruption) |
Ask the students to compare their answers with their peers.
Elicit answers from the class and concept check.
Stage 3: Guided group task
Ask the students to form groups of four.
Guide the groups to identify one problem affecting good governance in their country.
Write various community roles such as teacher, governor, shopkeeper, student, entrepreneur, police officer, country officer and youth leader on the board.
Each group member takes one role from the board with no two students taking the same role.
Ask:
Write on the board:
‘You have been given the responsibility to solve your community’s social issues.
Each citizen is going to volunteer one hour of their time each week.
Decide how the citizens will spend their time for the good of the community.
You don’t have to give all the citizens the same task.’
Give some examples of the form their decision might take ie. forty percent of the citizens will re-decorate the clinic, twenty percent of the citizens will clear blockages from drainage ditches…
Stage 4: Reflection
Write on the board: ‘Do any other groups have similar answers to you?’
Ask each group to briefly share their ideas.
Ask:
‘Did you disagree during the discussion? How did you solve your disagreements? ‘
‘How did the role play change your opinion on who should take responsibility for the community’s development?’
Provide constructive feedback on the role play and on groups’ participation, creativity and cooperation during the discussions.
| Notes: Provide support to groups that struggle with identifying governance problems by giving examples such as poor waste management, corruption, insecurity etc. |