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What's on top?

Rebuilding the Change Agency's website, we (re)discovered a fantastic collection of web links, pdfs and other resources to support effective work for social change. It's now possible to search our entire collection of activist education resources by using the basic 'search' function, by clicking on the blue tags or using the powerful 'build your own toolkit' function (check out the article below).

Feedback please! Let us know how you go searching for resources on tCA's new site. And drop me a line to suggest new resources and links.

deep in thought

Community organising program: building power

We're mid-way through the first cycle of our Community Organising Fellowship. The cohort of 25 organisers gathered in Pittwater (Sydney) in late February 2014 for our first workshop. During the 10 day residential workshop, we learnt a lot about each other and ourselves, shared ideas, tools and resources, and sharpened our campaign strategies. This short video gives a glipse of the …

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Campaigners Toolkit

Build your own campaigners toolkit

Our new website allows activists and organisers to create your own tailored collection of resources. First, select from 72 tags to specify your topic of interest. Perhaps you're looking for resources on 'lobbying' or 'communication' in the context of a campaign that's about the 'environment' or 'peace'. Or you might be looking for a 'case study' or non violent direct …

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Great online resources

Enews subscribers regularly share with us the websites and online resources they’re developing, discovering and learning from in their community organising. Enjoy this month’s batch and be sure to drop us a line to suggest links for the next enews.

Core dilemmas of organizing: How do community organizers think?

Every tradition of social action has its own ways of making sense of the world. Community organizing, for example, generally understands social action as an ongoing series of battles over power and resources and the less powerful as a repository of potential agency.  When social service agencies look out at the world, in contrast, they see suffering, a vast collection of …

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Why opinion polls may not matter as much as you think on climate change. Or much else besides

Winston Churchill said:  “There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion”.   Any opinion poll, or a report of a poll, is not a reality of raw public opinion but a processed, manufactured product.  The polling process, the publication process, the reporting process and even the process of subsequent debate and word of mouth, all manufacture …

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The Funding Centre

The Funding Centre is the best place to go to get information on grants and fundraising in Australia. The website and associated tools and newsletters are an initiative of Our Community, a world-leading social enterprise that provides advice, tools and training for Australia’s 600,000 community groups, as well as services for business, government and the general public.

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Social movement educationMike Newman

Michael Newman writes about adult education and social and political action. This website has been set up to provide free access to three of his books, and to provide information on some of his other publications. The books you can access free of charge are: 'Maeler's Regard: Images of Adult Learning'; 'Defining the Enemy: Adult Education in Social Action'; and …

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The end of activism and the renaissance of organizing

I am not an activist. I don't believe in activism. I think activism, as it is generally practiced in the United States, is more often than not a cop out and an excuse by some to avoid doing the heavy lifting of organizing. What is the difference, you might ask, between activism and organizing?

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Upcoming learning opportunities and events

For details of other workshops and learning opportunities, visit our calendar.

Group facilitation skills | June 18-19, Melbourne

An action packed two-day program: Enliven and improve the effectiveness of your group programs Increase participation, motivation and energy Learn new ideas, activities and processes Ice-breakers that work and when to use them Four aspects of effective planning Group theory Strategies for dealing with difficult dynamics – domination, apathy, conflict, etc Registration >

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Four Thursdays Advanced facilitation course | Brisbane June-July

The Four Thursdays Facilitation Skills training running in Brisbane in June is an in-depth learning and practice course - working with your facilitation situations, developing designs for high engagement sessions and practising ways to support healthy group dynamics. And we do one day on graphic facilitation with Michelle Walker of Curiousmindsco who works visually with groups as a vital tool in bringing …

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Training for social action trainers | Minneapolis, July 25-27

This is an intensive training designed for experienced facilitators wanting to revitalize their work, new trainers wanting to inspire, teachers, community leaders, activists -- anyone wanting to take their skills to a new level and learn how training can be used more effectively. Training and facilitation skills are a key element to successful organizing and movement building. People who have …

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Advanced training of trainers | Minneapolis, 29 July - 3 August

Deepen and broaden your facilitation skills in an advanced workshop open only to graduates of Training for Social Action Trainers. Together we'll tackle some of training's biggest challenges -- including doing cross-cultural work, handling conflict and strong emotions, and modifying workshop designs on the fly -- and experiment with new solutions. Full details and registration

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Training calendar: Our Community

Upcoming training opportunities on grant writing, successful boards, effective meetings, governance, media, online essentials, campaigns that sizzle, and being an effective spokesperson. Our Community has developed a suite of affordable, practical training to help community sector staff, volunteers and supporters keep abreast of their responsibilities and learn how to lift their organisation from ordinary to extraordinary All training is delivered by …

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Groupwork Institute training calendar 2014

At the Groupwork Institute, we have a passion for collaborative management and group facilitation.  When we can be supported to work well together great things can be achieved.  It is when people can collaborate - genuinely and effectively - that we can best contribute to help build a just and sustainable world. We have worked in the field of collaborative management …

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One way to connect with other social movement educators and researchers. Click the icon below.

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