A few weeks ago, I was invited by the convenor of the 350.org group in Sydney to lead a short workshop with their team. Their campaign to encourage universities and other institutions to divest from fossil fuels is building momentum. They’re actively recruiting and training new leaders, and wanted to build their skills and confidence to design and lead workshops.
We had a great evening with lots of reflection and sharing ideas and resources. The Change Agency’s website has dozens of resources on activist education, pedagogy and popular education. We shared five resources:
- Process ideas to learn about the group you’re working with – their experience, skills, and learning edges
- Reflections on different approaches to ‘building the container’ with a group – establishing and modelling norms, and creating trust
- Strategies to learn about your cofacilitator and work well together to maximise learning
- A participatory exercise to think through the various steps in scoping, designing, leading and evaluating workshops and
- The spiral model that guides many popular educators in their work.
In just a few hours, we covered a lot of ground, with open and generous sharing.
Thanks, Isaac, for the opportunity to work with your team. Best wishes with your important work.
Participants’ feedback: