Organising, mobilising and advocacy | tCA enews December 2016

What's on top?

For many of us, 'what's on top' as 2016 draws to an end conjures up a maelstrom... climate change and the reef, Brexit, the US election result and the rise of populist politics, Standing Rock, same sex marriage and constitutional recognition. Tough times as the political pendulum swings. Times that are 'rich with learning opportunities', as they say.

It's even more important, in this time, that we work together to build capacity in civil society to uphold widely-held values: justice, fairness, sustainability, compassion, respect. Our work as activist educators and movement builders is fundamental to strengthening civil society.

If you've just subscribed to tCA's monthly bulletin, welcome! You're now one of almost 5000 people sharing useful resources to build movements for social and environmental justice. Be sure to connect with us if you develop or apply activist education resources we might share here and on tCA's website. That's how we've created a library of more than 3000 resources for campaigners, organisers and activist educators.

This month's enews includes regular features: links to great online resources, updates, and our calendar of teaching and learning opportunities. We're especially pleased to share our new 'Transactional mobilising and relational organising' process guide. This 90 minute workshop creates dialogue to differentiate, value and integrate distinct tactics and theories of change.

Enjoy!

launching the community organising guide

New community organising guide launched

On Friday 25 November, we officially launched our new Community Organising training guide during the national FWD+Organise conference in Sydney. Even before the launch, word of mouth (and social media) had generated national and international interest. Already, the Guide is in 16 countries, including the US, UK and Canada, Ireland, Croatia, Belgium, Kenya, Aotearoa and Thailand. Download for $20AUD or …

Community Organising Fellowship retreat 2016

Strengthening our national network of community organisers

Since our Community Organising Fellowship kicked off in 2014, seventy-three passionate organisers have graduated. They're hard at work building leader-full campaigns and movements right around Australia. Twenty-five graduates came together on Friday 25 November for our first graduates' retreat, a weekend of conversation, analysis, celebration and connecting. The retreat was timed to coincide with the second national 'Organise' conference convened …

Relational organising and transactional mobilising

How can we maximise the relational potential of tactics that are primarily designed to turn people out for our rallies and other public events? How can we harness the power of shared interests and values when we're focused on organising events to show numbers? For the Organise conference in Sydney, James and Fee designed and experimented with this 90 minute workshop. The …

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. [We're re-posting the link to 'Netchange' this month as it's proving so useful to many folks.]

Networked change | How progressive campaigns are won in the 21st century

What makes some of today’s most successful advocacy campaigns work, while so many others fail to make an impact? The Networked Change Report maps out the strategies and practices that made 47 of today’s most successful advocacy campaigns work. These campaigns achieved success because of their ability to open up to the new cultural forces which favor openness and grassroots power, but …

Time to pick a side | Jason Mogus - Netchange

Civic institutions in Trump’s America face difficult questions about whether they are still equipped to achieve their social missions without major adjustments to their thinking, strategy, and work. A growing number of activists today think civic institutions will be useless in the coming fight to defend a generation of social progress and protect society’s most vulnerable. If groups don’t undertake a process to radically evolve their …

Thinking outside the circle | George Woods

In our hurly-burly times, it seems that the circle is no longer the shape to form in decision-making, or in organising social change. As an alternative, activism might instead adopt structures, tactics and decisions that accommodate the ideas, experiences, prejudices, identities and voices of every one of those teeming individuals. In the plural, decentralised network, consensus is more important than ever. …

State of Evaluation 2016: Evaluation Capacity and Practice in the Nonprofit Sector

Recent findings (from 2016) about how nonprofits engage in evaluation, and the capacities and characteristics of their organizations. "Funding for evaluation is also moving in the right direction, with more nonprofits receiving funding for evaluation from at least one source than in the past"... but... "In most organizations, pivotal resources of money and staff time for evaluation are severely limited or …

Relay: Peer-to-peer texting

Mobilize your base. Relay harnesses the power of peer-to-peer texting to help you reach more people in less time and turn real conversations into action. As used in the Bernie campaign.

The Performance Review is Dead. Long Live the Performance Review

Clear, open, and candid conversations should be had regularly with your reports—way more often than once a year. They shouldn’t just happen on the fly, though. Real-time feedback is important, but only if everyone on the team feels they can contribute, not just “management.” By establishing that each person has both a stake and a voice in the review process, …

Upcoming learning opportunities and events

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

Digital Activism Training | 6-8 December, Brisbane

Learn how to get maximum online impact for your campaign We encourage activists and grassroots campaigners of all skill levels to attend. The training will suit those already working on a campaign and will be useful to newcomers looking to get involved. Thinking strategically about campaigning online Tools and tactics in the digital space Basic website setup Social media Media …

Community-based social marketing workshops | 20-23 March, Melbourne

This two-day workshop provides a comprehensive introduction to community-based social marketing and how it is being applied throughout the world to foster sustainable behaviour. Those who attend the workshop will learn the five steps of community-based social marketing (selecting behaviours, identifying barriers, developing strategies, conducting pilots, and broad scale implementation) and be exposed to numerous case studies illustrating its use. …

Progress | 6-7 June, Melbourne

Our world is at a crossroads, and there has never been a more important time for civil society to come together and strengthen our efforts to make Australia a more just, sustainable and welcoming nation. Progress is the key biennial event that gathers, energises, and propels forward Australia’s leading campaigners, advocates and change-makers. Every sector – from aid to the …

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