Action Group Meetings
Resources to help your group work well together and achieve your objectives; highlights some group habits and actions that resilient community groups have relied on.
Sustaining self-care
A workshop that allows participants to reflect about sustainability (self-care, to practice techniques for long-term sustainability, and increase awareness of what balances them (and what depletes their energy).
SWOT analysis
An activity to examine internal and external factors that hinder or facilitate a group’s advocacy strategy. This is a useful activity to help you refine goals, objectives, and activities.
Lessons from the Lock the Gate Movement
Veteran campaigner Drew Hutton (2012) identifies lessons the traditional environment movement might learn from the Lock the Gate ‘green-farmer’ alliance.
Participant agreements
A list of agreements developed by Bill Moyer for participating in workshops and meetings that encourage respectful and responsible participation.
The World Social Forum: another world is possible
James Whelan (2003). Reflections on the 2003 WSF in Porto Allegre, Brasil.
Organisational Learning and the NGO
Steph Walton. A critical reflection on mass convergence as a protest tool employed for refugee advocacy.
Killer phrases: Keeping a pro-stagnation attitude
A useful reminder to build a healthy sense of our agency and potential.
Defend Freedom: national security and human rights
Justin Whelan’s succinct analysis of Australian campaigns to protect human rights in the ‘war on terror’. Draws on Moyer’s Movement Action Plan.
Problem tree analysis
This exercise is used to analyse the root causes of a problem and to identify the primary consequences. The tree provides a visual structure for the analysis. Developed by Lisa VeneKlasen and Valerie Miller.
Effective facilitation
Resources for developing effective facilitation skills. Topics covered include: tips for facilitators; running effective meetings; forming agendas; testing for agreement; and decision making models.
Pacing Yourself for the Journey
‘How to Avoid Burnout and Thrive while Working to Change the World’ – a terrific resource developed by Berit Lakey; George Lakey, Rod Napier, and Janice Robinson.
Facilitation interventions
Ten facilitation techniques to use when certain common meeting problems occur.
Consensus decision making
An overview of requirements and guidelines for effective consensus decision-making, as well as some variations and difficulties that may be encountered.
Tensions within a group
Well functioning groups are aware of these tensions and work together to manage and respond to them as needed. Facilitators can assist by observing, acknowledging and actively managing these tensions as they arise.
Vision gallery
A tool for envisioning specific features of the kind of society participants would like to create, and facilitating development of a common vision and shared values.