Community Empowerment: Critical Perspectives from Scotland
Akwugo Emejulu and Mae Shaw have developed a great new publication that focuses on a concern about the meaning, politics, possibilities and practices of empowerment.
Decision Making & group process
Resources to help community action groups work together, make tough decisions and attend to the maintenance as well as task dimension of group life.
The Toppling of Slobodan Milosevic
Marty Branagan (2004) exploring the role of nonviolent political action in overthrowing the Serbian dictatorship.
Work Justice and the Will of God: The Uniting Church Campaign Against WorkChoices
Using an assessment framework to devise strategic questions, Justin Whelan’s case study considers the influence of the Uniting Church social policy and justice team in campaigning against the WorkChoices legislation.
Anti freeway campaign: long term movement building
Community organising case study of a campaign to prevent freeway construction in an inner-city park. Written in 2003 by tCA member James Whelan.
Theories of change
Encourages groups to articulate their beliefs about power and agency, and to work towards a match between their beliefs and actions.
Anti whaling campaign in Australia
Rebecca Gray’s anti-whaling case study includes interviews with protagonists from the 1970s when this campaign dominated Australian environmental discourse.
Education for Building a People’s Movement
David Reed (1981) Education for Building a People’s Movement, South End Press, Boston, MA. (excellent reading on ‘social education’)
Using the composite logic model [Julia Coffman et al]
A framework for evaluating advocacy campaigns developed by the Harvard Family Research Program.
Developing Strength Through Diversity
Chapter 12, pp.158-172, of ‘Grassroots and nonprofit leadership’ (1995) Berit Lakey, George Lakey, Rod Napier, and Janice Robinson, New Society Publishers.
Free at Last: The Struggle for Independence in East Timor
In May 2002, Xanana Gusmao was sworn in as President and East Timor became world’s newest nation. Jason MacLeod’s case study explores the resistance movement and its strategy.
The role of strategy in advancing nonviolent resistance in West Papua
Jason MacLeod’s case study analyses the West Papuan struggle from the perspective of the theory and dynamics of nonviolent resistance and the strategic principles of nonviolent conflict. He begins by discussing the historical background, root causes of the...
The ‘Never Evers’ Of Workshop Facilitation
Experience and research indicate certain things that a facilitator should never do during a workshop. Peggy Sharp (National Staff Development Council)presents an overview of these in this article.
Photolanguage
An exercise to facilitate self-awareness, deepen engagement and relationships, stimulate creativity in personal expression, and connections between intellectual reflection and personal experience.
People bring numbers, time and skills
Handout with information from the CANVAS Core Curriculum to be utilised within the Mind map: Preparing for recruiting activity.
Mechanisms of change
We each have our own understandings and assumptions about how we’re most likely to achieve our campaign objective. These theories of change guide what we do and what we don’t do. How we spend our time and what we’re most strongly motivated to do. Often, our...
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.
Reformers, Reactionaries and Reinvention
Activist groups have traditionally relied on the mechanisms of liberal democracy to influence decisions. Some are now asking whether this is enough. While the more established groups become professionalised and potentially coopted through their close relationships...