Season Three – Outlines and Videos
Session Three of the ChangeMakers Organising School will begin on 15 October, with eight weeks of change making content. We provide all the content overviews, slides, relevant articles and edited videos of the trainings here. You can register for season 3 here.
Session One – October 15
Theory of Change
To kick off season three we discuss the concept of theory of change. Theory of change is a broadly used term to describe the process by which movements or organisations conceive how they will achieve the change they mean. In the first half, Isabella Morand will break this down by using the ‘Strategies of People Power’ that we have presented earlier (playing by the rules, mobilising, organising, prefigurative and parties).
In the second half we will have three presenters dig into the ‘organising’ theory of change (after all, we are an organising school!). We were pleased to welcome Rachel Cowcher from Amnesty International (who organise local groups around issues based change), David Barrow from the Sydney Alliance (who organise organisations around shared values) and Alex Morales from the United Workers Union (who organise constituencies around collective interest!). They’ll be unpacking their different approaches to Organising to help you reflect on your own theories of change.
You can see the recording of this session here and the slides here.
Session Two – October 22
Organising in the US Election
The US Elections are happening under the most dire of circumstances and the stakes couldn’t be higher. What are organisers and change makers doing to make a difference?
In the first half we will hear from James Slezak – a long time US resident who works in communications and digital technology. As changemakers, we want to change hearts and minds – and what we say, and who we say it to, matters. James will share lessons on how communications are shaping the election, and what we can learn from tech and testing.
In the second half we will dive into the peer-to-peer organising practices being used in the elections, in particular Deep Canvassing and Relational Organising. We have a brilliant video message from Hahrie Han explaining how relational organising works, and then Amanda Tattersall will take us through Deep Canvassing showing a conversation on the door.
You can catch up on the recording of the session here. The main slide show is here, and James’ slides are here.
Further resources on the two organising tactics we explored:
Session Three – October 29
How do you organise around economics and the budget?
In the midst of economic collapse the capacity to organise economic need and economic principles is higher that ever. But the language of economics often leaves people feeling like they don’t know what is going on or how to contribute. This session features two of Australia’s leading progressive economic thinkers, who will talk about how to organise around economics – followed by case studies of people who have done that well. They are:
- Emma Dawson, Executive Director Per Capita
- Gareth Bryant, Political Economy, University of Sydney and Real Deal Coalition.
The presentations are still being finalised, but the presentation on the Real Deal will include an outline about how that project came about, what it is arguing for and what a long term economic transformation might involve.
You can catch up on the recording here and slides here.
Session Four – November 5th
Creative Action Planning
Creative tactics that grab people’s attention and tell your story clearly are an important element of a winning campaign. This week we’ll share a model for planning a great action – a tactic to further your campaign strategy. We’ll unpack some key concepts of action design and make time for you to reflect on how to plan an effective action.
During the second half of the training, we’ll lean more into the ‘creativity’ aspect of this week – hearing from artists and troublemakers about how they’ve pulled off creative actions.
- Lauren Mellor will share her story of DIY drilling a fracking well outside NT parliament
- Charles Firth from The Chaser will reflect on how he’s used creative stunts to get the public’s attention
- Nadia Montague from Victorian Trades Hall Council will present on their incredible virtual pickett earlier this year which, with nearly 40,000 attendees, showing you can still mobilise in a pandemic!
You can catch up on the recording here and slides here.
Session Five – November 12th
Anti-racism in Organising
This session will explore how race and anti-racism campaigning are an essential feature of every justice movement. The session will aim to challenge us all on how we think about race, and to identify strategies for how we can build more inclusive movements.
Session Six – November 19th
Coaching: An Organising & change making practice
This training, led by Carly Willoughby-Rolls, will make explicit the role of coaching as a fundamental practice in organising and as an important practice within social changemaker organisations. The session aims to simplify and clarify the basics of coaching as a practice and explore and allow participants to practice how to establish coaching relationships and begin coaching.
Participants will leave better understanding what coaching is; how it fits as a practice within the organising framework, why it’s important to build coaching cultures within their organisations and; how they can begin to introduce coaching into their work to better develop agency, power and leadership in their organising and organisations.
Session Seven – November 26th
Sustainable Activism – using hope to maintain your movement
There are lots of ways to think about how we can practice sustainable activism and avoid burnout. This week we’ll be unpacking some strategies for helping groups of volunteers practice sustainability together. We’ll teach and then apply ways you can identify the structural impediments that can show up in our movements and lead to burnout.
This session will feature a case study and practical, tangible things you can apply in your work as a change maker to support groups that are strong and resilient.
Session Eight – December 3rd
Relating, Reflecting and Changing
This final session will connect the skills of relational meetings and public narrative with the art of reflection. It begins by returning to the question of public narrative (season 1, week 6). This time, the work is practical. After a quick recap of our earlier session – the focus is on providing opportunity for people to work on their political autobiography, identifying the experiences (particularly the social change experiences) that have shaped why you do what you do.
In the second half, we take that question of political narrative and apply it to relational conversations. Amanda explores how we learn through conversation (building off the previous session on mentoring and coaching) then conducts a fishbowl with a participant about learning from social change. Participants then all have a 1-1 discussion exploring what they have learnt through this session, before we finish up for 2020.