Transformative Organising with Frontline Communities

What is Organising?

“Community organising” is a term on more and more people’s lips these days. But what is it? And how can it be a part of strategies for large-scale social transformation?

This training will focus on one particular organising tradition: Transformative Organising. Compared to some others, there has been less written about this approach – in part, because it is an emergent tradition where many of the practices are still being defined. However, early thinking on this practice has been defined by the US-based organiser Steve Williams, some of which he elaborated in the essay Demand Everything: Lessons from the Transformative Organising Model. 

In Europe, work is being done by several people and organisations to define this practice for the European context. Echos of this approach – including a more expansive view of power and adopting a longer strategic time horizon – are found in ECON’s publication, The Power of Organising: Stories from Community Organising Campaigns Across Europe. And a newly forming, Berlin-based organisation called Organising Re:Generation, is attempting to develop a systematized training approach to support the growth of this tendency. 

This training will be both rooted in the theory of Transformative Organising, as well as a hands-on and very practical approach to how the skills of organising can be applied in the field. You don’t need to have had formal training in organising to get a lot out of this course. And if you are already a trained organiser, this training is designed to help push your thinking about your practice further. Together, we will look at how Transformative Organising can be applied to building power within communities that are “closest to the pain” of our unjust system, and how we can build the power we need to achieve large-scale social transformation from below. 

We will explore ideas and practices related to:

• Transformative organising with frontline communities
• The role of the organiser
• Concepts of power and tools for power analysis
• Developing a long term agenda for structural change
• Combining organising and mobilising in movement building processes
• Organising through one to one conversations
• Power mapping and collective strategy building
• Care, regenerative organising and intersectionality

The aims of the training are:

• Understand transformative organising and its practices
• Analyze and build power through organising
• Explore roes and toyboxes of organisers
• Think strategically in organising processes
• Reflect on care and intersectionality

Through a blend of participatory education and immersive learning you will:

• Practice building relationships with one-to-one conversations
• Develop a long-term agenda for your group/organisation/campaign
• Map power and develop a strategy to build power in your context
• Plan how to use transformative organizing strategically in your work

Who is it aimed at?

Anyone involved in socially engaged action addressing ecological, political and social justice issues. We embrace a broad definition of activism, including: Resistance – action preventing further damage to ecosystems and social justice; Renewal – action focused on developing and creating alternatives for healthier societies and communities; and Building Resilience – action supporting increased resilience in communities to weather the uncertain times ahead.