Integral Activist Training for Trainers

Change is multi-layered. The social field, our organisational cultures, and the individuals within them arise in mutual dependence upon each other. Integral Activist Training supports integrated transformation on all of these levels.

There are four key areas we have defined within Integral Activist Training. It should be: Holistic, Transformative, Participatory, and Rooted in Solidarity.

TRANSFORMATIVE

To design and facilitate through the Transformative lens means shaping activist education that actively supports real change — in people, in groups, and in the wider world. Transformative training helps participants not only gain new skills or knowledge, but shift how they see, think, and act. It connects learning directly to the social and ecological struggles we are part of, ensuring that our educational work is in service of strategic, systemic transformation. As a trainer, this means creating spaces where participants can critically examine the assumptions behind their actions and views, reflect on their effectiveness and impact, and explore approaches and strategies that serve the bigger picture. Transformative training builds capacity for collective agency — helping movements become more reflective, adaptive, and powerful. It recognises that education should be a practice of freedom (as Paulo Freire described it): engaging critically and creatively with reality to enable meaningful collective action. To be Transformative, training work needs to be strategic, connected, responsive, able to hold complexity, and oriented towards ‘the good of the whole’.

PARTICIPATORY

To make activist education Participatory means designing and facilitating learning spaces where everyone is actively engaged in shaping the process and the outcomes. Participation goes beyond simply involving people — it’s about co-creation, collective inquiry, and shared ownership of learning. Drawing on traditions of popular and experiential education, Participatory training challenges the hierarchical, teacher-student cultures of knowledge transfer. While honouring that there is important responsibility to be taken in holding the position of ‘facilitator’ or ‘trainer’, Participatory approaches assume that everyone has something to offer as well as something to learn, and is bringing valuable experience and perspective to the group, from their unique position. The facilitators’ work is to find ways to draw this knowledge and experience in.

For activist-trainers, this means designing sessions that are experience-based, dialogical, and responsive to the needs and realities of those present. It involves creating opportunities for peer-to-peer exchange, experimentation, and critical reflection — balancing structure with openness to what can emerge through genuine collaboration. Participatory education helps us learn from each other’s struggles, strengthen solidarity, and build the collective agency we need for effective action. When everyone participates fully, learning becomes dynamic, creative, and alive — the group’s intelligence can be expressed in a way that is greater than the sum of its parts.

HOLISTIC

To design and facilitate through a Holistic lens means recognising the interdependence of all dimensions of change — the personal, the interpersonal, the socio-political, and the ecological. A holistic approach to activist education invites us to work with the whole system and the whole person. It values clarity of thought and strategic analysis, but also recognises that deep transformation requires engaging our emotions, bodies, and relationships. As trainers, this means creating learning spaces that speak to the intellect, the heart, and the senses — places where people can think critically, feel deeply, and connect meaningfully with themselves, each other, and the living world around them.

Holistic learning develops emotional literacy and embodied awareness, supporting resilience and long-term engagement. It honours the wisdom held in our felt experience as well as in our collective field of interaction, understanding that how we relate is part of what we learn. When we bring these dimensions together, we foster a more integrated form of activism — one that can sustain both people and movements, and that reflects the systemic nature of the changes and impacts we are seeking.

ROOTED IN SOLIDARITY

To work in ways that are Rooted in Solidarity means ensuring that our educational practice actively embodies the values we strive for in the wider world. It calls on us to pay attention to how power operates within our groups — noticing the positions we each hold, how our identities and worldviews shape our relationships, and how these dynamics influence the learning process itself. As activist-trainers, this means designing spaces that help participants recognise and navigate these complexities with skill and care, turning awareness of difference into a resource for deeper connection and collective strength.

Being rooted in solidarity goes beyond simply inviting participation or representation; it is about cultivating an ethical orientation that resists reproducing systems of domination. It asks us to hold a strong sense of grounding in our shared humanity, and to act from values that move beyond guilt, shame, or reactivity. In practice, this means fostering cultures of respect, accountability, and mutual support — learning environments where people can bring their full selves and engage with honesty and compassion. When we do this well, our training not only reflects but also practices embodying the kind of world we are working to create: one based on justice, care, and connection.

So this course will help you to:

• Think about activist education in a holistic way — connecting personal, interpersonal, and political dimensions of change.
• Deepen your training practice through reflection, dialogue, and supported experimentation.
• Design trainings with strategic intent, linking educational work to broader social and ecological goals.
• Use participatory and experiential methods that make learning collective, engaging, and relevant.
• Develop awareness and skills for navigating power and difference within groups and movements.
• Foster learning environments that build connection and resilience — with ourselves, each other, and the wider living world.
• Strengthen group cultures that support collaboration, critical reflection, and shared agency.
• Explore transversal approaches to movement building, working across issues and perspectives towards common purpose.
• Practise designing sessions, receiving constructive feedback from peers and facilitators.
• Exchange experience and insight with other activist-trainers, building a supportive network for ongoing learning.

Who is it aimed at?

Activist – trainers involved in and through training practice supporting 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.

Note that this training is aimed at activists already in training/facilitation roles and with experience of holding activist educational spaces. 

The main spoken language on the course will be English.

For accessibility and venue information see <here>.