A toolkit to social movement resilience
This course aims to strengthen economic literacy for activists across Europe to develop a deeper understanding about alternative economy, the mental models that sustain it, the tools and practises that are making it possible and how this can be harnessed and used to create economic sustainability for social movements in Europe. The course will navigate from a deeper understanding of our current economic mainstream system through a more human, collaborative and critical economics. This training is hosted as part of the Ulex South Project
Key learning blocks:
– Economic Literacy. While the knowledge around the function of Capitalism is widespread, there is a general tendency to enact the current economic model as a single way of producing, managing and bringing to the world. Therefore, finding a different pathway of economics, beyond growth-oriented capitalism, is urgent to create the different story that we want to act in. This course aims to address the knowledge void through a historical and systematic analysis of the system. We will be looking at what we mean with Alternative Economics (AE), what mental models underlie it, what type of AE exists currently, how we can understand ourselves in this context to become real agents and what tools are available.
– Economic sustainability for social movements. The course revolves around this question: How can we create resilience within our movements and through our networks so that activism becomes sustainable and can be sustained throughout time?
We will explore this question first by creating a space to reflect together, debate and analyse the challenges social movements face in terms of sustainability. Using systems thinking to explore the root causes and its complexities. The reflection will serve as a base for the prototyping of new ideas for their particular contexts.
Following this, we will present concrete case studies so that we can explore living alternatives.
– Tools and prototyping. The course vision is to be a practical collaborative laboratory where participants explore alternative economic tools that can be brought into dialogue with their concrete situations so that space is created for the emergence of prototyped solutions.
The course underpinning framework is action research. We use theory and case studies to instigate collective reflection and tools to put into action potential solutions.
We will be looking at:
Tools
Case studies:
In this course we will:
1) Strengthen and reinforce a critical economic analysis.
2) Gain a deeper understanding of Alternative Economics (AE).
3) Apply systems thinking and complexity to the economic analysis of social movements.
4) Identify the mental models underpinning alternative solutions.
5) Be able to identify key features and uses of at least 3 AE tools.
6) Gain sufficient practice based knowledge to draft an idea-solution to work with back in their groups.
Approaches and Methodologies:
Through participatory, reflective and experiential practices we will enable deep personal and collective learning. The use of case studies and applied group work will complement reflection with tools for action. Action Research will be one of our pillar methods, together with Complex living systems theory, Social Theatre, Design thinking Gaming.
References:
In the solidarity economy:
(See details of our approach to radical economics here)
Contact us
to apply
Location:
Jeroen (he/him pronouns) has been involved in grassroots social movements for more than two decades now, starting back when he was fifteen. Throughout the years the fights for “climate justice” and “migrant justice” have been consistently on top of the list of struggles that make his heart beat faster. A key transformative moment for Jeroen was reading Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Freire’s revolutionary pedagogy gave him a language to support the creation of emancipatory learning environments, rooted in a desire for collective liberation. Jeroen has also been exploring in depth Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed and Joanna Macy’s The Work That Reconnects among other methodologies to build his trainer’s toolkit. Inspired by the liberatory possibilities of these traditions, he started an organization with a friend, LABO vzw, based in Belgium, where he has worked as a trainer and campaigner between 2013 and 2023.
Tools for effective and sustainable activism
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new stories: different worlds
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Knowledge, skills and perspectives to challenge oppression and create spaces of solidarity.
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Tools for effective and sustainable activism
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Navigating the complex terrain of migrant and migrant-solidarity organising
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an introduction to a holistic and transformative approach to activist training and facilitation
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Go to the people, learn from them. Live with them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have – Lao Tzu
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Building facilitation capacity through participatory practices.
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a space to think critically, to ask challenging and transformative questions, and find deeper inspiration and understanding to empower social change.
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building and strengthening regenerative praxis for BIPOC organisers.
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Ulex: del latín, (tojo en castellano, argelaga en catalán) nombre.
1. Arbusto espinoso de hoja perenne y floración, con gran capacidad de regeneración y resistencia. Sus púas se abren al entrar en contacto con el fuego y vuelve a brotar de los tocones carbonizados. Planta sucesional que crece bien en condiciones difíciles. Mejora la fertilidad del suelo mediante la fijación de nitrógeno, preparando el terreno para una renovada biodiversidad.
2. Una opción tradicional para encender fuegos. Arde con intensidad y brillo.
3. Un proyecto en red que aporta nutrición y fertilidad a los movimientos sociales europeos a través de la formación
