Activist Training Day Workbook

Name:____________________________________

Group (where applicable): __________________

Organiser:________________________________

Date of Course:____________________________

Servicing vs Organising

SERVICING ORGANISING Amnesty is seen as third party. Supporters own the human rights campaigns. Cold “selling” of Amnesty activism/petition signing by Community Organiser.

First step of establishing initial contacts and finding natural leaders to help recruit.

Reliance on Community Organiser to recruit, fulfil campaign objectives.

Group structures formed and activists encouraged to build the Amnesty through 1 to1 organising at stalls and events.

Results achieved, but likely to be short term. Results obtained through sustained efforts – more likely to be permanent.

Organisers resent volunteers for not coming to meetings or participating.

Activists make a real contribution to campaigns and identify with the vision of Amnesty. An attack on human rights is on themselves.

Governments act or undermine human rights and Amnesty reacts, always on the defensive.

Amnesty has its own agenda, activists are integral to keeping governments and international mechanism to account. Positive and proactive.

Results are not seen as cumulative, one petition, one event, disconnected from broader goal of human rights impact.

Activists are empowered to plan ongoing events in the campaign and recruit leaders to help.

Notes: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Organising Agenda

1. What’s new

2. Last tasks and recognition

3. Next tasks

4. Walk through new skills needed for this task

5. Allocate tasks

6. Inoculation

7. Next meeting

SMART Objectives for Group Planning

S

It helps when your goals are SPECIFIC. Including issue and action focus, dates, resources and materials needed, and whether the group requires support to accomplish the goals.

M

It is really valuable to make your goals MEASURABLE by the date, people involved (volunteers as well as the public), how many conversations you had with people about the issue/s, and actions taken.

A

Importantly goals work much better when they are ACHIEVABLE! Do you haveenough time, people, materials, and support?

R

If your goals are REALISTIC and RELEVANT to the group, they’ll be easier toachieve. Also REVIEW and REVISE, when necessary, as the plan unfolds.

T

Ask the group if the event or activity is TIMELY in relation to the campaign asks and time of year. Also it’s really helpful to have a specific TIMELINE to accomplish your goals. Have you identified points at which you might need to pull out and replan for a later date for any number of reasons such as people getting sick, weather, campaigns changing due to political decisions? Maybe you could have an alternate action as a back up.

Notes: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Campaign Resources and Information

Campaign information is communicated through a range of resources:

Group Organiser; Leader bulletin; Regional newsletter; Training days; Activist hook ups and regional and national meetings; The website; and The Activist Portal

Check out the Activist Portal using this link:

http://www.amnesty.org.au/activist/existing­activists

Key Learnings:

1. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Actions for you and your group:

1. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Notes: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Steps to effective listening

Keep calm and attentive throughout

Show respect for what the other person is saying even if you disagree

Use body language which shows you are interested eg maintain eye contact

Don’t interrupt

Allow silences without embarrassment

Listen with awareness as to how what is being said fits with your knowledge

Listen with empathy

Listen for key points which relate to the main issue.

Reinforce the speaker by reflecting what they are saying:

What I hear you saying is.... In other words.... Do you mean...

Clarify by asking opening questions

Be committed to understanding what is being said

Exercise 1 ­ Listening in Pairs

Instructions for participants: The idea is for listeners to practice/experiment and develop your listening skills. Listening is a skill that needs to be developed Good communicators are excellent listeners 1. Form into pairs 2. One person will be the the listener the other will be the talker 3. The talker must select a topic to speak on for 3 minutes eg a book, holiday, hobby film etc) 4. listener is not to ask questions or talk at all 5. listener is not to take notes or write at all 6. at the end of 3 minutes the listener is to summarise what the talker has told them to the satisfaction of the talker 7.when everyone is ready start timing.

Exercise 2 ­ Open questions in Pairs

Instructions for participants: 1. Form into pairs 2. One person will be the the listener the other will be the talker 3. the listener only asks open questions (this may be more difficult than you think) 4. the listener does not make statements 5. the listener should mainly listen on a 70/30 rule 6. rather than doing a spiel without stopping as the talker may have done in the above activity the talker gives the listener opportunities 7. when everyone is ready start timing.

Outrage Hope Action A framework for communication… Outrage

∙ A motivator ∙ A way to overcome fear Hope

∙ A reason to come on board ∙ A way to overcome apathy Action

∙ A step in the right direction ∙ A concrete commitment, no matter how small

Outrage, Hope, Action Outrage­ Use questions­ How do you feel about... What do you think about... Are you concerned about... Do you think its right that.... Use comments­ I can’t imagine living under those conditions It seems unjust to me Hope Use questions­ Do you think its important to try and change the situation? Do you think it would make a difference if.... Action Use questions­ So will you come to our next meeting? bring a friend if you like. We are having a movie night next week, will we see you there? Use comments­ I’m glad you’re concern. We need you to: Sign this petition advertise our film night come to one of our monthly meetings

Organising Conversations Introduction: Hi there, nice to meet you, my name is.... Basic information: How is your day going? We are here to today to have a chat to people about Human Rights Educating about a campaign: Anger: Do you think its right that.... (Eg women in afghanistan have less rights than women in Australia?) Hope: Did you know that? (Eg Australia is committing over $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan that can assist the rights of women.....Amnesty international is lobbying the government to ensure that that aid money is spent appropriately and that women’s rights aren’t bargained away) Action: Would you like to (eg sign the petition, come to a film night, join our amnesty group) Handling Objections Explore: What is stopping you from.... Equalise: I can understand you’d be hesitant if...., I can see why you’d think that.... Elevate: Did you know that....... Wrap up/closure Thanks for signing the petition we’ll keep you informed about other things happening in your area. Can we add you to our group's mailing list to keep you up to date with what we are working? So we’ve talked about x,y,z and you’ve agreed that Australia should be doing more to protect the rights of …... all that’s left to do is for you to (sign the pledge/ petition/ come to our meeting next week) So we can do nothing and the plight of.... will probably not change and may even get worse. OR you could (insert action) and we could make a difference in the lives of (insert campaign)

The Three E’s to Handling Objections: 1. Explore 2. Equalise 3. Elevate Explore:

Listen to the objection

Use Questions to identify what the real concern/issue is

This will clarify for the supporter/potential supporter what their own concern is. Equalise:

Acknowledge the person’s concern/feelings­ “I understand why you’d feel that way”, “I understand why you would think that”

Build rapport by empathising

This step aims to reduce the person’s hostility

Elevate:

Continue to pose questions that allow the person to review and change their position

Help identify an alternative viewpoint

Assist them to change their attitude and get a commitment to do something

This step shifts the potential supporter to a different way of thinking about the issue.

One to one communication role plays Instructions: Use these questions as a basis for a roleplay between activists and or organisers around some of the things supporters say when we ask them to get more involved with Amnesty Question 1: Supporter: I don’t see any point in getting involved. Amnesty won’t achieve anything for (insert campaign) they have so many issues. Activist: What would you know about Amnesty? Have you ever been involved? It’s the best, I can vouch for it. If you think you can do better, why don’t you start your own NGO! FREEZE ACTION! Ask what was good and what was bad about response. Then ask the roleplayers to replay it with a more appropriate response. Possible answers could look like this: Supporter: I don’t see any point in getting involved. Amnesty won’t achieve anything for (insert campaign) they have so many issues. Activist: I can see why you would say that. There are a lot of human rights violations occurring in (insert campaign). Did you know that Amnesty has a track record of success on stopping human rights violations in many countries?

Closure­ A technique to gain commitment One of the key roles of an activist is to gain commitment from the supporter or potential supporter to do something. Its almost a definition of organising­ to move people. We know there are a number of stages in moving people. These include:

building rapport explaining the issue, building outrage developing hope that something will change

The final stage is gaining their commitment to do something for the campaign. This is when they move. We call this last stage ‘closure’ Closure Closure describes techniques to gain commitment. It may be commitment to join your local group or it may be commitment to talk to their friends, family and networks about the issues. Closure techniques assist in gaining commitment. Each closure technique:

suggests a positive action goes not give people an otu avoids questions which have a yes or no answer

The four main frameworks for closure are: 1. Direct close 2. Suggestion close 3. Choice close 4. Summary close 1. Direct Close

As you want to do something about (insert campaign) all that’s left to do is for you to sign the petition.

To make a difference you need to sign the petition/pledge card As we discussed earlier, if we are going to change this situation we need your support.

The first step is signing this petition To increase support for this campaign we’d like you to talk to a couple of others about it. look if we don’t take this opportunity now this is a unique opportunity to ensure the (insert campaign) are protected what we need

you to do now is..... 2. Suggestion Close

it seems like you are keen to learn more about (insert campaign) I would suggest you

come to (group meeting, film night or other event)

I would suggest that rather than you handing out flyers yourself, you get some friends to help you hand them out at uni.

3. Choice close

So we really have two choices here, we could not do anything and the situation for (insert campaign) will never change or we could take this unique opportunity to encourage change for the better for (insert campaign)

4. Summary close In the summary close the activist goes through what has been previously discussed with the supporter and the reasons why the decision is so obvious.

We have discussed the importance of this issue and how you feel strongly about it and we have discussed the importance of ensuring we present a strong argument to (the purpose of the campaign/who it is directed at) so the next step is for you to (come to a meeting, sign a petition)

As you agreed, the campaign is going to be more effective the more people are aware of it. So we need your help to (insert action)

These techniques have helped activist. If you start feeling tense at the closure stage, simply use one of the standard close lines you are comfortable with. We have a saying, three strikes and you’re out. If, at the point of closure the potential supporter raises an objection, attempt to handle it using the three E’s. If this doesn’t work after 2 more attempts, stop trying, you are not going to get them to support the cause. Some may feel that this approach is pushy, but what counts is how the potential supporter feels and you have to get past how you feel. It is often how you feel that stops you using some of these techniques. Good luck. We hope the techniques help you in your activism!

Key Learnings:

1. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Actions for you and your group:

1. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Notes: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Action Groups and Collaboration

Types of Collaboration: Collaborations based on interest ­ Both groups’ values relate to a fundamental

belief in human rights Collaborations based on values ­ groups share an interest in a particular issue

Notes: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Impartiality and Collaboration Amnesty International is independent of:

• All political affiliations

• All religious affiliations

• Economic incentives as we are largely

funded by individuals

Given that, Can we work with the following:

• Australian Labor Party Yes / No

• Williamstown Uniting Church Yes / No

• Resistance Yes / No

• Department of Families, Housing, Community

• Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) Yes / No

• Your local Oxfam group Yes / No

Mapping your community Relationship mapping

Community Mapping

Key Learnings:

4. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. ________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. ________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Actions for you and your group:

4. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. ________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

6. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Notes: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________