Community Organising Training Intro

January 2015

CO Programme Objectives and Targets2011-2014

Train a new generation of community organisers

Support creation of neighbourhood groups, especially in the most deprived areas

Act as catalyst for social action

Create critical mass of community organisers

Use digital media to share experiences & action

Set up a legacy body

• Train 5000 COs• 500 with bursaries and• 4500 volunteers

• CO targets: • Learn to listen• Find volunteers• Listen to 500 people• Build a network• Find project ideas &

leaders• Achieve a certificate in

Foundations in Community Organising

Since 2011 we have:

listened to over 150,000

residents

Supported 4000

volunteers

Grant funded over 100

employers

Worked with over 150

hosts

Worked in over 400

neighbourhood

s

Supported over 1500 community

projects

Recruited over 540

community organisers

Volunteer Training Partners Programme

NottinghamSouthamptonStockportBristol x2TelfordSheffieldLondon x2DevizesBrightonLincolnHalifaxMerseysideNewcastleBirmingham

A definition of community development

• Community development involves changing the relationships between ordinary people and people in positions of power, so that everyone can take part in the issues that affect their lives. It starts from the principle that within any community there is a wealth of knowledge and experience which, if used in creative ways, can be channelled into collective action to achieve the communities' desired goals.

• Community development practitioners work alongside people in communities to help build relationships with key people and organizations and to identify common concerns. They create opportunities for the community to learn new skills and, by enabling people to act together, community development practitioners help to foster social inclusion and equality.

The history and evolution of ‘community work’

• mid-late 1800s: ‘settlement’ movement, philanthropy, campaigning dimension with explicit remedial ‘improvement’ work• 1900: early trade unions and guilds, churches and charitable

foundations• 1930s-1950s: re-housing, post war, new towns, modern estates

‘create sense of community’

The history and evolution of ‘community work’

• 1960s: community work as the preventative arm of social work, volunteering takes off – therapeutic, morally worthy, educational –Late 60s’ - 1970s: Community Development Projects – social participation policies - community pathology• radical community work – Marxist & anarchist economic theories and

equalities & liberation movements, ‘class struggle’ squatters movement• 1979 – 1995: Nanny state – individualisation; professionalisation of

community work, link to local authorities

The history and evolution of ‘community work’

1996 -2010: capacity building, LSPs and LAAs - service delivery – burn-out

Community development work

• ‘amateur’ until 1960s• Became an occupation, with standards,

qualifications, professional development• Ambiguous– leading to government co-

option/manipulation of language overpromising and under delivering• Independence under threat• Often became about ‘consultation’, local

government ‘engagement’ and managing dissent

Community development: characteristics

• not mutually exclusive to community organising – it’s a continuum and both do great stuff!

• Often unable to offer focussed listening-time or space for discovery to take place

• Doesn’t have such a restrained, patient and sustained focus on the individual

• Tendency to move people and groups to ‘formality’ – meetings, constituting, capacity building

• Hence tends not to be organic and emergent• As a result of the above can end up working with the most able people• Sometimes reluctant to rock the boat – local relationships can be

complex – can be compromised which acts as an inhibitor

Community development: characteristics

• doesn’t get right to the heart of the personal – so limited opportunity to ignite the political • Has a more jargon-laden language• Less power-aware• Funding is short term and therefore so (often) is the work

Characteristics of CO• As already stated CO and CD are not mutually exclusive but lie within or along a

spectrum of distinct and interconnected people development approaches

• Community organising differs from community development because it's intention is to fundamentally challenge power as it is - to get to root causes and shift power blocks

• Community organisers seek to find the community’s agenda, rather than working on an agenda predetermined by employers, funders, local and national government

• Animating and organising works with people’s passion – to transform it into powerful positive social action that tackles causes not just symptoms.

• Animators wake people up to themselves, to each other and to possibility

• Organisers organise and focus collective energy/ power to shift established barriers and power blocks

• Organisers work with power - by building it, using it and by challenging it democratically – they understand power and are not afraid of it

• It’s a political activity

What do Organisers do?

Organisers listen to people and encourage dialogue. They do not bring any message or seek any specific outcome. Listening is the key.

They listen to hundreds of people – one to one and then in groups. They are looking for the anger & passion that motivates people to act. Then they help to organise action on these things.

Actions may aim to change the powerful or to create a DIY response, or both. Actions come from analysing power and identifying where change can come from.

Actions may be entirely new solutions or may build on existing work. The goal is an intelligent shift of power to citizens & communities.

• Listening, 121 conversations, building trust with

no agenda or pre-set outcome

• Developing networks and decision-making

systems

• Supporting people to find solutions and take

action

• Targetting decision-makers and power-holders

Community Organising – four stages

What skills do Organisers use?

ListeningActivatingCold-callingDigitalFacilitatingCampaigningGroup supportProblem solving

CoachingReflectionOrganisationAnalysing dataQuestioningMediatingNetworkingCommunicating

Listening, Leaders, Networks Systematic listening process using 121 conversations Build trust, relationships & networks Ignite the impulse to act Find people willing to take action, support leaders Choose a cause Identify and target power, mobilise people, create

change Act and reflectBuild a network/organisation/community

Training: core understanding

Broadly, community organisers need to understand three areas:

Personal: self: awareness, motivation, impact Power: why community organising matters Process: how does change happen?

Core knowledge and skills of organisers

CORE KNOWLEDGE• Some history & theory

community organising• Kinds of power• Models of change

CORE SKILLS• Action:reflection• Listening-dialogue-relationships-

networks• Community action

Community organising is all about voluntary action. People coming together to take action in their community. They might call themselves neighbours, activists, leaders, campaigners, organisers, helpers, friends, citizens, agitators, doers, supporters. They are giving their time freely, so they are volunteering.

Approaches to CO in the UK

• Community Organisers programme

• Root Solutions – Listening Matters

• Citizens UK

• Movement for Change

• Church Action on Poverty

• Quaker Social Action

Approaches to Community Organising in the UK