{"id":7510,"date":"2015-03-03T12:19:29","date_gmt":"2015-03-03T17:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/?p=7510"},"modified":"2019-11-06T03:29:45","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T08:29:45","slug":"where-can-i-learn-how-to-change-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/story\/7510\/where-can-i-learn-how-to-change-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Where can I learn how to change the world?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I ask successful activist-organizers this question they basically all say the same thing: you learn by doing it. You jump right in and start acting, usually by joining an existing group and soaking up all the knowledge you can, and most often from your mistakes.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how it was for me too. I joined a grassroots community group working on environmental and anti-war campaigns twelve years ago and I\u2019m still learning. Knowledge gained through experience is probably the most valuable, but as a seasoned activist I know that we lose a lot of precious time by letting new people to our movement start from scratch. With the threats to humanity and the planet so imminent, we simply don\u2019t have time to waste. \u00a0Are you asking the same question I have –\u00a0there must be a another way?<\/em><\/p>\n

Institutionalized educational programs about social change may sound like a good idea, but they are usually of limited use because the contexts and short-term goals of our work can shift a lot from year to year. They\u2019re also most applicable to students who might be interested in the field, but not necessarily likely to get involved in social change work. You can learn broad strokes about how social change was made in the past, mainly in political science or sociology classes, but they tend to be overly theoretical. And even though a few academic programs do teach more practical skills, that doesn\u2019t mean activists should just drop all the important change work we\u2019re doing and enroll. Or that classes will be financially accessible or timed right for the people in the best position to use what\u2019s being taught: those on the frontlines organizing to build power, reclaim human dignity, and ensure the survival of the planet.<\/p>\n

The most useful \u201ceducation\u201d I\u2019ve ever received about campaigning and social change aside from experience, has come from the activist community itself, through mentorship, issue-focussed gatherings, planning meetings, self-organized skillshares, and the powerful relationships we build over time. So the real questions becomes –\u00a0how can we do this better?<\/em><\/p>\n

In recent years there has been an upsurge in movement-led projects trying to share activist skills more broadly and efficiently. For example, Greenpeace Canada has been a member of\u00a0Tools for Change<\/a>\u00a0for the past four years. \u00a0A Toronto-based collective that organizes about 15-20 skill-based trainings a year on a range of important topics, from media relations and public speaking, to campaign strategy and meeting facilitation. Most of the trainings aren\u2019t prescriptive; they facilitate learning through trainers and curriculum, but ultimately ask participants to share their experiences and apply the workshop content to their own groups and campaigns. They’re also taught by people working in the movement. It\u2019s not learning to get a degree, it\u2019s learning to win.<\/p>\n

By partnering with other social change organizations to administer Tools for Change, we\u2019re pooling resources so that more activists in our community get the 411 on social change and we\u2019re not all organizing trainings for our own groups in isolation. There\u2019s also the added benefit of movement building and collaboration, as different types of activists have the opportunity to share, learn and network. By focussing our trainings on concrete skills rather than abstract theories, participants are able to apply them immediately to the campaigns they\u2019re working on and the goals of their groups.<\/p>\n

When new members join your group, send them to one of our trainings to learn from other experienced activists. It not only speeds up their development, but it helps ensure that your core group doesn\u2019t burnout constantly retraining others. There are scholarships available to make the program more accessible and partner organizations can send their members to Tools for Change trainings for free. \u00a0(Click here<\/a>\u00a0to find out more about being a partner or community sponsor).<\/p>\n

Greenpeace has also been organizing public\u00a0Earth Defenders trainings<\/a>\u00a0and action camps, for our volunteers and people from the broader social change community who want to learn the basics of non-violent direct action (NVDA), organizing and campaigning. Non-violence and direct action are two of Greenpeace\u2019s core values and NVDA is one of the most under-taught skills in our movement. Participants learn about the long-standing tactic of directly intervening in the issues that affect our lives and all the components needed to organize a successful action.<\/p>\n

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If you\u2019re not in Toronto or near one of our trainings don\u2019t fret, Greenpeace isn\u2019t the only one trying to skill up our movement. Here are a bunch more movement-based organizations offering great trainings and educational tools that can help your group:<\/p>\n