Rhizome Blog
Here you’ll find stories of successful organising, training and facilitation, what’s new in these areas already helping us build the world we want, news of Rhizome’s activities, and news of upcoming events. Have a browse or use the search for interesting topics we’ve written on. Please do feel free to comment and leave your own reflections – we feel that we’re on this learning journey, together.
Fundraiser for Palestine
The organisers say: The legal aid fund was inspired by the successes of a similar fund during the South African apartheid movement which made a real difference by fundraising for legal action. Among its many successes was the defence of Nelson Mandela from the death penalty in 1963. The legal aid fund for Palestine is […]
Studying direct action at the University of Life – in Leeds
Last night’s workshop went well. Over 20 energetic, thoughtful and committed students came to share their views and experiences of nonviolent direct action, and to build on their knowledge and skills. The workshop was moved to the building currently occupied by students as part of their protest against cuts. A fitting venue. We explored what […]
Power and privilege
Platform emailed to give us a heads up about their new power & privilege training. This kind of work has been going on in the US and elsewhere in activist circles for a long time. It’s building momentum here in the UK and Platform’s work is a welcome step on the way. I look forward to […]
Studying direct action at the university of life…
I find myself in two minds about the student protest. On the one hand I’m relieved that there’s some resistance and that it’s (at least for now) sizeable. In recent months and years we’ve missed so many opportunities for making change as a nation, and as a species. The immediacy of climate change should have […]
Campaigning – a SMART choice?
Thanks (again!) to Dwight Towers for bringing Political Dynamite’s recent post redefining SMART objectives for campaigners to our attention. If you’ve read our ramblings on Strategy you’ll know we’re engaged in a constant quest to find ways to make strategic campaign/action planning accessible, and this is a step on the way. All that business language, […]
The agenda-less meeting: more musings
In the first part of this post fingers were compelled to keyboard by Chris Johnston’s post in which he critiqued the traditional activist meeting. He finished by promising us ideas for alternatives and has shared his thoughts in his latest post Birth of the activity meeting. I’m more in tune with this post than his […]
Rainbow lobbyers: training the trainers
Greenpeace UK have a vision of having a trained lobbyist in every constituency in the UK. Their reputation is in taking direct action, but lobbying MPs (and I include MSPs, AMs and MLAs in that), MEPs, councilors and corporate representatives is also an essential part of the work they do. To that end, this weekend, […]
The agenda-less meeting?
Thanks to Dwight Towers for nudging me towards Chris Johnston on social change. In particular I’m mulling over Chris’s post Death to the agenda meeting. Like Chris I’d also invite you to take a look at Dwight’s post Adventures in the Liminal Zone – why do newbies not come back? and the discussion that it provoked. […]
Communicating Climate Change
Chris Rose of Campaign Strategy has drawn our attention to Earthscan’s latest Earthcast – a “free live interactive web event”. This one’s on Communicating Climate Change and will help you to: Learn behaviour change strategies for encouraging sustainable lifestyles and communities Learn effective communications strategies for engaging the public with climate change – (and why […]
Shared planets and open spaces: part 2
It seems like I’m blogging about Open Space with regularity nowadays. Awareness of the technique is clearly growing amongst the campaigning NGOs and networks with whom I do a lot of my work. And it’s being used to good effect. Of course it’s a far from perfect methodology and some of the issues were […]
Your meetings needn’t be so appalling
Regular commentator on this blog, Dwight Towers, brought the 30 year old booklet Co-operative and Community Group Dynamics…. or your meetings needn’t be so appalling to my attention. My interest was piqued so I found myself a secondhand copy. I can confirm it’s well worth a read. 30 years on and many of the lessons […]
Consensus, self-organising and clear identity
For weeks (if not months), I’ve been meaning to go back to a post I read on emergence. Today I started the journey, leaping from one stepping stone to another and now have two streams of thought competing for attention – one around strategy and the other around groups and consensus. I’ll stick with this […]
Introducing consensus to non-consensus groups
It’s common for people who value consensus to want to make the meetings they have as part of their everyday lives more consensual. So the question of how to use consensus in more traditional, often hierarchical, settings comes up regularly. Saturday’s Transition Leicester group was no exception and it’s spurred me to share a few […]
Transitioning to consensus: in Leicester
On Saturday I had the rare experience of having to walk just a few hundred yards from home to deliver a 1 day workshop on consensus decision making to the good folk of Transition Leicester. We met in the Friends Meeting House (well-priced, good access, well equipped kitchen, lovely garden). The group was wide-ranging in […]
Footpaths – Community Carbon Reduction: lessons learnt
Emily, from Transition Leicester, and I finally got round to debriefing the Footpaths Community Carbon Reduction training for trainers that we co-facilitated in September. We’re preparing for the first of 2 drop-in evening sessions to give ongoing support to facilitators and wanted to ensure we’d learnt the lessons of the training for trainers. Whilst the […]
Collaborative writing online: part 2
We recently blogged about the Kolabora website’s mini guide to collaborative online tools. Now we’d like to bring your attention to Wikipedia’s Comparison of project management software which neatly complements Kolabora’s guide. Kolabora gives more of a detailed description, but the Wikipedia info is neatly tabulated and crucially, for me, shows which software is open […]
Transition Trainers’ Dreaming Circle for “Groups
Here’s some news in from Transition Networks folks…. Are you a trainer, workshop leader, consultant or coach who teaches people how to get groups to work well? Are you interested in joining a collaborative group sharing good practice and developing cutting edge workshops? Would you like to be part of a group of practitioners offering […]
Radical Wales
For those of you in Wales, or with an interest in all things Welsh, check out the Radical Wales website for articles, discussion and a calendar of activism, protest and events.
Just do it: £20k in 20 days…..
more info? Just Do It: website|facebook|twitter|youtube
Consensus: the deep end
13 participants and 4 facilitators, including myself, gathered in Oxford this weekend for Consensus: in at the deep end a full weekend workshop to explore consensus decision-making in more depth than consensus training usually allows. Of course consensus is a widely used word. You hear it everywhere – the Blairs, Browns and Camerons of this […]
Preparing for a Crude Awakening
Another day, another journey to London… this time to run a workshop to help people prepare for A Crude Awakening, October 16th’s mass action against oil. Numbers were low and it took a while for enough people to gather to run the session (on holding space creatively with everyday equipment such as bicycle locks) effectively, […]
Cycling to Palestine
3 months cycling to Palestine, engaging with communities along the way, especially communities of resistance. Sharing stories, creating a story. Using performance and art, perhaps building up an international troupe of performers. All the while highlighting the struggles and resistance of the Palestinian people. Sound exciting? On Sunday I was working with a group of […]
Conflict resolution for capacity builders
Rhizome is a regular contributor to the meetings of the NGO Forum, an informal meeting of capacity building and network staff from campaigning organisation that have, or aspire to, a local group network. As a result of our involvement with the NGO Forum, we’re planning a conflict resolution course designed specifically for the needs of […]
Lights, cameras, direct action!
Those nice folk at South Coast Climate Camp have been putting their video cameras to good use and producing a series of short guides to effective direct action. Guides include 4 different style of petrol station action, including outreach, rooftop occupations, blockades, and interviews. Refreshingly humourous, and not above highlighting their own mistakes. There’s also […]
Local groups: successes and challenges
The NGO Forum met on Thursday at WDM’s offices in London. The session focused on learning from each other about supporting local group networks. The topic was obviously a hot one as about a dozen new organisations responded to the publicity and joined the session. Many of them are at the early stages of founding […]
Clicktivism & critical paths
We’ve touched on online activism before on this blog and spent quite a lot of time on strategy. So it seems appropriate to mention Chris Rose’s latest campaign strategy newsletter particularly the Degrees of Annoyance article sparked by recent controversy over the e-campaigning methods of 38 Degrees. Well worth taking the time to read. And […]
A crude awakening
If you haven’t already, take a look at the crude awakening website for details of the latest UK mass mobilisation against oil and tar sands – Saturday, 16 October 2010 If you’re an affinity group planning to take part and in need of some nonviolent direct action or affinity group building training – we might […]
Breaking up is hard to do?
In a facilitation skills workshop back in the summer a participant asked about ways to break up a group into small groups. I threw the question back at the participants and suggested they could easily think of at least 10 ways to create small groups. We stopped at 12. Here’s their list which was the […]
Building Bridges
Monday saw me on an early train to Wellington, Shropshire to facilitate Bridge’s staff and trustee ‘Visioning’ away day. It was a fairly short notice piece of work for me, but made much more possible by the clear brief and draft agenda Bridges’ co-ordinator provided. The real pleasure about this job was that using participatory […]
Campaign courses at CAT
An old friend emailed with details of two campaigning courses at Centre for Alternative Technology this autumn, which she’s involved in teaching. They might be right for your organisations or your local group: PEOPLE POWER! Campaigning Skills That Make A Difference Fri 5th November to Sun 7th November 2010 Are you: Part of a group […]
Footpaths – Community Carbon Reduction: training the facilitators
This weekend myself and Emily Hodgkinson (process worker, facilitator and Transition Leicester stalwart) co-facilitated a day and a half training for facilitators at Leicester’s Eco House. More specifically facilitators of the Transition Leicester Footpaths: Community Carbon Reduction project, which I’ve blogged about before. The group of 12 was made up of some people already experienced […]
Collaborative writing online
I’m just back from working with a development education organisation (more on that soon) who need to finalise the vision we were working on, and hope to do it online. I promised to send some suggestions for tools they could use, and decided to broaden my horizons in the process. So a quick thanks to […]
More strategy resources – useful tools and techniques
The folk at The Change Agency have added some new resources to the strategy pages of their website. Some of the new resources are listed and linked below, but you might like to check out the pages if you haven’t recently. Mechanisms of change (233k pdf) – An exercise which explores the different ways social […]
Shared planets and open spaces
People & Planet have opted to use Open Space Technology for the second day of their flagship conference for student campaigners: Shared Planet. Rhizome is providing support in the form of a training for Open Space facilitators; mentoring for key staff over phone and email; and then being there on the day (November 7th) to […]
Islam and climate change – book launch!
Over the years I’ve worked with London Islamic Network for the Environment a couple of times. They’re now known as Wisdom In Nature and have just produced a 20 page booklet: Islam & Climate Change: A Call to Heal Peace to you, We are delighted to announce the launch of the online version of our […]
Rainbow lobbyers
Since June, I’ve been working in a small way to support Greenpeace UK in developing a training package on political lobbying skills. The package will in turn play its part in the formation of a new network of lobbyists. Up until recently my role was simply suggesting potential improvements to the developing agenda. On Saturday […]
Footpaths – Community Carbon Reduction
In the last few weeks I’ve been working with Emily from Transition Leicester on a training for facilitators which we deliver in about 3 weeks time. The facilitators in question are going to pioneer the first round of Transition Leicester’s Footpaths project. On the surface it’s another carbon footprinting programme based on getting workmates or […]
The chemistry of storytelling
Some of you may have read our thinking on story-based strategy in previous posts. Unsurprisingly I pricked up my ears when Ron Donaldson’s The ecology of knowledge blog mentioned the chemistry of storytelling and took me to Marguerite Granat’s post which succinctly explains the role of story in our society.
Climate Camp Cymru – Meet-up info announced 13-17 August 2010
From midday on Friday 13th August you are invited to a convergence space in central Cardiff. The location of this space is Cardiff Quaker Meeting House, 43 Charles Street, Cardiff. From here people will be directed to a train station, where minibuses will be available to transport people to the the site. Experienced cyclists may […]
Loose change or climate change?
Finance Team at Climate Camp are appealing for your cash. Here’s what they have to say: Dear everyone, The Edinburgh camp starts next week, but we really need some cash NOW. If you’re coming and can make a donation now, ahead of the camp, please do today. Or if you can’t come, but you support […]
Strategy: that's all folks!
Our experiment with strategy-themed posts is over … hopefully you’ve found it worthwhile. We’ll continue writing about participation, activism, consensus and more (including strategy) and bring you a new theme later in the year. Tell us what you’d like that theme to be – use the comments fields below, send us an email, give us […]
Strategy and activism: hairdresser or architect?
As promised here are some edited highlights from the interview with Milan Rai and Gabriel Carlyle. The interview was recorded on a small digital voice recorder in a tent at the Peace News Summer Camp. Unsurprisingly the sound quality was low and I won’t inflict it on you. Instead I’ve trawled through it and transcribed […]
Reporting back from Peace News
Over the course of Sunday and Monday I facilitated 3 two-hour workshops at the Peace News Summer Camp. I also grabbed the opportunity to pin down Milan Rai and Gabriel Carlyle, of the Peace News editorial team as well as long-term activists and movement builders, to interview them about strategy. More of that when I’ve […]
Mind your language
I have to admit to regularly using the word ‘guys’ to refer to my fellow human beings whether male or female. To me it has always seemed gender-neutral and I’ve used it with no conscious gender connotations. But no more. Two events happened in quick succession on Monday. At the end of my ‘advanced facilitation’ […]
Consensus: in at the deep end
Upcoming workshop: 8th-10th October 2010 Plunge into a deeper exploration of consensus and facilitation in activist movements – whether in small or large groups, networks, open or closed groups. This weekend is for people with experience of facilitating consensus who want to deepen their skills and understanding, to share problems and look for solutions. It […]
Strategy resources – useful tools and techniques
As promised at the start of our strategy conversation, here are some links for further reading and tools and techniques: Readers of our blog may be familiar with story based strategy as told by smartMeme, particularly their Re:Imagining Change publication. They also have downloadable worksheets for the various strategy steps, also on their resources page. […]
Online activism
Just been emailed to tell me about the .Activist ‘Online Campaigning’ conference on 7th August. Looks like a useful resource for activists and all those that work with them:
The values of strategy?
I’ve been working up an agenda for a 2 hour strategy workshop at the Peace News Summer Gathering – co-facilitated by Rich at Seeds for Change. It’s great timing – happening alongside the conversation that’s been taking place on this blog about strategy. We want to start where people are at and help them explore […]
Strategy: a small NGO perspective
Peter Chowla from the Bretton Woods Project shares some insights on strategy for small NGOs, taken from the BWP’s current round of strategic planning. You can hear his thoughts in this 10 minute interview: pchowla_interview We’ve also transcribed a few nuggets below: Why do strategy? Seven Years on [from our last strategic review], after a […]