Resources

PLEASE SEE OUR NEW WEBSITE FOR HOW WE CAN SUPPORT YOU, NEW RESOURCES AND BLOGS ON WHAT’S HOT IN OUR FIELD.

On this page you’ll find a number of free resources for you to download or read online. We’re starting small but more will follow with time!

• Facilitation
• Organising and facilitating  Open Space
• Conflict resolution and mediation
• Consensus decision-making
• Working in groups
• Campaigning
• NEW Training packs – nonviolent direct action and consensus on actions
• Other people’s resources

The resources are formatted as pdfs for reading online, but if you’d like a copy formatted for printing, or an Open Office/Word version so that you can customise it to your needs, please get in touch. You’ll need Adobe Acrobat or alternatives such as kpdf or evince to viewand print these briefings.

All our works are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 England and Wales license. Modify them to your needs, but credit http://www.rhizome.coop in your revised version, and keep them share-alike. See the link above for all other conditions.

If you find these resources useful, please consider donating a small amount to support us in maintaining them and producing more. Thanks.

Facilitation

Short resources on a range of topics for trainers and meeting facilitators alike.

• Active listening – includes listening and ‘framing’
• Facilitation tools
  
• Facilitating difficult behaviour
  
• Facilitating group agreements
  
• Facilitating phone conferences
• Facilitation team roles and skills: 5 roles of facilitation
• The meeting process
• Splitting into small groups

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Organising and facilitating Open Space

• Opening an Open Space
• Stages of Open Space
• Reporting on Open Space
• Participating in Open Space
  
• Open Space report form: proforma for taking notes in Open Space

Conflict resolution and mediation

New Guides!

• What is Mediation? – includes a mediation reading list
• A State of Mind for Mediation
• Principles of Mediation
• The Stages of Mediation
• Active Listening in Mediation
• Mediation Competencies

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Consensus decision-making

New Guides!

• Consensus Decision-making – an introduction and overview
• A History of Consensus – a combined and abridged version of our two popular ‘brief history of consensus‘ blog posts
• Consensus flowchart – bringing together the values of consensus with the process

The following are links to blog posts. We’ve edited some of them into the briefings above, but there’s also more detail in many of these posts. :

• Consensus decision-making: what it is and what it is not
• Consensus decision-making: Why?
• Consensus decision-making: go with the flow
• Consensus decision-making: the first step
• Consensus decision-making: the muddle in the middle
• Consensus decision-making: weaving it all together
• Consensus decision-making: the moment of truth
• When not to use consensus
• Near-consensus alternatives: Crowd Wise

Here’s our brief guide designed to support effective participation in spokescouncils at action camps and gatherings:

• Spokescouncils
• Spokescouncils – plain text for easy customising

Here are 2 versions of our Consensus in Co-operatives briefing, produced for Co-operatives Fortnight 2011. The first is ideal for reading onscreen, the second is of print quality:

• Consensus in Co-operatives – web version
• Consensus in Co-operatives – print version

Working in groups

These are links to blog posts. At some stage in the not too distant future we hope to turn them into briefings to download and print:

• Take me to your leader : the problems of leadership in groups
• Take me to your leader 2: developing shared leadership
• Lunching out on accountability: accountability, leadership and implementing action points

Campaigning

• Face-to-face campaigning
• Speaking in public: making your talk memorable
• Public speaking resources: a handout to support your public speaking workshops – useful links further reading as well as audio and video resources

Training packs

Nonviolent direct action training packs originally prepared to support Stop New Nuclear’sFukushima anniversary action, these packs are easily customised for any group and any issue. There are 2 halves to this material – nonviolent direct action and consensus in an action setting.  They can be run separately or added together (with a few tweaks) and run as a full day session. Example agendas and all supporting materials are downloadable below:

• Pack 1: half day Nonviolent Direct Action training

1. Agenda
2. Supporting materials – Warm up activity, Photo gallery, Guide to running a Spectrum Line, Guide to Hassle Line roleplays, Guide to blockade practice, Guide to passive resistance practice, Legal scenarios quiz, Legal scenarios quiz: answers, Lock on illustrations, Evaluation form

• Pack 2: half day Consensus training focusing on quick decision-making and spokescouncils

1. Agenda
2. Supporting materials – Warm up activity, Chairs game cards, Fishbowl role cards, Quick consensus flowchart, Guide to running a quick consensus practice, Evaluation form

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Other people’s resources

There are several other excellent social change facilitation and training organisations, who also have useful resources on their websites. It’s worth taking the time to have a nose around these sites.

• Beyond the Choir
• The Change Agency
• Plan to Win
• Plan to Thrive
• Seeds for Change
• Training for Change
• Tree Bressen
• Tools for Change
• Turning The Tide

However, to make life easier we’ve also listed resources from these and other sources here under appropriate headings:

Burnout/ Sustainable activism

• Plan to Thrive’s Activist Burnout zine

Campaign and action planning

• Strategy resources from Rhizome blog
• More strategy resources from the Rhizome blog
• Seeds for Change briefings on Planning your campaign and Action Planning

Consensus decision-making

• Tree Bressen’s consensus resources, which include some well-balanced and thoughtful articles on the thorny issue of the use of blocks in the consensus process
• Autumn Brown’s consensus resources, including a world map of consensus and a useful summary of different consensus models
• Consensus Decision-making – a virtual learning centre for people interested in making decisions by consensus
• Consensus decision-making by War Resisters’ International
• Shared Path – Shared Goal by Zhaba Facilitation Collective
• Basics of Consensus by Rob Sandelin
• Seeds for Change consensus briefings
• Meerkat Media’s 8 minute video of consensus in action at Occupy Wall Street – a great, upbeat summary of the process and the reasons people choose to use it

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Facilitation: meetings

• 11 surefire ways to shorten meetings
• Meeting facilitation: the no-magic method
• The makings of a good meeting
• One way to run a productive meeting
• From conflict to co-operation, booklet 3: Meetings and Decision Making
• and many useful resources on groups and meetings and facilitation from Seeds for Change

Facilitation: Open Space Technology

• Open Space World
• Peggy Holman’s resources
• Michael Herman’s Open Space publications

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Groupwork

• Community group dynamics
• Beyond the Choir’s Plugging People In – how to orient newcomers to local groups
  

Co-operativesUK From conflict to co-operation series of illustrated booklets for co-operative community enterprises (but relevant to all community groups):

• Conflict – where it comes from and how to deal with it
• Communication Skills
• Meetings and decision-making
• Organisational Growth and Development
• Role and responsibilities of the committee

Information activism

• TacticalTech’s guides and resources on creative use of new media, internet security, visualising information and more

Movement building

• Michael Albert’s The Stickiness Problem
• Cynthia Peter’s Five Guidelines for our Organising
• Mark Rudd on How to Build a Movement

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Nonviolence and civil disobedience

• A Force More Powerful: 6 case studies of successful nonviolent resistance campaigns
• Turning The Tide resources: History of nonviolent campaigns and movements |Theology, philosophy and core principles of nonviolence | Contemporary nonviolent campaigns
• Nonviolence International
• International Centre on Nonviolent Conflict
• Academy of Change: several resources on civil disobedience pulled together in one place

Nonviolent direct action: general guides

• Seeds for Change, Preparing for Action – good general intro including roles needed on actions and some tips for staying safe
• Road Raging – roads protest guide (but applicable to many other types of action)
• Delia Smith’s Basic Blockading – excellent guide to blockading techniques
• Practical Protest Techniques – holding space with a number of techniques
• SchNEWS have a range of good links and resources including the guide to public order situations (ie: dealing with large numbers of police) and subvertising
• Peace News: Definitive Illustrated Guide to Fences – fence climbing, fence cutting – it’s all here

Nonviolent direct action: affinity groups

Autonomous action groups – how to form them and make them work:

• ACT UP
• Seeds for Change
• Activists’ Legal Project

Nonviolent direct action: legal rights

• The Activists Legal Project have a series of up to date and detailed activist legal briefings. They include likely charges for activists, consequences for student protestors, the arrest process and much more
• Liberty’s guide to your rights

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Public speaking

• Six Minutes links to loads of online resources, including blogs, books and articles on public speaking. It has tips on writing speeches, developing positive habits, using effective visuals and learning from great speeches, including popular TED talks.
• It’s time to talk: Friends of The Earth’s accessible guide written for local group campaigners.
• Presentation tips for public speaking: Good brief overview with lots of other links.
• Allyn & Baker public speaking website: US website with 6 modules on each step of the public speaking journey – listen to some recordings, do some interactive exercises
• Uncommon Knowledge: Lots of well written tips.
• Uncommon Knowledge’s longer article on Public Speaking Techniques – includes a short audio exercise for relaxed rehearsal of your talk
• Businessball’s detailed tips on presentation skills – including some useful links to other related material on their website
• If you’re specifically trying to motivate an audience to action, read Mindtools’ article on Monroe’s Motivated Sequence

There’s also plenty of advice on YouTube, for example:

• Advice from a Toastmaster

and a useful series of videos from public speaker trainer Deborah Grayson Riegel:

• Overcoming nerves –  (9 minutes)
• The Importance of Body Languages –  (12 minutes)
• The Importance of Vocal Variety (11 minutes)
• Great Openings and Closings –  (8 minutes)
• Working With Your Audience / Q&A – (13 minutes)

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