Coming from the school of valuing celebration, this month is a special one for LCN. Ahel celebrated 10 years last week, and the Institute for Change Leaders is celebrating 5 years today!
As organizers, recognizing and honoring contributions, successes, accomplishments, and milestones is always a meaningful moment.
Moments of celebration are a great opportunity to tell the story and validate small and big successes along the journey. And the lens we choose to examine the journey reflects a different dimension of our purpose, and inspires the road ahead.
It is also no coincidence that as we are closing 2021, so many organizing and leadership opportunities are being offered by our partners. If you are looking for opportunities to expand your organizing skills, check out below the courses WiLD, Haiyya and Ahel are offering.
We would also like to extend a personal invite to you to our upcoming events: the showcasing of campaigns to reopen schools in Argentina and Mexico, the Public Narrative in action session, and our monthly Meet & Connect. These exciting events are open to everyone, so please spread the word, and join us to learn and amplify the impact!
Wishing you joy in the construction of those meaningful journeys,
Upcoming learning events & opportunities
Join us on November 17th to learn how Public Narrative is being used in diverse cultural, geographic and institutional contexts around the world!
In the event, Dr. Emilia Aiello will present findings from the 2020 Public Narrative Impact Survey that explores how Public Narrative is being used by individuals as a leadership practice within different domains, and the impact it has had on leadership development at the individual, community, societal, and institutional level.
We will be joined by a panel of speakers who will share how they are using public narrative in their work and communities.
- Chuck Seaca from the Alaska Humanities Forum in the United States
- Florence Kayemba from Stakeholder Democracy Network in Nigeria
- Marina Pavlic from Serbia on the Move and Kreni-Promeni in Serbia
- Antonio Rodriguez from the Latin American Leadership Academy in Colombia
What: Public Narrative in action: findings from the 2020 Public Narrative Impact Survey
When: Wednesday, November 17th @ 11:30 am – 1:00 pm ET
How: Register by clicking here (registration deadline is November 16th)
This event is open and free for everyone, so feel free to invite a friend!
Don’t miss out on the chance to connect with inspiring organizers and leaders from around the world in our final meetup for the year! We are holding this month’s Meet & Connect at a time that’s also accessible for those in Asia and the Pacific, so don’t miss this opportunity!
In the meetup you will be matched with two other attendees in 1:1’s and our aim is to match you with someone working in a similar area of interest and focus.
This session is open for everyone!
What: Meet & Connect – November
When: Wednesday, November 24th, 2021 @ 11am-12pm Central European Time / 9-10 pm Australian Eastern Time
How: Click here to register (registration deadline is November 23rd)
Join us on December 2nd Thursday to learn from #ALasAulas and Padres Organizados, movements led by parents and families to reopen schools safely in Argentina and Mexico!
In the event, we will be joined by three speakers who will share their challenges, successes, and lessons around organizing and building power through these campaigns.
- Ignacio Ibarzábal, Argentinos por la Educación #ALasAulas
- Maria Jose Navajas, Red de Familias y Padres Organizados por la Educación
- Mariali Cardenas, Via Educacion #ALasAulas Mexico
What: Campaign Showcase: organizing families to reopen schools in Argentina & Mexico
When: Thursday, December 2nd @ 10:00 – 11:30am ET
How: Register by clicking here (registration deadline is December 1st)
This event is open and free for everyone. Presentations by the speakers will be in Spanish with English translations.
Registrations are now open for the 10-week online course on Leadership, Organizing, and Action by WiLD!
Click here to learn more about the course
What: WiLD Academy Online Organizing Course
When: January 27th to April 7th, 2022
How: Click here to apply now (registration deadline is December 20th, 2021)
The People Power Change (PPC) is Haiyya’s flagship yearly 5-day course where they offer narrative and organizing training to young leaders, change makers and activists working in formal, semi-formal and movement based organizations and collectives pan India.
Click here to learn more about the course
What: People Power Change 2021 Workshop
When: Monday, 22nd November to Friday, 26th November, 2021
How: Click here to apply now (registration deadline is November 17th)
For over ten years, Ahel has adapted and disseminated the principles and practice of Harvard’s renowned leadership course across the Arab world to help build the agentic capacity of Arab communities.
Click here to learn more about the course
What: Leadership, Organizing and Action: Leading Change” online course in Arabic
When: February 9th to June 18th, 2022
How: Click here to apply now (registration deadline is November 30)
Exciting news from our community
The Institute for Change Leaders is hosting a free online event to celebrate their fifth Anniversary of empowering social justice seekers in Canada and the US.
“We’re gathering an exciting group of changemakers and performers, including Samra Zafar, a bestselling author and educator for mental health and human rights, Janet Merlo, a former RCMP officer who spoke out against sexual harassment and misconduct in the ranks, and poet Randell Adjei, the first Poet Laureate of Ontario. And we will present the 2021 ICL Alumni Awards, which recognizes the remarkable achievements of our community of change leaders and organizers. Join us to celebrate these accomplishments, get inspired, and have some fun!”
What: ICL’s Fifth Anniversary Celebration
When: Tuesday, November 16th, 2021 @ 6:00 – 7:30 pm ET
How: Register by clicking here
Did you know that our organizational member Ahel introduced community organizing to the Arab world ten years ago?
Last week, they held an online event with organizers and friends from 29 different countries to celebrate their ten year anniversary of supporting community leadership, organizing & action in Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon.
During these years, the Ahel team has coached 24 campaigns to support grassroot leaders in their collective action, built the leadership and organizing capacity for 2,411 leaders and founded the Athar Network to build resilience, solidarity and better organizing among Arab organizers and leaders. It is one and a half years old and has 93 members.
We can’t wait to continue learning together and celebrate building people’s power in the coming years!
Here’s what LCN has been up to
LCN Health Justice Community
With the global pandemic revealing the faultlines and inequities in our societies, it’s clear more than ever that community organizing is a key practice needed in achieving health justice for all. This is why Leading Change Network decided to partner with People Power Health and launch LCN Health Justice Community.
Health Justice Community will focus on addressing the problems health activists face: lack of training & coaching resources specifically tailored for health issues & campaigns massive institutional resistance within health care systems, experience of isolation and loneliness borne of an ongoing struggle with intractable problems, and lack of solidarity between healthcare providers, patients, and communities.
LCN and People Power Health believe that when we bring community organizers together, train them and enable them to learn from each other, we can begin to win despite the magnitude of the problem.
Orientation to Organizing
For our Orientation to Organizing session in July and October, we partnered up with our member organization Haiyya in India to learn from their revolutionary campaign Health Over Stigma – aiming to dismantle stigma that unmarried women face when accessing sexual and reproductive health services – as a case study on how organizing and narrative practices are used in action.
567 attendees from 27 different countries joined our quarterly Orientation to Organizing sessions in 2021!
Stay tuned for our next session starting next year!
Organizations Learn Series with Mothers Out Front
On October 12th we held our second session of the Organizations Learn series.
A special thanks to Vanessa Rule and Keshia Sexton from Mothers Out Front for being so generous and authentic in sharing their experiences, challenges, and lessons from their ongoing journey to build, scale, and structure an inclusive movement of over 34,000 mothers across race and class!
Wherever in the world you’re leading change, stay safe, and keep on organizing!
In solidarity,
The LCN Team (Mais, Sachiko, Jafrin, Andy, Nneka, Thaer and Mariana)