Protesting police brutality (SARS) in Nigeria. (Pius Utomi Expei/AFP)
[Go to: More trainings for African activists and campaigners]
[Go to: All upcoming SMT trainings]
Ready to organize for power? From South Africa to Algeria and Kenya to Cote d’Ivoire, young people across the continent and their families want a just and sustainable future. To achieve it, we must use non-violent organizing principles and methods passed down from successful anti-colonial and other movements, combined with new digital tactics being used across the continent. We must understand how movements can be built and nurtured.
This training series and support program is for activists and campaigners who want to deepen their ability to build effective movements and campaigns for justice.
The program is completely free to groups of 10+ activists who register together.
1. Training Series for Activists & Campaigners
6-session series online once per week, 90-120 min/session. Starts February 6
The program is in English and French only at this time. (Funders are invited to provide funding for language access beyond these two languages)
A “Certificate in Movement-Building” can be earned with completion of assignments related to your activism.
Topics covered, with examples from across the continent:
- Movement stages and what to expect in each
- Movement ecology: keys to building unity
- Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your leadership role
- Tools and practice for strategy development
- Building a strong activist pipeline – tools and tactics to build and activate a broad base
- Tactics that work when civic space is limited and risk is high
- Combining online and offline tactics strategically
- Activating the diaspora
- Making your movement visible to the media and international community
- Personal safety and digital security: the essentials
2. Support for groups of activists
Groups of activists who complete the training will be eligible for up to a year of coaching to help with implementation.
Language
Most sessions will be held in English with simultaneous interpretation in French. Other languages available depending on demand and funds.
Session times:
Sessions held Tuesdays February 6 – March 12, 2024 (12PM Kinshasa | 2PM Nairobi | 11AM Accra | 1PM Jo’burg)
See this time automatically converted for your timezone
Cost & Registration
Free if registering a group of 10+ activists. Register here once you have a spreadsheet of the 10+ activists who will be participating. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until all countries are covered.
$300 if registering as an individual.
This program is funded by donations, with a fundraising campaign underway. If you are able to support, please donate here.
In order to support a movement organization learning space, this training is for activists and staff of non-profits. Trainings are not for consultants or agencies.
Please feel welcome to reach out with questions to Joscar Amondi, SMT Africa Movement Support Coordinator at [email protected].
Instructor bios:
Instructors will include SMT staff and additional experienced activists from across the continent.
Testimonials
A fast paced course that provides a lot of interesting and useful information in a short amount of time.I found the Advanced CRM curriculum extremely helpful, in that it deepened my understanding of the capacity of the CRM we use. The practical examples were really helpful. We’ve begun to build some of the best practices from the Advanced CRM curriculum into our planning and internal workflows for 2019.I loved this course. It gave me a sense of what's out there. Before this, I didn't know what I didn't know! The session on geofencing blew my mind. These tools are critical for our organizing. Our local switched CRMs earlier this year and having SMT staff walk through the features and answer questions was extremely helpful, both in problem solving and in providing some ideas in how I can use our CRM as a better organizing tool for our local. If you have any questions about your CRM, it is worth it!Love it!” (mobile optimization of TheStand.org)
A comprehensive look at must-have social media tools and techniques to build capacity and power for your union. We were able to effectively put together an action plan and deploy techniques like tweet storms almost as soon as we learned about them.
I learned really useful tools that are coming in handy in my everyday job.Great course, I have learned a lot.Very thorough and helpful overview of tools and concepts for effective digital organizing.We want to be able to be as smart and effective as we can with our limited resources...SMT is a no-brainer.All of SMT training is packed and powerful!The IAM's leadership is committed to expanding the union's effective use of social media and online tools in our organizing. As part of that, we're encouraging not only full-time organizers, but also local communicators to enroll in SMT's digital campaigning program.We’ve encouraged someone from every local to attend SMT’s program...Any successful campaign we have - organizing, bargaining or movement building - has to include social media as a key component.SMT helped us build an integrated, strategic approach to a union contract campaign. SMT’s work is sophisticated and flexible–their support was invaluable.We hired SMT to lead a discussion about online strategy with some of our union’s staff. It rekindled my desire and commitment to using emerging technologies in my organizing!SMT is an amazing resource for starting digital organizing and communications and maintaining a program that engages members and moves them to action. There are a bunch of free and super reasonably priced webinars available so you can jump right in and focus on what you need to improve.The webinars have just been stellar. I’ve learned so much, especially from the Top Tools and Tactics to bump up your organizing game. I used the templates and resources to set up an editorial calendar and to track stats for our new social media channels. It was very easy to take what was presented in the training and apply it to my union immediately.SMT’s coaching, strategy and implementation support has been invaluable to help us become more effective online. They understand the labor movement, speak organizing, and are cost-effective.[The Digital Campaigning Certificate Program] is a wonderful course with a great amount of information to get you started on understanding how digital can work for your own organization.The class was great; a little advanced for me but I learned a lot.SMT is the only training I know of that speaks our language of activism and uses the tools we use everyday in the field. They are a go-to resource to help raise the bar for communications in the labor movement.SMT’s staff is friendly, flexible, competent, creative…Efficiently implemented cutting-edge strategies and designed great-looking materials to communicate our message to our members. I’ll come back to SMT in a heartbeat.
