The Foundation Programme - find your ideal role

Join the XR Foundation Programme

This is a 4 week part-time course (6-8hrs/week) primarily for people new to XR. It aims to give you a thorough grounding in who we are and how we work. It is coordinated by the UK Rebel Pathway Team.

Find where in XR you best ‘fit’ and become ready to move straight into a role with one of our amazing teams anywhere across the movement. You'll receive support, personal connections, a solid understanding of our work and all the tools you need for a flying start!

This programme will be useful for anyone starting out in XR, whether you have already joined a group or are looking for one. The courses run approximately every month.

A week before the course starts, we will send you a couple of small things to complete before you begin the trainings. You don’t need any experience of XR, just a can-do attitude, a good internet connection and a minimum of 6 hours per week.

The programme comprises :-

Zoom trainings (2-4 hrs/week)

Selected reading and e-learning to check your understanding (2-3 hrs/week)

Support, help and guidance from the course directors

Find out when the next Foundation Programme starts here.

If you have less time to spare, or prefer less training, we also run a Foundation Programme Light, which picks out the most essential trainings and needs only a 1.5hr commitment per week.

We have received positive feedback from our students:-

“Very informative and very welcoming”

“I was inspired and motivated by this course”

“I found the course very useful as a grounding to XR ( I wish I had done it earlier, I would have been better prepared for some actions) and to help me find where I could contribute in the working groups.”

“having now started to engage with SOS (Self-Organsing System team), I see that a lot of the training I did has put me in a very good position to understand most of what's going on in meetings”.

If you have any questions, please email the Foundation Programme team at xrfoundationprogramme@protonmail.com.

We're working to make XR UK a diverse and inclusive space and we welcome applications from everyone.

How to find Your ideal role

Once you’ve completed the Foundation Programme, we hope you will be keen to find a role. We encourage you to join a Local Group if possible to see how we work locally. You can find your nearest Local Group and contact details on this map. Local groups are free to do what they want as long as they follow our principles and values, but we encourage them to support actions using whatever creative ideas they can and to follow XR's strategy.

However, you may want a ‘behind the scenes’ role with a regional, national or UK team. It’s fine to have more than one role in order to experience different aspects of XR. Please note that it’s ok to leave a role if you find you no longer have capacity or you would prefer to move to a different role, but please give your group a little notice.

Our Volunteers website has many roles advertised. Roles are generally for regional, national or XR UK teams, each with a specific purpose, as described by the team's mandate. If you successfully apply for a role, the group's integrator will introduce you to the group at their meetings and work with you to agree your induction and training plan. Groups usually hold 1 or 2 Zoom meetings a week at a specific day and time.

Roles advertised on the Volunteer Website can be filtered by 'Role Type' from home (most roles) or in-person (e.g. Production & World Build Team).

You may be unsure what a role involves and the Rebel Pathway team is here to guide you and suggest roles that may suit you. We will help you apply, check that teams are responding to your applications and will ask you to feedback with how you get on. We welcome feedback on your experiences as you become integrated. Also, it there's a team that would really suit your skills but isn't currently advertising a role, please let us know. You can contact the Rebel Pathway team here on MatterMost or by emailing integration@rebellion.earth.

Roles may be for the following groups and circles :

UK Rebel Hive This is the broadest circle and represents rebels within and between the UK nations (Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) and regions (10 in England). The Hive exists to grow and empower XR UK through decentralisation. Most members are external co-ordinators from the regions, nations and immediate sub circles and so may offer only admin roles.

Action planning, creative, production or wellbeing These groups plan specific actions and rebellions which need UK-wide support. Normally you would have some experience already through your local group since you need to be in a position of trust.

Money Rebellion To expose the economic systems that help to destroy life on earth and offer a path back to a regenerative economy. Its targets are organisations who support, develop or fund fossil fuels or other activities which damage the environment such as deforestation, flooding and pollution.

Digital Rebellion Carry out actions using social media, emailing or phoning campaigns to target specific organisations.

Teams running specific campaigns Action and outreach campaign groups with an action strategy that they could use some extra hands for, e.g. Digital Rebellion, Deepwater.

Messaging and Media Writing, newsletters, social media, film, Rebel Radio, leaflets, posters, read, view and contact with the press.

Arrestee and Legal Support (ALS)

1. briefing rebels who may be arrested

2. observing at actions

3. supporting rebels who are arrested through legal advice and emotional support

4. providing legal advice to any group before they consider an action, event or campaign

Digital (UK Tech) Our computer services and technical team supporting and developing the following:-

1. our websites

2. email campaigns and newsletters using the Action Network application

3. messaging systems such as MatterMost and social media

4. the Hub, which holds data about XR UK groups and the roles held in them

5. the Cloud where each group holds its documents

6. GDPR and Security

7. platforms and networks where these services run

Digital is responsible only for the platforms holding these applications and ensuring they are available and free of bugs. It also provides help and training on how to use the applications. Other circles are responsible for the content, but Digital welcomes requests for advice on best practice. There is a generic role advertised for Digital on the Volunteers website

Communities Supporting XR groups across the UK, brought together by community, location or other affinity and including teams such as Local Group Development, Talks & Trainings, Rebellion Academy, Rebel Ringers, Reactive, Disabled Rebels Network, Connecting Communities, Rebel Toolkit and Rebel Pathway.

Relationships Facilitating and nurturing our relationships with movements outside of XR whose objectives overlap with ours, in order to increase collective pressure on the UK Government to meet XR’s Three Demands. These movements must be Nonviolent and may not use Direct Action.

Feedback and Learning Seeking feedback from rebels and groups to learn and improve, by running, analysing and publishing surveys.

Political Lobbying MPs, political parties, unions and Local Authorities, monitoring procedures and bills in Parliament.

Regenerative Cultures Creating a self-perpetuating system grown through community, ferocious love and genuine courage which sustains the understanding, exploration, development, training and sharing of regenerative practices.

Self Organising Systems (SOS) Provides governance by supporting teams on how to be self-organising, decentralised and non-hierarchical, by reference to the XR UK constitution and principles of holocracy. You don't need to read the constitution thoroughly but use it as a reference point. SOS will help a group to write their mandate, which describes their purpose and accountabilities and by which they should abide. Roles within a group can also have a mandate, which then becomes a role description and some types of role must have one. SOS can also be asked to conduct a "health check" on a group and then give advice. There are many types of groups and they need to decide which one is most appropriate. Here are the types of groups and how they work (Link to be added).

Guardianship and Visioning (G&V) helps rebels and roups to follow the XR UK vision, principles & values when rebelling with Extinction Rebellion.

Finance Accounting, bookkeeping, managing and monitoring expense claims, VLE (Volunteer Living Expenses) claims, strategic finance, support budget preparation, support budget holders, review XR's financial and tax status.

Fundraising To raise enough money for the rebellion to function, and to amplify our wider messaging, deepen our relationship with supporters and create powerful content to serve the whole movement.

Integrated Budget Group (IBG) To distribute income raised for XRUK in line with the movement’s strategy. This means responding to requests for a movement budget and to fund rebellions. The challenge is there is never enough money to go round and IBG has to see how a request aligns with our strategy by supporting 1 or more of fundraising, mobilisation (growing the movement), providing critical funcionality (VLE to support NVDA, software licences, warehouse rent, rebellinrebellion equipment), engaging with cultural influencers (VIPs, celebrities, public figures) or NVDA.

A movement budget comprises regular costs such as VLE, rent, software licences, tax, accountancy etc. A budget holder for a rebellion or specific action can ask for funding, which is typically for equipment, travel, accommodation and subsistence. For more info visit IBG.

International Solidarity Network (ISN) With the purpose of mutually respectful, co-operative and beneficial connections with people from existing grassroots communities of resistance on the front lines of the climate & ecological crises in both the Global South & Global North who are working on environmental justice are fostered.

UK Justice Steering Group (JSG) To bring in and amplify the unheard and silenced voices of historically and currently marginalised groups.
To advocate that the movement becomes, and remains, radically diverse, equal and accessible for all through transformative and restorative justice.

Nations and Regions

Roles may also be for Scotland, Cymru Wales and Northern Ireland or for the UK regions North, North East, Midlands, East of England, South West, London and South East. You can find these roles quickly on the Volunteer Website by using the filter UK Region/Nation

Global Support This is a worldwide network of rebels who help XR chapters grow and this is their website Extinction Rebellion Global

Generic roles which may be needed in lots of teams, such as :

1. Integrator : recruitment and training, needs some training and a little knowledge of the team
2. Secretary : arrange meetings and take minutes, day to day running, possible faciliation but not expected
3. Budget holder : understand what budget is available to a team and what it must be spent on, approve expense claims from receipts for goods and service and approve VLE (volunteer living expenses).
4. Tech admin : set up new members and update existing in the Hub and Mattermost. Will need training and some experience in Hub / MM.