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Why do we need to focus on engaging Communities like this? Building stronger social ties with our neighbours and local communities is in and of itself a transformative process. It enables us to create new and long-lasting connections with people who live in o...

Before we engage in community work, it can be really useful to think about our relationships and connections with others, be they neighbours, members of the local community, friends and family, or any others whose needs we are aware of. By ‘mapping’ these rela...

SOLIDARITY GUIDELINES Solidarity is a collaboration where both parties are working towards shared liberation, based on mutual respect and understanding of the challenge. Solidarity is an ongoing process and an essential quality for any activist to be develop...

Use this guide to understand both what you can do to avoid situations of conflict arising and what to do should conflict arise. This guide uses information and ideas from Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication (NVC) approach. What is NVC? NVC (also ca...

Why Door-to-door Listening? Door-to-door listening can be an incredibly powerful community-building tool that enables you to meet members of your local community and better understand the issues that matter to them. The process of knocking on people’s doors a...

This guide offers ideas on how to both reach out to community members during lockdown, and on how to connect with others who are socially organising during lockdown, such as your local Covid Mutual Aid Group or other community organisations. We recommend worki...

Deep Hanging Out The point of this guide is to frame an attitude to engaging different communities, impart confidence and share important skills, but this is not a roadmap. This work needs to be authentically connected to the people who undertake it. There ar...

Taken from Science of People article What is an Icebreaker? An icebreaker is an activity, event, or game that is designed to break down social barriers, make others feel more comfortable, and facilitate social interaction. Icebreakers are usually performed a...

Why use community assemblies? Assemblies build community by enabling communication and collaboration across cultural, economic and political divides. Their inclusive and structured nature creates a safe space in which people can share their perspectives and i...

How to Organise and Run Assemblies in Your Community ‘Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it’ - Goethe The past year has shown us that waiting for top-down democratic change is not enough, we need to proac...

New Zoom account on a computer/laptop: Visit the Zoom Web Page at: Zoom: Video Conferencing, Web Conferencing, Webinars, Screen Sharing Enter your email address on the page and click on the orange Sign Up Free button You will be shown your email address, ...

Important Things to Consider Before you attempt to facilitate a People’s Assembly, please make sure you have at least attended one! But remember: it’s not rocket science. Give it a go! You’ll be great! This script is just a starting point. As you do more, yo...

Important Things to Consider Before you attempt to facilitate a People’s Assembly, please make sure you have at least attended one! But remember: it’s not rocket science. Give it a go! You’ll be great! This script is just a starting point. As you do more, yo...

You’ve had your first community assembly, well done! You’re beginning an extraordinary journey with others in your community, finding ways to ensure all voices are heard and using the wisdom of the crowd to make decisions collectively. With any luck you will ...

Why community organising? Community organising is what enables communities to put their ideas into action; it will enable you to shape your local community, and perhaps even the greater society, so that it responds to the needs and desires of the people. It i...

Here’s a vision for what could emerge from our decentralised community democracy building projects across the UK. But first, some quick bits on vision, its uses and abuses: “When activists mistake heaven for some goal at which they must arrive, rather than an...

Intro Around the UK, something beautiful is happening: a radically new way of doing local politics is emerging. Communities are reclaiming their councils from the deadlock of party politics and using them to implement the projects and policies that they want ...

For an immensely practical guide on how to reclaim your council, read Flatpack Democracy, written by Peter Macfadyen of Independents for Frome, the pioneering group of regular people who reclaimed their council and transformed the town of Frome. Join th...

How to start cooperatives and mutual aid projects Please share widely. Short link for this doc. In times of crisis, communities can come together to support one another. This is a list of practical ideas and resources to help you do that by forming cooperat...

There are countless amazing organisations doing community organising work, providing imaginative ideas and invaluable resources on how to start community organising. This is just a snapshot of some you may find useful, but do talk to your regional Gardener to...