Our work
We train collectives to grow teams, build power and win change.
As an organisation, they are quality. They deliver what it says on the tin, not only the contents but the whole thing. What they say they deliver.
A key goal of our transformative organising and collective care methodology is building sustainable strategies to deepen the impact of our work and support the people making it happen.
Since 2019, we have worked alongside over 150 organisations and collectives in the UK through:
- Transformative community organising training
- Collective care training
- Facilitating spaces and building coalitions
- Coaching for organisers and movement leaders
- The Act Build Change membership community
Whether it’s demanding decent housing, building power for disability rights or resisting the hostile environment, we help communities grow the skills to win immediate campaign goals, creating unbreakable bonds of solidarity. Our partners range from grassroots collectives to charities and public institutions. We’re proud that each of our partners continues working with Act Build Change over several cohorts, iterations and repeated annual programmes.
Transformative community organising training
We want to leave a cadre of strong and resilient organisers in our wake. Act Build Change’s training and coaching are helping us do that. It's not hard to promote Act Build Change. The evaluated testimonies of activists in our network show something very special about them.
We build on rich traditions and our own experience to develop creative and impactful training for community organisers. When we work together, we become active allies in your community’s campaign, walking alongside you for as long as you need us.
Our training sessions include;
- Introduction to Community Organising
- Building Power and Power Mapping
- 1-to-1s
- Caring for ourselves and each other
- Coaching for leadership development
- Building leadership teams
- Trauma-informed approaches to public narrative
- Tactics and Strategy
- Deciding your campaign
- Measuring Change
- Evaluation and Celebration
- Train the trainer
Examples of our transformative organising work include building citizen power with Grapevine Coventry and Warwickshire and getting Kinship Carers on the national agenda.
Collective care training
It’s not easy to convince people to actually buy into and sign up to collective care work. As a result of ABC's intervention, we have established collective care as a strategic tool for social change. People are no longer being coaxed into care sessions, and they are coming along willingly. They expect it to do them good, and when they get there it does.
Our collective care programmes are designed to meet the needs of our partners, From working to end the hostile environment, building the power of food bank users or the struggle for disability justice. Personal or collective trauma can be a powerful driver for social justice work. But this needs to be handled with care. A trauma-informed approach puts marginalised people’s belonging, safety and dignity at the centre of our work while navigating tensions, leadership development and intersectional approaches to justice.
Collective care sessions include:
- An introduction to collective care
- Boundaries and care
- Re-Imagining safeguarding
- Care-full processes
- Intersectional care
- Communication and Care
- Accountability and Apology
- Care-full leadership
- Rest and Recovery
- Joy and Celebration
Read more about our collective care work with the refugee solidarity movement.
Facilitating spaces
There are not many organisations like Act Build Change. Their team makes us feel at home in the movement, where anyone can contribute and have access. This is quite uncommon. Their currency as an organisation is trust, not performance.
Through facilitation and collective care practices, we support collectives in building power. Whether making difficult decisions collectively, working through discomfort, transition and growth, or convening powerful coalitions to transform our system.
In all our work, we think about who is in the room, who is not and why. We bring a trauma-informed approach that seeks to build relationships, find joy and commit to action. We take seriously the needs of those in the room along with the actions and accountability that must be taken to achieve the change outside of it.
Coaching organisers and movement leaders
The sessions were a godsend to me. I don’t think anyone will ever realise how coaching came to me at the right time and helped me make some very difficult decisions by looking within myself. My team and community could see the benefits, even if some of the conversations that needed to be had were not easy.
Coaching is central to organising as a leadership practice. We can provide direct and peer-to-peer coaching to support you to work through key challenges in an encouraging and growing environment. Our qualified coaches provide confidential, care-centered spaces for you to explore different perspectives on your work and drive your learning and development.
The Act Build Change Community Membership
The most useful thing is the community meet-up - everyone chips in. I brought along a comms issue and people helped us organise a fundraiser that raised 10k to hire a solicitor for a legal challenge. The resource was amazing.
The Act Build Change community membership is a powerful network and space for critical learning and reflection, helping members make better decisions and build their power.
Regular training, meet-ups and working groups take place to organise key issues from online violence, working to end the hostile environment and free legal support. We support members in setting up new groups and sharing resources to develop campaigns and win change.