Our Training
Community Roots CIC offers flexible training options with a variety of workshops that are suitable for the voluntary and public sectors.
Our short workshops give a good grounding in areas such as listening skills and power dynamics, and our training can be adapted into courses that are specific to the needs of your organisation.
Our workshops can be delivered face to face or online.
‘Even the wisest mind has something yet to learn’
George Santayana
Our Workshops
Our quality assured training can be delivered as whole day training sessions or as two half day sessions, and it can be delivered as in person sessions or online.
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An Introduction to Community Organising
This course is a starting point for anybody who is interested in community organising. It will help you begin to understand what community organising involves and what it looks like in the real world. You will be introduced to the foundations of community organising: listening, power, and action.
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To better understand what community organising is
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To consider the importance of listening to build relationships and explore issues
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To consider power in communities and why it matters
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To explore what motivates people to act
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To look at how to take your next steps in community organising
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Listening Skills for Community Organising
Listening to people is the foundation of community organising because it builds trust and relationships, uncovers issues and is an essential starting point for bringing people together to share stories, ideas and action.
On this course, you will gain an understanding of
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why listening is important in community organising
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you will develop practical listening skills and tactics and plan a listening campaign.
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you will learn about ‘relational’ listening and its importance in community organising
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how to plan a listening campaign to kick-start your organising work
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practical listening tools you can use to engage people, build relationships and find leaders
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how asking powerful questions helps people to tell their stories
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how community organisers reflect to improve their work
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Building Power through Community Organising
On this course you will explore and develop your understanding of power, which is what drives community organising: what power means and how power can be built in communities to overcome social injustice and create change.
Using fun and thought-provoking activities, and thinking about our own lives, we will think about the different types and effects of power and look at the ways that people can build power together through community organising.
During this course you will explore
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your personal power and ability to act
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how power is exercised in society
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what it means to organise for change
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how to begin to pinpoint the causes of social injustice
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how to build power with others through community organising
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Action for Change through Community Organising
This interactive one-day course will explore how you can make change for good through collective action. You will explore the different types of action you can take, from DIY action to campaigning, explore stories of action and success factors and learn how to develop a strategy for change based on listening, building people power, leadership and picking tactics and methods for action.
On this course we get to the heart of the action. What can we do together to create change in our neighbourhoods and communities? How do we know what is the right action to take? How do we mobilise our network of people? How do we work together to lead change? Learn about calling people to action through stories and how community organising enables people to lead and support action which makes them feel powerful together.
During this course you will
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explore what motivates people to take action in their community
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explore the purpose of action in community organising and different types of organised action
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learn to develop a power map and a strategy for action
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develop your confidence in leading collective action
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learn the importance of reflecting on action
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Additional Training
In addition to offering quality assured training we offer a suite of half day courses and we can work with you to develop training to suit your organisations needs.
Planning a Community Event
The focus of this course is how to plan a community event and we will work through the stages of designing and planning an event. - from exploring the purpose of the event, through choosing a venue, costing the event and health and safety.
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Inclusivity and Diversity
Each of us has many facets, some of which are visible and some that are less obvious We will explore the power of connection and how to be inclusive in the work we do in our communities and how by exploring the facets which connect us we can become inclusive and promote the positives of diversity.
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Inclusivity and Diversity
Each of us has many facets, some of which are visible and some that are less obvious We will explore the power of connection and how to be inclusive in the work we do in our communities and how by exploring the facets which connect us we can become inclusive and promote the positives of diversity.
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Reflection and Evaluation
In this module we explore the power of reflective practice and how it can support your work in communities.
We will look at the difference between reflection, assessment and evaluation.
We will look at the different methods we use to evaluate projects and report back to those who have employed or funded the projects we work on.
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Digital Organising ​
During the pandemic we have learnt the value of connecting digitally and during this module we will be looking at how we can connect and plan in a digital world.
We will discuss different platforms and how best to use them, ways to connect and to meet up and explore platforms to plan and support project work.