Regeneration and Sustainability begin with personal values and behaviours. Our approach to learning and development aims at human connection to communities and affiliation to the natural world through empowering educational processes.

Community Development

TRAINING

Community Developer: 7 days – 56 hours of training covering the basic elements of community development, in-person, online or hybrid, and support in action planning.

Community Organiser: 14 days – 112 hour of training covering community organising methodologies, in-person, online or hybrid, and action planning support and implementation mentoring.

Community Leadership: 21 days – 168 hours of training covering community development, community organising and leadership coaching methodologies, in-person, online or hybrid, and action planning support and implementation mentoring and coaching supervision.

Methodology: The chosen method to deliver this training course is that of non-formal education, values-based and experiential learning; with a strong focus on experiencing, and providing support, to solve real-life situations and issues concerning communities, and providing tools and methods grounded on psychology, sociology, anthropology and political science.

For Whom: The course is open to anyone who cares for the well-being and development of their communities, regardless if it is a neighbourhood, a settlement, an organisation or within a company. The only requirement is that of having a heart well rooted in strong values, ethics and a passion for social sustainability.

The Goal: To provide learners competences to guide, support, motivate and help communities to grow, develop and thrive, within the principles of shared linear leadership and resources for individual, group and environmental well-being.

Content of the Courses

Below you can view the content of the provided courses, which can be tailored to the specific needs of our partners and clients, showing an overview of the content of the three proposed training courses.

FACT-FINDING & MAPPING: This module offers insights through interdisciplinary approaches on how to understand the issues a community is facing and what are the root causes, as grounds for solutions.

RESOURCE IDENTIFICATION: Techniques and tools to understand power dynamics and resource attribution within the community, to understand what resources are necessary to solve the issue and how to develop them.

POWER DYNAMICS: Techniques, tools and methodologies to help understand the distribution of power within the community, as well as outside, and how this impacts the issues and barriers faced by the community and how to overcome them.

LEADERSHIP IDENTIFICATION: Approaches and methodologies on how to identify leadership within the community, and empower and motivate individuals to take charge of the processes and resulting actions.

LEADERSHIP COACHING: Life coaching approaches and techniques adapted to support the community leaders to develop their leadership competencies, acknowledge their role, and share their leadership to empower others within the community.

LOBBYING & ADVOCACY: Methods to support network and alliance building, with a strong focus on grassroot advocacy, mediation and negotiation towards conflict transformation.

PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: Methodologies for public speaking as well as public communication set to build support around a just cause and message, prevent criticism and strengthen the community’s resilience and motivation.

COMMUNITY ACTIVATION: To gain mapping tools and techniques to identify the existing support within the community, level of engagement and expectations towards the organising efforts.

COMMUNITY ACTION: Methodologies, tools, techniques and approaches to foster solution-oriented, positive and constructive action within the community, allocating resources, roles, strategies and tactics.

ORGANISATIONAL MANAGEMENT: An illustration of possible organisational structures that may be adopted to ensure community engagement, participation, transparency and accountability.

CONSULTING

Should you be interested in our consulting services, we can also offer you a tailored consultation service concerning the topics above, regarding the development, growth, organisation and self-efficacy of your community.

Petra PapiernikovaLorenzo Nava
Systemic psychotherapist, formerly community and HR manager in Slovakia, lecturer in pedagogy and psychology, national pool of coaches coordinator, certified life-coach and licensed non-formal education trainer.Founder and CEO of Rescogita, author of 4 manuals on community development, organising and community narratives. Has piloted over 30 residential training courses on community organising, development and activism, especially around environmental topics.

BACKGROUND

The inspiration for developing this learning pathway were the works of Alinsky and his book 11 Rule for Radicals, adapted to our contexts and modern-day needs; the lectures of Marshall Ganz on community narratives, and the amazing work of the European Community Organisers Network (ECON). To this day over 200 people were already trained by us in this methodology, through public and private funding, resulting in over 30 successful grassroot community initiatives with a strong local impact, and improvement of the livelihoods of local communities across Europe, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe, Middle-East and North Africa.

If you are interested, feel free to contact us.