The last chance to sign up for the Movement Ecology Course cohort running from April 20th to May 11th, 2022 is this Thursday, March 31st! 

We at the Ayni School have studied Social Movements across history and identified the 5 distinct strategies that arise when making social change. After over 7 years of in-person and virtual trainings with hundreds of participants we have noticed that most experienced leaders leave 60-80% of them on the table. 

This is why we developed the Movement Ecology Course to explain these 5 strategies.

In the cohort we seek to bring people together to learn and follow in the footsteps of Social Movement Makers and communities who have understood and embodied all five throughout different periods of Social Change history.  

During the cohort, participants will join others and go through the content of the Movement Ecology course together (explained more below) and engage in individual and group exercises on the course material, share reflections and ask questions, through weekly virtual calls that reinforce their practice. 

Alongside our weekly cohort sessions we will provide office hours for those who enroll to receive support and ask questions on the cohort and course material.v

What will I learn during the Movement Ecology Cohort?

During the cohort, participants will learn the concepts and frameworks of our Movement Ecology Course, which consists of pre-recorded video lessons, in a group setting with other organizers and activists.

Participants will independently watch the video lessons of the Movement Ecology Course and have weekly dialogues and lessons tailored to the strategies and challenges that arise when presented with integrating these concepts in their social change work and organizations.

Furthermore, the video lessons of the cohort will provide an introduction to understanding the many different strategies that arise when we are faced with creating social change. 

While many of us have tried to create the conditions for social movements where there is collaboration across groups and organizations, we believe that collaboration can only happen when we are clear on the differences between the strategies that live in them. This means that we can only have ecological thinking/action in social change if we know what makes the parts of the movement different in relation to one another. 

We call these multiple strategies Foundational Theories of Change and we believe that the key to power that many of us are working hard to harness is found in their collaboration. 

In the video lessons we dive into the strengths and weakness of each Foundational Theory of Change, and provide answers to some of the common questions that come up when we’ve previously shared the framework:

• Which Theory of Change do I spend most of my time working in?
• What is the role of each Theory of Change within the context of the larger movement?
• How can we relate and support other Foundational Theories of Change?
• How can we build a culture of interdependence and embrace multi-strategic movements?

How can this cohort support me if I attended a Movement Ecology training before?

Within our in person four days trainings, there are many concepts covered and Movement Ecology is one of them. This theory is covered in 3-4 hours where participants receive a broad introductory understanding to the concept, including a small mapping exercise.

In this cohort we are expanding that 3-4 hour introduction into a 12 hour experience where we cover, in depth, some new frameworks that are included in the training are:

1. A new philosophy and set of principles on mapping our ecologies that have not been presented in past trainings.
2. The release of new online tools and assignments for ecology mapping that participants can utilize and follow up within their personal work and organizations after the cohort.
3. A Theory of Change Assessment, with questions made to provide leaders and activists with a deeper understanding of which theory change they are dominant in. 
4. A deeper sense of coherence around how their personal narratives and their journey in Social Change are about a particular theory of change. This is important as people further develop, identify, and embody their particular Theory of Change. Lastly, as former training participants discuss their personal narratives related to the Theories of Change, they will discover the depth, diversity, and complexity of the other strategies present in the ecology.

Application  

The cohort is open enrollment so sign up online here. If for any reason you need an extension to sign up, please let us know as soon as possible by filling out the form on the website. 

Attendance Requirements

You must be able to attend all of the weekly sessions noted above.