The Active Citizenship Toolkit is – under the surface – developing fast.
A couple of weeks ago we came up with a list of 52 “essential” elements we thought all groups would need if they were going to do long-term activism. It turns out that NOT all of them are essential in the eyes of one of our “crash test dummy” groups, where four core group members have voted on what is and is not essential. This is good, because the smaller the number of elements a group feels it needs, the quicker it can plug its “absolute gaps”, expand the spread of its members’ competence so there are no single points of failure, and can crack on with gaining NEW elements.
The other major developments are these
a) we now have draft “element overview essays” for all 52 of the “essential” elements, and for a bunch of the elements which CEM said were essential to its mission and for which there was a ‘single point of failure’ (only one of the people in the core group have the skills at the right level.) Element overview essays are brief texts which explain the causes of why a group/movement might struggle to have the element, the consequences of not having the element, and then some brief advice on going about GETTING that element. It will come after the element descriptor and level descriptors, and before the development and assessment resources on the one-page-per-element website we will launch in … well, when we are ready to launch…
b) we are getting more and more great icons, kindly developed by Solvi, our volunteer graphic designer
c) we are almost done on the first draft of coherence/typo checking for the 160+ element descriptors and level descriptors
The BIG tasks that now need to happen
a) making sure the titles of the elements are as short and clear as possible
b) improving the element overview essays for the 52 essential elements
c) developing element overview essays for the rest of the elements.
d) more organisations willing to be “crash test dummies”- this involves undertaking an audit of what elements you think you need (if you are pressed for time, just go for the 52), what your current levels are within your core group, and what the gaps/single points of failure are…
So, if you have questions about what we are doing and why, or if you have proof-reading and copy-editing skills, please get in touch via marc@climateemergencymanchester.net
