Are you involved in a campaign in your community?

Join us for an

All Ireland Community Campaigns Gathering

Saturday 26^th of March 2011

10am-5pm

Seomra Spraoi, 10 Belvidere Court, Dublin

This is a free event

This is an open invitation to all community led campaign groups. By coming together we can share our experiences and find out how we can support each other to win.

You and your group are invited to come together for a day with other community led campaign groups to:

•      Learn about each other’s struggles and find common issues
•      Share what we have learned in our campaigns & hear from successful ones
•      Discuss how we act in solidarity with each other
•      Participate in a skills workshop around a common challenge (eg. Dealing with the Media, Dealing with state agencies & the legal system, How to keep your campaign going,  Basic tools for working together as a group)

The event is being organised by people active in a number of different campaigns including supporting the community under threat from Shell in Mayo.  This event will be a neutral space and the aim is to support each other and share strategies. It is not a space for winning people over to specific campaign agendas or any party political groups.

Venue: Seomra Spraoi, 10 Belvidere Court, Dublin 2. Seomra Spraoi is inspiring example of a community centre run entirely on donations.

Food will be by donation. Please contact communitycampaignsgathering@gmail.com if you have any special dietary or mobility requirements. Let us know if you will need child care for the day as this can be arranged at the venue.

The venue can hold approximately 50 people.

Please contact communitycampaignsgathering@gmail.com if you have questions, are interested in attending or to book a place.

Please find poster attached, forward this email on to any one who might be interested.

Hope you can make it,

Jerrieann and Kate  0851141170    0876686644

Schedule of the day

10:00-11:00 Opening

This will include an opening icebreaker and a chance for groups and individuals to introduce their own local campaigns and to hear some reflections from one successful campaign.

11.00 – 12.00 ‘Dealing with the Media’

Share experiences of dealing with the media and get practical advice on writing and sending press releases, preparing for radio interviews and using alternative media.

12.00-12.15 Break

12.15 -13.15 ‘Basic tools for working together’

Share your experience of working together in a community campaign group and learn basic tools that can be used to make decisions, facilitate discussions and keep working effectively.

13.15-14.00 Lunch

14.00-15.00 ‘Dealing with the State’

A chance to hear about the experiences of one community campaign group in dealing with state agencies, government departments, the legal system  and the Gardai, and to share your own experiences that others may be able to learn from.

15.00 – 16.00 ‘How to Keep Going’

This workshop is a space for sharing experiences of how to cope with mental physical stress of long term campaigning, how to support each other in our communities.

16.00-16.15 Break

16.15 – 17.00 Closing

A chance to hear what people got out of the day to discuss how can we support each other  and act in solidarity in the future, with the option of creating a short statement expressing solidarity between the different community campaigns for media release.