Training on Community and Organisational Development to Lead Sustainable Change

ILGA-Europe aims at leading sustainable change in order to achieve full equality and effective enjoyment of human rights without discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex (intersex).

In order to do so, LGBTI activists and organisations need to have a toolbox of different strategies and tactics. Organisations have to prioritise issues, to coherently and strategically plan their work, to have functional internal structures, and to be capable of monitoring and evaluating outputs and outcomes efficiently. Organisations also need to lead processes that yield sustainable change. Organisational capacity to deliver on goals efficiently and effectively is essential to set the agenda of the public and political debate, and to create coalitions of allies to support common struggles.

Sustainable change also comes from within a community. Empowering LGBTI people to be advocating for their rights is still a central feature. Real change comes when a community is empowered to self-organise in a long-lasting way, to voice its own demands about what matters for community members and to build its own relationships with decision-makers and opinion-makers.

ILGA-Europe has observed that many organisations, operating with very limited resources, often struggle to reach out, motivate and engage their community members in ‘activism’ and advocacy work. While trying to grow and reach out to the wider community through outreach and grassroots work, organisations also aspire to become more strategic in their advocacy and awareness raising work.

Based on this, ILGA-Europe is organising a 2.5 days training on Community and Organisational Development to Lead Sustainable Change which will take place in Ljubljana on 20-22 Nov, 2014. This training is organised with the support Legebitra.

The training aims to:

• Increase understanding of the process of community engagement;
• Increase competence in community building;
• Enhance organisational capacity in relation to teamwork, community development and strategic advocacy;
• Develop application of leadership skills and understanding of role of leadership within community and organisation;

The training will be interactive and provide opportunity for peer-learning and experience sharing on successful community building measures. Participants are expected to actively follow-up on the training by developing community building, engagement strategies integrated in their organisational (and where possible) national advocacy plans.