Prepare for Action: Facilitator's Guide
This Guide is for people who are facilitating a Prepare for Action (PfA) Workshop using the training video.
Read First
Welcome to the Prepare for Action [PfA] Facilitator's Guide.
This guide is designed to support you to deliver the PfA workshop using the training video [ADD LINK]. Facilitators are the 'third trainer' alongside the two speakers in the video.
As a Facilitator, you are essential to the experience of the attendees from organising the group, leading discussions and practices to giving post-session information.
Using the video and Facilitator's Guide means that anyone can organise a Prepare for Action workshop. This will help with training:
- local or regional groups
- onboarding new rebels
- preparing for an action or event
- planning an action with allied organsations or groups
The video is publicly available and you don’t need to be a part of Extinction Rebellion to use it. It is important that anyone joining any type of action knows how to maintain peaceful civil disobedience.
This workshop is based on Extinction Rebellion's Nonviolent Direct Action [NVDA] training which began in 2019 and has been regularly updated to reflect our own evolution and changes to the law.
Read the PfA introduction for further information.
Extinction Rebellion is a volunteer-led movement and we rely on donations to support our work including producing training resources. Please encourage people to make a donation.
For questions and further support:
- Email volunteer@extinctionrebellion.uk
- Mattermost Explore XR Reception
Who is the workshop for?
PfA is for people who want to know how to prepare to take any kind of peaceful action [known as Nonviolent Direct Action - NVDA]. Some people may already have prior experience of protests and could be looking for a refresher. The training includes some challenging concepts and benefits from having a faciliator to support participants.
People who are completely new to climate activism may also like to join:
- an uplifting The World We Want talk
- a welcoming Intro to XR talk
- an informal interactive Get Involved session
Another route to PfA training is to find regional and local groups on the Local Groups map where in-person training may be available.
Preparation
- Watch the video beforehand to familiarise yourself.
- We expect that all participants will abide by Extinction Rebellion's Rebel Agreement [sometimes known as the Rebel Code] during training sessions.
- The video can be used in-person or online. You don’t need slides and a script. You will need to be able to screenshare the video online or, in-person, project it onto a screen or show it on a large TV.
- Three activities called Spectrum Line, Deescalation and Making Quick Decisions [ADD LINKKS] will require your active facilitation. These activities are enriched by the discussion and experience that participants bring - it deepens everyone’s learning.
- There are also two places where we invite a pause for thought. You will need to pause the video and invite people to consider the question. You may wish to ask for responses or for people to post in the chat.
- The links and notes in the More section below the YouTube video and information on the Rebel Toolkit, will be kept up to date.
- You may also like to prepare by reading the rest of the Prepare for Action Training book.