To achieve this, we identified three interim goals for 2020-21: 1. Increased capacity for cross-sectorial strategies combating marginalisation: to truly fight marginalisation, social injustice and climate breakdown, we needed to be more strategic in building cross-sectoral collaborations. We needed strategic development skills to cultivate partnerships and implement project plans with organisations from different sectors- to be more effective leaders across our networks and civil society. 2. Increased capacity for transformative and integral learning to ensure long-term change: A key learning coming out of the 2019 project with CEA was the ‘Integral and Transformational Learning’ methodology and pedagogy which underpins their trainings. They address three interconnected levels which bring about long-term change. We needed to deepen our understanding of, and proficiency in, these ‘integral’ approaches to underpin the design and delivery of our own trainings. 3. Increased capacity for diversity/inclusivity to support social cohesion: We needed to acquire innovative pedagogy to diversify our approach and increase our knowledge and skills in adult education methodologies that support socially inclusive, community-cohesive behaviour.
Act For Change (A4C) is a ‘centre of training excellence’ for adult learners to develop their skills across sustainability and social justice sectors. Our learners are working on a range of projects such as climate protection, diversity and social inclusion and community engagement/cohesion. Our training encourages pro-environmental behaviour, shares tools to increase agency and supports inclusive community building, tolerance and civic participation. Our experience of working with CEA in 2019 was very positive. It led to increases in cross-sector collaborations; endurance and capacity; diversity and inclusivity; educational leadership and internationalisation. To augment the impact and scope of the learning gained we decided to consolidate the learning from the 2019 project with a further project to enable us to fully embed the learning into our organisational strategy, culture and structure. We wanted to further extend our program across new contexts with new learners. To do this we needed our trainers to be more confident and strategic as leaders and to make the most of newly established partnerships and projects under development across Europe. This informed the objectives of this follow on project.