Migrant & BIPoC Organizing - Train the Trainer - Online Series
It is time to organize to win! It is time to organize to win!
Time to carry our knowledge of social change into and across communities, social movements and our workplaces. Let’s learn from each other and movement facilitators and allow intergenerational knowledge to ground our struggles and deepen our alliances. This online series exists because we believe that transformative learning is an integral part of moving ahead in our organizing work.
WHO?
This series, for and by Migrant and BIPoC organizers, provides a mosaic of a curriculum for change. It is designed as an nine-part series for facilitators, mediators, trainers, community leaders, caregivers and anyone that is involved in facilitating or holding space in their political and social change work. We invite folks who are familiar with their own context, have experience in facilitating/holding space, are rooted in a community and able to share the training onwards. You don’t need to be an expert, just someone that would like to learn and share onwards.
WHAT?
Each session is designed from a train-the-trainer perspective, which means it gives you methodological, process and relational insights about how you can implement the tools, methods and knowledge into your own practice. We hope to provide you with accessible ideas and visions that you can then bring back to our communities and implement into your training and organizing practice.
WHEN & HOW?
The series will run over October 2025 and is modular, which means that you can choose which sessions you want to attend. If you decide to join as a group, maybe you want to rotate or alter attendance to allow for rest, collective skill sharing and horizontal learning. We encourage attendance with a friend, partner, comrade or co-organiser so you can implement the learnings in your context and enhance the depth of discussion, implementation and learning accountability. On some days you will join us online, while on others you might be at a plenary, having a one-on-one, out with kids or taking a well deserved nap in the park. All the sessions run for two hours with a break.
The Sessions
I. Showing up Authentically! - Shawgi Ahmed
The session will focus on how we can come across as our true selves, with the goal of aligning our own values. Together, we will reflect on the impact of authenticity and leadership which will set the tone for our upcoming collaborative journey.
Shawgi Omer Nawai is a youth advocate and social activist from Sudan with vast experience in the non-profit sector and a particular focus on social justice and community development. He works as the co-founder of Emerging Leaders and the Director of PLACE Network, a Paris-based start-up that unlocks newcomer talent in Europe and matches it with economic actors in entrepreneurship, employment, public leadership, and higher education. He works on changing the negative narrative about migrants in Europe by empowering newly arrived migrants to consolidate their place and integrate into their new host societies.
When: Monday, 6.10.2025, 16:00 - 18:00 CET
II. Understanding How to Develop a Good Key Message
In this session, we will walk through a tool that supports activists and campaigners to develop a good message to use as the basis of any form of communication - a campaign, an article, a series of tweets, etc. We will also explore how to teach this tool from a trainer perspective, and what the important elements are in sharing it with others.
Alexander Leon (he/him) is an internationally recognised facilitator, educator, speaker, and writer. Throughout his career, Alexander’s work has spanned a variety of industries and topics, focusing primarily on advocacy / communications strategy, and anti-oppression. Whether training government ministers on LGBTQ+ inclusion, upskilling grassroots activists on how to integrate race and class into their campaign messages, or educating businesses on the importance of understanding systemic oppression, Alexander's approach is anchored in a strong sense of justice, an avid curiosity, and an openness to play. He has co-designed and delivered trainings for NEON, Greenpeace, Ulex, Stonewall, LinkedIn, and others. His writing has been featured in The Guardian, BBC, Huffington Post, 14poems, and more.
When: Thursday, 9.10.2025, 14:00 - 16:00 CET
III. Power and Rank Dynamics - Nontokozo C. Sedibe-Sabic
Being rank unconscious can create challenges of power dynamics in interactions between individuals and within groups. This workshop is designed to support a deeper understanding and inner work on the dynamics of rank and power. As well as visibilising the privileges that comes with power.
An advocate for climate and social justice, community living and North-South healing and reconciliation, utilising the principles of UBUNTU. Nontokozo works with international organisations to develop ways of dismantling systems of oppression, decolonising and healing. She coaches individuals on their leadership skills and holds space for inner processes. She has experience in different collaborative methodologies in facilitation, project and group dynamics. Currently involved in various organisations in Europe that promote sustainable and regenerative ways of living. And has contributed to different book projects about climate psychology and community.
When: Friday, 10.9.2025, 16:00 - 18:00 CET
IV. Surviving Defunding: Simple Tools for Migrant and BIPoC Groups - Maria Elena Coa
This session will share easy tools for groups when funding goes down. We will learn how to see risks early, mix different incomes, plan budgets, and talk to donors in difficult times. The goal is that participants can use the tools and also teach them in their own groups.
Maria Elena Coa - Since 2020 I am responsible for external fundraising in Top Manta, a migrant-led cooperative in Barcelona. Top Manta started with street vendors (“manteros”) to defend migrant rights and create dignified jobs. With our clothing brand, we mix political fight and economic alternatives.
When: Monday, 13.10.2025, 16:00 - 18:00 CET
V. Repression and Holistic Security in the Training Room and Beyond - Hilal Demir
Understanding repression and holistic security approach to set up practices and support structures for emotional and physical well-being in the training room.
Hilal Demir, an anarcha-queer DJing at home is an activist, trainer, facilitator for 20 + years and has experience on organizing, strategizing in nonviolent direct action, campaign and social movement levels, working with power, active solidarity, resilience, repression and security. She is passionate about leading informal learning experiences, community organizing, group dynamics and organisational cultures, supporting activists and organizations to build long lasting transformative social movements for a just future.
When: Monday, 27.10.2025, 17:00 - 19:00 CET
How To Join
We encourage you to register as a group, along with folks you organize with or with whom you are finding a political community. Of course, individual registrations are also welcome! If you decide to join as a group, maybe you want to rotate or alter attendance to allow for rest, collective skill sharing and horizontal learning.
Individual registrations are of course also welcome!