Faciliate workshops at the Gathering

At the Consulta last May, some solid groundwork was done with the provincial mobilizers and representatives present to draw up the program for the Gathering. The group identified over 20 priority themes to be addressed at the thematic and creative workshops. Today we're presenting you with the preliminary program for Saturday, October 11, based on that list. Waves of Resistance would not be a gathering celebrating feminist diversity worthy of the name if the suggested workshops and activities weren't diverse! Besides, since our event is pan-Canadian, it's essential for the activities to be facilitated by young feminists from all provinces and territories!!

We'd like you to have a close look at the workshop themes and possible angles to approach them. The themes are not the definitive titles of Saturday's thematic workshops. They're simply indications to help us find young feminists who will put together and lead the workshops; they will decide on the definitive titles!

It's important to be aware of and fully understand the process we're proposing for the afternoon of Saturday, October 11. This is a three-stage process of consciousness-raising and then acting in small groups (10 to 20 young women): 1- the thematic workshops (1½ hours), aimed at becoming aware of feminist issues and social problems related to a particular theme; 2- creative resistance workshops, with the same groups, to discuss what we can do here and now to fight against these problems and help solve them. Each group will agree on a creative resistance action to be staged where the workshop is held (1½ hours); 3- each group will stage their creative resistance activity (1½ hours).

To lead this process, we need two people per group/workshop:

* A facilitator who's very familiar with the theme and related social and political issues, and who will put together a creative consciousness-raising workshop on the theme, lasting 1½ hours. She will be present afterwards to support her group in the creative resistance workshop and then when the action is staged.
* A facilitator who will take charge of the entire group process, who will see to consistency and harmony from start to finish. She will introduce the whole procedure at the start. She will help facilitate the thematic workshop, but her most important role will be to lead the creative resistance workshop and the action.

By August 20, we'd like you to be able to provide the Waves of Resistance team with:

1) The names of at least two women between the ages of 14 and 35 from your province or territory who are interested in putting together and facilitating an hour and a half of interactive activities on the different themes. Please explain to them that the angles to approach the themes are suggestions of content and political perspectives that they might draw on for their workshop. We want the thematic workshops to be conceived and led in a lively, interactive and accessible manner. We will ask facilitators to avoid, as much as possible, the "lecture format," based only on talking. The facilitators in charge of content are therefore strongly urged to think up participatory, dynamic activities.

2) The names of women between the ages of 14 and 35 from your province or territory who are interested in leading the Saturday creative resistance process or other workshops on the program, or even the plenary sessions at different times during the Gathering. (We will give them assistance, tools and a facilitating framework!)

Whenever possible, we would like the facilitating to be done by pairs of a younger woman (say, 20 or younger) and a woman who's a bit older or more experienced (say, 21 to 35). So feel free to suggest facilitators of all ages within the 14-35 range!

When you've thought of potential facilitators, we would like you to make the initial contact to see if they're interested. Once you've spoken to them, please put us in touch with them.

We must point out that we can't pay the travel expenses of all the facilitators and resource persons. We need over 60 of them! So, insofar as possible, they have to be found among the women already planning to attend the Gathering and who will find funding themselves or with the help of the mobilizers in their province or territory. If they meet the criteria of socio-economic diversity, they can apply to the Travel Fund. However, no one should count on the fund too much because unfortunately it is very small. If you have found potential facilitators, but funding their trip is a real problem, get in touch with us and we'll try to find a solution together.

When thinking about all this, bear in mind that at the core of the political perspective for organizing the Gathering are the ideas of diversity and plurality. It is therefore essential to have a large number of non-white facilitators and resource persons. The participation of many young women under the age of 18 is also important to the Organizing Committee. If you know some who would be interested in all this, let us know!

You have resource persons in mind?
You have facilitators in mind?

You have in mind young feminists interested in drawing up the manifesto of young feminists of Canada?

LET US KNOW ABOUT THEM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Preferably by August 20!
Get in touch with the Organizing Committee ASAP at mobilisation@rebelles2008.org