UpRisers facilitate a chain reaction

December 7, 2009 – 5:58 pm

UpRiser Sahera Abbasi facilitating a group discussion at Chain Reaction

A group of UpRisers and UpRising graduates took part in Chain Reaction 2009, an event that brought together social leaders, community activists, policy makers, business leaders, and young people from the UK and beyond to share learning and to generate new ideas for social change, locally and globally.    

The team of 13 UpRisers and UpRising graduates facilitated roundtable discussion at a session on “New Ideas for Engaging Communities in Social Change”. Speakers at the session included; Martha Lane Fox, Chair of the Digital Inclusion Task Force, Liam Byrne MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Mary Rhead-Corr, Executive Director, United Bank of Carbon, and Catherine Sermon, National Community Impact Director, Business in the Community.  This session was led by Simon Burall, Director of Involve, and was attended by participants from a plethora of different sectors and backgrounds. The discussions facilitated by the UpRisers centred on why community engagement was important and what works in community engagement.  Read More »

By UpRising | Posted in East London, Learning Visit, UpRising graduates | Comments (0)

Muna Hassan speaks at Chain Reaction 2009 on campaigning

December 7, 2009 – 5:29 pm

UpRising graduate Muna Hassan spoke at Chain Reaction 2009 on campaigning

UpRising graduate Muna Hassan spoke at a workshop on ‘Campaigning for Social Change’ as part of Chain Reaction 2009. The workshop brought together experts from the world of campaigning to share what works, and to answer questions about how to take campaigns forward. Along with Muna participants included Maeve McGoldrick of the Need not Greed campaign, Liam Barrington-Bush, NCVO and the DCLG Young Advisors.         

Muna spoke about her campaigning to raise awareness about the drug ‘khat’. This is a stimulant made from fresh leaves of the Catha Edulis shrub, which is used recreationally by many people from migrant communities. Muna started her campaign while a participant on the UpRising leadership programme in response to the personal effects that khat had on her own family. The drug is currently legal and can be bought over shop counters by people as young as 12. Muna is calling for a public health campaign to raise awareness about this drug and push for a legislative change.        

Commenting on the event Muna Hassan said:    

“It was great pleasure to take part in an event that brings so many different people together and it was even greater to be invited as speaker. I gave a talk about the importance of campaigning in relation to my campaign and the need for younger people to campaign about issues that matter to them.  It was also a great opportunity to raise the profile on my Khat-Alert campaign to a wider audience.”    

  Read More »

By UpRising | Posted in Community Campaign, Meet the UpRisers | Comments (0)

Building a team

December 7, 2009 – 5:28 pm
Aretousa and Mary introduce organisational meetings

UpRisers took part in a learning session on 22 October 2009 that included training on how to set up and run organisational meetings. 

Organisational meetings allow individuals to share their concerns and come together to work together. They are useful when developing campaigns to build new relationships and shared understandings between a group, and produce commitments to specific next steps.

UpRisers also presented their initial community campaign plans at the learning session, and received constructive feedback from each other.

Click here to see photos of the learning session.

By UpRising | Posted in East London, Learning Session | Comments (0)

Community campaign workshop with Titus Alexander

December 7, 2009 – 5:28 pm

Titus Alexander and UpRiser Sahera Abbasi

UpRisers took part in a community campaign workshop with Titus Alexander, Head of Campaigning at Novas Scarman on 15 October 2009. 

Titus Alexander has a long-track record of campaigning and has been one of the chief advocates for the development of campaigning skills.  He recently launched ‘Campaigning is OK’, short guide to help community and voluntary organisations develop skills and support for effective campaigning.

UpRisers got advice from Titus Alexander on the development of their community campaigns, including on clarifying their campaign objectives, deciding on actions and identifying sources of support.

Zin Derfoufi, an UpRising graduate, also took part in the learning session to share his experience of campaigning on issues including civil liberties, community cohesion and race relations. 

Click here to see photos of the community campaign workshop.

By UpRising | Posted in Community Campaign | Comments (0)

UpRisers see community organising in action

December 7, 2009 – 5:27 pm

David Higgins, Chief Executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority, receives a silver medal from TELCO for 97% Living Wage compliance on the 2012 Olympic Park

The East London Communities Organisation (TELCO) welcomed a group of UpRisers to their 13th Anniversary Delegates Assembly at Stratford Old Townhall.      

TELCO is the oldest chapter of LONDON CITIZENS, a citizens organising network. TELCO is a coalition main up of congregations, schools, unions and associations from across East London.      

The four UpRisers participating in the learning visit got to see the community organising process in action. The meeting included pledges of support from the organisations that make up TELCO; questioning and holding to account of Olympics decision-makers; and voting by TELCO members on their economic campaigning priorities.      

Click here for more information about TELCO.

By UpRising | Posted in Community Organising, East London, Learning Visit | Comments (0)

Award winning architect gives advice on turning an idea into a reality

December 7, 2009 – 5:26 pm

A group of four UpRisers visited award winning architect Amanda Levete at her practice in West London on 30 September 2009.

Amanda Levete and her team of architects talked to UpRisers about the challenges of taking a project from idea to completion, the importance of persevering with one’s ideas and the way in which the design process is used in the organisation of projects and work environments.

More information about Amanda Levete Architects is available here.

By UpRising | Posted in Learning Visit | Comments (0)

Al Jazeera hosts UpRisers

December 7, 2009 – 5:25 pm

UpRiser Natasha Shaikh in a recording studio at Al Jazeera

A group of UpRisers were hosted by the Al Jazeera’s London bureau for a learning visit on 25 September 2009. 

The visit included a Q&A session with the Programme Editor of the News Desk, Richard Martin, and Programme Producer Stephen Phelps, a visit around the different studios and a conversation with Russell Beard, who works on documentary and world film programmes.

Click here for photos of the learning visit.

By UpRising | Posted in Business, Learning Visit, Media | Comments (0)

Community Campaigns take shape

December 7, 2009 – 5:24 pm

Participants on the UpRising leadership programme developed their ideas for community campaigns during a learning session held on 24 September 2009.

UpRisers worked in groups to define the problem they hoped their community campaign would address. Using a problem definition tool they broke the wider issue into component parts. The exercise aimed to help participants focus their community campaigns and identify concrete achievable actions for their community campaigns. At the end of the session all the UpRisers came together in the main theatre at Oxford House to share their work.

Participants were also introduced to how to use one-to-one meetings to build relationships with individuals to increase their understanding of issues affecting their community and mobilise support for their community campaigns.

Photos of the learning session are available here.

By UpRising | Posted in Community Campaign, East London, Learning Session | Comments (0)

Muna Hassan recognised for campaigning on khat use

December 7, 2009 – 5:22 pm

Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, presented the 2009 Sheila McKechnie Young Activist 2009 Award

The campaigning of UpRising graduate Muna Hassan was recognised as she reached the final shortlist for the 2009 Sheila McKechnie Foundation Young Activist Award. 

The award supports young campaigners, aged 16-24, who are campaigning on a community focused issue with which they have a personal connection. 

Muna is trying to raise awareness about the drug ‘khat’. This is a stimulant made from fresh leaves of the Catha Edulis shrub, which is used recreationally by many people from migrant communities. Muna started her campaign while a participant on the UpRising leadership programme in response to the personal effects that khat had on her own family. The drug is currently legal and can be bought over shop counters by people as young as 12. Muna is calling for a public health campaign to raise awareness about this drug and push for a legislative change. 

Read More »

By UpRising | Posted in Community Campaign, Meet the UpRisers | Comments (0)

Community Cafe investigates ‘getting things off the ground’

December 4, 2009 – 10:32 am

UpRisers took part in a ‘community cafe’ with speakers from a range of backgrounds who discussed how to set up new campaigns or projects.

As part of UpRising participants set up develop your own ideas and apply their learning through leading a community campaign aimed at influencing change to help solve a problem affecting their community.

Through group discussions with the speakers the UpRisers got the opportunity to get useful advice for the setting of their community campaigns.

Speakers at the learning session included:

The community cafe was held on 10 September 2009 as part of an UpRising learning session hosted by HSBC.
Read More »

By UpRising | Posted in Learning Session | Comments (0)