People around the world are already engaging in the Grassroots Solidarity Revolution! Several groups of grassroots activists are hosting one or more local dialogues and Jam Sessions in all the countries listed on this map.

What are these events about?

• • • The Jam Sessions are vibrant virtual meetings hosted as part of this campaign, which are designed by and for activists to build relationships, promote collective healing and co-create grassroots-led visions around resourcing and organising.

• • • The local solidarity dialogues are spaces where grassroots activists, donors and allies cultivate meaningful relationships and build trust and mutual understanding. For now, these dialogues are hosted by the five members of Grassroots Changemakers team who helped co-design this campaign.

Are you implementing initiatives to connect grassroots activists, donors and allies in solidarity? We would like to share your story and include your efforts on our map! Contact us at grassrootscampaign@civicus.org 

Check out what’s happening in different countries

Mexico

Dahlia de la Cerda hosted a local dialogue with 14 feminist activists and organisations in Mexico to discuss three main questions: what are the difficulties they face in obtaining a grant?; what are barriers to achieving sustainability after receiving a grant?; and how can donors make resources more accessible to grassroots activists? Read the results of their conversations here and in the video below: Community dialogues in Mexico.

“Donors set requirements that are often impossible for small grassroots groups to meet, such as being legally constituted, having a bank account, and having previous grants of enormous amounts of money.”

South Sudan

Samuel Sabit convened a local dialogue with 20 grassroots activists representing different grassroots organisations, both formal and informal, operating in Yei River County, a place located along South Sudan’s southern border and significantly affected by conflict and displacement. Learn more about it in this blog and the video below.

“Donors demand audited financial reports but don’t even allocate money for audits, some of them do but most of them don’t. Organisations that cannot do these audits are not supported. They are not even given the freedom to be flexible in using the resources.”

The Philippines

Naro Alonzo and the organisation Keri: Caring for Activists also held several dialogues with local activists around the country as part of the Grassroots Solidarity Revolution to discuss their activism realities, resourcing challenges, and how to improve relationships with donors and enabling organisations. To share the highlights from these conversations, they produce two videos:

1. ‘One day in the lives of Filipino activists,’ which weaves the voices of activists who participated in the dialogues to describe what it is like being an activist in this country.

2. Resourcing the well-being of activists: this video highlights the need for caring more about the mental and emotional health of grassroots activists and calls on donors to prioritize investing in the well-being of activists.

As a result of the community dialogues, Keri identified a need for training among fellow creative activists. To support them, the organisation and its learning partner Studio Hibang put together a set of private training sessions, both live and asynchronous. These cover topics such as mental wellbeing for creative activists, project management for creatives, semiotics, protest art and design, media ethics, digital security and copywriting.

Zambia

Nawa Villy and his activist colleagues in Zambia hosted a series of conversations around their resourcing realities and what donor and funding practices should change to really nurture grassroots activism in their country. Check out their visions and recommendations for donors in the video below and in this summary: Local dialogue with grassroots activists in Zambia.

“The funding landscape currently does not speak to our needs and does not respond to our areas of operation, especially to the ways we – activists, social movements and community organisations – do our work.”

They also hosted a second dialogue between activists and donors which was a great opportunity to share the need for transforming their relationships as a first step to finding better ways to resource grassroots activism.