Activistas Receive 10 Tactics Training in Nepal

Written by Delphine Pawlik, Programme Coordinator & Facilitator for Global Change.

As part of the Global Change course in Nepal, ActionAid Denmark looks into the fine art of communication, including how to convey your message to different target groups using different media and methods. For this matter the materials from Tactical Tech have been of enormous value to us.

Global Change is a three month course in campaign and leadership. We train our participants in all the different aspects of creating and carrying out a political campaign using "learning-by-doing" and "public-action-learning" methods. In the last course we used Tactical Tech's tookits and guides. It was very useful and that's why we wanted to integrate your materials into this years course as well.

With the help of a toolkit grant, Activista and ActionAid Denmark in Nepal incorporated 10 Tactics and Message-in-a-box in the sessions about social media. The participants received a copy and were encouraged them to use the tools, tips and advice for turning their information into action. As part of the training they also acted as rights advocates in the global HungerFREE campaign, and made concrete plans to use technology to spread awareness about food rights and the necessity of shifting to sustainable agriculture to the rural youth of Nepal.

“After reading the materials I would say, it encouraged me to think out of the box regarding everything and not just major things,” said Anisa Tasnim Rahman, a participant from Bangladesh.

Another participant, Deepesh Kunwar from Nepal said, “the materials from Tactical Tech taught [us] how to turn information into action and explore how rights advocates around the world have used technology to create positive change. The material had simple but effective content regarding documenting info–activism and were filled with good advice.”

The HungerFREE campaign this spring 2011 was an overall success and reached out to hundreds of youth in Nepal both in the real and virtual world. Combining online and offline action during their training, the participants created this video of this street action targeting politicians.

ActionAid Denmark is part of an international NGO, ActionAid International (AAI). They conduct trainings globally, reaching out to youth and NGO staff in their process of creating social justice and change. The Global Platform in Nepal offers an annual 3-month course in campaign leadership and participants join us from all over the Asian region. The young people who participate are activists from ActionAid's global youth network “Activista”.