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Welcome to the November issue of Think Global. You can download the entire newsletter below, or separate articles as listed. If you have any queries about anything in Think Global please contact Sarah on sarah.reader@wdm.org.uk.

Welcome to the September issue of Think Global. You can download the entire newsletter below, or separate articles as listed. If you have any queries about anything in Think Global please contact Katharine on katharine@wdm.org.uk

Welcome to the June issue of Think Global. You can download the entire newsletter below, or separate articles as listed. If you have any queries about anything in Think Global please contact Katharine on katharine@wdm.org.uk

Welcome to the May issue of Think Global. You can download the entire newsletter below, or separate articles as listed.

If you have any queries about anything in Think Global please contact Katharine on katharine@wdm.org.uk

Welcome to the April issue of Think Global. You can download the entire newsletter below, or separate articles as listed.

If you have any queries about anything in Think Global please contact Katharine on katharine@wdm.org.uk

Welcome to the December issue of Think Global. You can download the entire newsletter below, or separate articles as listed.

If you have any queries about anything in Think Global please contact Katharine on katharine@wdm.org.uk

Welcome to the November issue of Think Global. You can download the entire newsletter below, or separate articles as listed.

If you have any queries about anything in Think Global please contact Katharine on katharine@wdm.org.uk

A skillshare session was held with WDM groups members in Nottingham in September 2011. Here are write-ups of some of the discussion sessions.

Discussion 1: organising events

Different events that groups have done included:

Simple Stall: Put up a table with leaflets outside different banks, 2 or 3 times a month.

Stunt: Put up a big banner on a landmark, e.g multi-storey Car Park, during e.g. Political Party Conferences.

Public Meeting: Held on topics of particular interest of group members, once every 2 years or so.  Audience ranged from 25 to 100.  Publicity was helped by a web-site that posted the events on other local 'what's on' sites and local newspapers.

Festival Stall: It can take a few tries to find the right local festivals, but other stall holders can tell you about other festivals that they go to. Having activities for children and/or adults helps attract people to the stall. Activities have included free cups of Fairtrade tea, Who should we cheer for quiz & name the World Cup country from the flag, match the food item to the country, both shown on a map of the world and draw your...

Wherever you’re campaigning, always have a sign-up sheet to hand (attached below).

The standard WDM sign-up sheet has tick boxes for people to say whether they are happy to be contacted by their WDM local group, or by the WDM national office, or both.

If people tick both boxes, add them to your contact list and then send the forms to the office so we can add details to our database.

If people just tick the local WDM box, then just add them to your contact list.

Ideas for managing your contact lists

It is ideal to have two separate contact lists:

1) Wider/information list – anyone who signs up at an event gets added to this list. It is used for circulating details about events and group activities (probably once or twice a month).

2) Group member/organising list – this is for people who regularly attend group meetings and is used for frequent emails discussions.

Naturally those on the first list should receive information about when and where group meetings are taking place. If they decide to attend meetings regularly then...

Inspired by Sheffield WDM's Tar Sands film the Manchester & Warrington groups decided to attempt something similar outside RBS's iconic offices on Deansgate in Manchester's "High Street".  Here are a few tips from them:

1. Get your regional journalist on board. When s/he gives you the brush off keep trying and accept that you may have to feed him/her more for a long time before s/he comes out of the comfort zone.
2. Get a photographer and get to know your camera! Have another activist taking quotes from passers-by.
3. Don't spread yourselves out too much along the street.
4. Watch the wind (placards can be blown away very easily).
5. Visual placards which can be secured (round neck as sandwich board) or at strategic angles facing oncomers in both directions work well.
6. Mildly quirky gear (bowler, 3 piece suit, and brolly, or boiler suit and hard hat with "RBS 'oyal Bank of Scotland" logo cut from a poster can work.
8. Have a young mum and baby - i.e. range of activists- not all wearing woolly hats!
9. If you are going to give out flyers, have LOTS - we ran out and were giving out...

Next time you organise a speaker event, instead of arranging the usual ‘rows of chairs to face a panel’ format, try putting the chairs into groups of small semi circles. Then instead of having a question and answer session at the end of the talk, ask each group to discuss the main points brought out by the speaker and arrive at one question/point to feedback.

This was the method used at a recent speaker event in Bristol. What was so effective was that it made the atmosphere far more informal than it might otherwise have been. Attendees that were unfamiliar with the group were allowed to freely participate with others and it was a great way of breaking the ice. The traditional format of a panel addressing an audience with time for fleeting questions at the end fails to engage the often highly experienced and enthusiastic audience that come to an event. This type of event format might not work for every speaker (the traditional questions and answer format might better suit more technical presentations), but it is highly recommended for experienced and campaign based speakers.

One of the hardest things with a stall is how to get people to engage with you long enough. Most WDM campaigns are not easy to communicate in 2 seconds, so it helps if you can hold on to people for a minute to explain what the campaign is about and then try to persuade them to sign an action card. And it also helps if you can have something on the stall which will attract people's attention in the first place. We've tried a few methods of making stalls more interactive and entertaining, but our most successful so far was the free lucky dip that we ran at a festival in Glasgow. By offering something that attracted children, we also drew their parents to the stall and could have a conversation with them whilst their kids were happily engaged. And there were a surprising number of adults who were also very keen to try out a lucky dip!

We made the lucky dip climate-related by using model polar bears (made of polystyrene and card - just 2 dimensional, so not too complicated) as the objects to be found - we used 'Rescue the Polar Bears' as part of the branding for the stall. Once a participant had found a polar bear, they...

We had 6 numbered boxes with No Meal written in the lids except for one saying One Meal and One saying 3 Meals. Those boxes had some toffees in!
All the box lids were covered with the food derivatives poster ( 'this is how banks see your money'). We also had a home made Noel Edmonds mask

We asked people if they wanted to play and most knew deal or no deal so knew the format.
You choose the boxes you don’t want and are left with one you do plus the one that has been put aside earlier
You then choose between the final two

If they won No Meal then it clearly showed how gambling on food could end up with people hungry. And throughout the message was that food was far too important to life to be gambled with. Reregulation of food prices was needed.

If they won 1 meal or 3 meals – well they’ve been fed for up to a day but what about tomorrow and then as above.

It was an easy and fun way to engage people – children and adults - and most at least left with the idea that gambling on food wasn’t a good thing.

This is where you can find useful materials to support your group's activities; from top tips on recruiting new members to the WDM logo...

If you can't find something you think should be here please let Sarah know on sarah.reader@wdm.org.uk

If you are looking for a specific WDM campaign material you need to go to the relevant campaign page, you can find links to all our campaigns on the homepage

Groups Handbook

• How to start a group
• Full handbook
• Organising basics
• Support for groups
• Building your group
• Running a WDM campaign...

Welcome to the June issue of Think Global. You can download the entire newsletter below, or separate articles as listed.

If you have any queries about anything in Think Global please contact Katharine on katharine@wdm.org.uk

Welcome to the January issue of Think Global. You can download the entire newsletter below, or separate articles as listed.

If you have any queries about anything in Think Global please contact Sarah on sarah.reader@wdm.org.uk

Welcome to the April issue of Think Global. You can download the entire newsletter below, or separate articles as listed.

If you have any queries about anything in Think Global please contact Katharine on katharine@wdm.org.uk

Welcome to the November issue of Think Global. You can download the entire newsletter below or separate articles, as listed. There are also links to WDM's response to DfID, a copy of the groups questionnaire, sign up sheets and the new film pack: Cinema for social change.

If you have any queries about anything in Think Global please contact Sarah on sarah.reader@wdm.org.uk

I completely support WDM’s campaign to urge the government to provide sufficient resources as grants, not loans, to developing countries in order to help them adapt to climate change…"
- Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion

At the heart of WDM sit its fifty-two local groups. Our groups are made up of people who are committed to campaigning against global injustices and targeting the government and business policies which are keeping developing countries locked in poverty. Through their actions and campaigning efforts, these groups are instrumental in winning our campaigns. One of the ways in which they do this is by lobbying their local MPs.

When our Brighton group met with Green Party MP Caroline Lucas recently she offered full support for our climate debt campaign. She also promised to find out from Andrew Mitchell what’s been happening with the pounds WDM supporters have been sending to DfID for the UN Adaptation Fund.

WDM groups around the country have been lobbying their MPs on both our climate debt and our...

Think Global: Act locally with the World Development Movement (formerly Groups in Action) is our monthly in-depth newsletter for group members and individual activists.

If you would like to receive Think Global by email each month please email groups@wdm.org.uk with 'Subscribe to Think Global' in the subject line.

Our groups and activists are regularly out and about in their local areas; raising the profile of WDM's campaign issues with stunts, stalls, events, lobbying and more.

Welcome to the June issue of Think Global.

This month’s newsletter contains the latest on our clean up the banks and climate justice campaigns, as well as information about our World Cup themed website – ‘Who should I cheer for?’ and information on our new food campaign, to be launched in mid June.

Hear about the fantastic campaigning WDM groups have been doing recently and get a preview of the programme of activities at our activist gathering on 19 June
 

This is where you can find useful materials to support your group's activities; from top tips on how to recruit new members for your group to the WDM logo....

If you can't find something and you think it should be here please let Katharine know on katharine@wdm.org.uk.

If you are looking for a specific campaign briefing or report you need to go the relevant campaign page, which you'll find sign-posted on the home page. 

Welcome to the March issue of Think Global.

Read the latest news on our 'Clean up the banks' campaign; including our plans for a week of action targetting RBS in April.

Find out about you can contact your parliamentary candidates between now and the election to show both existing and potential MPs that the UK electorate cares about development issues.

Learn about the range of events taking place over the next few months; including our activist gathering in Sheffield on 19 June - 'Creating change; achieving justice.'

Welcome to the January 2010 issue of Think Global and take our urgent action on climate finance in Bangladesh.

We are campaigning in solidarity with the Equity and Justice Working group in Bangladesh and are calling on the UK government to rethink money for climate change adaptation going through the World Bank.  In addition we are demanding that this money is disbursed as grants, rather than as loans which will further add to Bangladesh's debt burden. 

Download the template letter below and write to Douglas Alexander.

Time to celebrate; three campaign successes in one month!  Find out more in the November issue of Think Global. 

Though of course campaigners never have much time to sit back and relax so this month's issue is packed with campaign activities, stunts and events taking place over the next couple of months.  From our climate justice speaker tour, to WTO media stunts, to the Wave marches in December, there is much to plan for and get excited about.