Getting involved in community groups is a new experience for many people. Starting and maintaining a healthy group is not as easy as it might first sound. But the good news is that you are not flying blind - there is lots of good information about what is most likely to work well and plenty of people with expertise in community processes and facilitation who can help. You just have to find them!
To make it easier to form and maintain community groups, our experts have written three short tip sheets to help get you going and keep you going. The key to it all is to keep a focus on action, to help people find the skills and talents they can bring to the group, and to keep on learning as you go. If you are starting a new group in a town a stepwise process of letterboxing a pamphlet, holding a public meeting which talks about the power of social movements, and having a planned follow-up meeting based on working groups has proven very effective.
So have a quick squiz at these tipsheets and look forward to helping your group function as a powerful and effective agent of change.
Tip Sheet 1: Creating a town action group
Tip Sheet 2: Healthy action groups
Tip Sheet 3: Adopt action learning in your group
You might also find useful these 'Our Water, Your Choice' template designs for a flyer or poster that you can add your own information to if you are organising a local event:
Thanks to Claire Chatfield for designing these templates for local groups.
