Activities:

• Power session handout and discussion
• Exercise on power relationships

Session objective:

to support participants to explore a challenging, and often taboo, issue within the activist world – how we think about power and how power dynamics affect our lives, including our safety and well-being.

Required materials:           

Handout on power, 'Power' exercise

Key explanation points:

• The power session can be used with participants who are struggling with internal challenges within their own organisations and within their movements. It can also be used with participants who feel particularly ‘powerless’ – for example, working under extremely repressive regimes.
• The session must be employed with care and sensitivity, as these exercises will (and should) bring up very challenging and real issues among participants – and it will challenge the group as a whole. Utilised well, it can help to strengthen organisations and movements and aid them in recognising that true solidarity and integrated security require an honest assessment of power dynamics, and often, a shift in the way we hold power.
• It is best used on Day Two in the morning or possibly in the afternoon.