The new wave of campaigners is coming....
I recently had the opportunity to attend Campaign Bootcamp in Germany. What I witnessed was an amazing encouragement at a time of great challenge for the world.
Campaign bootcamp is a training program that was set up in 2013 in recognition of the lack of capacity building for young campaigners outside professional contexts. They state: “We set Bootcamp up because we were frustrated at how hard it was for young campaigners to learn what it takes to win campaigns that matter. We noticed that most campaigners didn't get training until they'd been working as campaigners for years, and even then a lot of the training wasn't what they needed. We thought there must be a better way.” Campaign Bootcamp currently runs week long trainings in the UK and Germany (I hope they expand soon!) with tens of budding campaigners.
I had the privilege of attending the first session in Germany as a presenter and workshop facilitator. It was amazing to see so many people give up their time to learn how to campaign effectively on the campaigns that matter to them. In the room we had people passionate about the environment, disability services, development, climate change, inequality and so much more.
What is most exciting to me about this initiative is that it is responding to (and cultivating) a new generation of people that want to be campaigners. When I was growing up people wanted to doctors, builders, teachers and so on. Whilst all these roles are important, no one talked about being a “campaigner”… it wasn’t a thing. But now it is. I’ve met so many young people who say they want to be a campaigner for their vocation. And this is what we need.
The challenges that the world is facing are immense. We require no less than a wave of new campaigners and activists that are willing to challenge, confront and change unjust systems. To me, Campaign Bootcamp seems like one of those places that will go down in campaigning history as a critical site of this shift.
Hats off to the staff of Campaign Bootcamp Germany, but even more so the participants. I was amazed by the passion, skill and creativity shown by this group of emerging leaders. I'm looking forward to hearing of many victories.
