Gentle Action

[Ceres]

http://www.gentleaction.org/

I heard this bloke on the radio the other day. The organisation is focussed on small-scale activism which operates at low-cost so that overheads don't absorb donations. It seems very interesting and sensible!

[battlecrumpet]

Sounds interesting. Have looked through the website and a few of the examples listed here (http://www.gentleaction.org/library/paper2.php). But I didn't listen to the bloke on the radio. Is it all just a fancy way of saying that development / aid organisations should (shock horror) actually listen to the needs of the people they're trying to help, and encourage community education and self-sufficiency??

If so, this type of approach can be used equally effectively by large-scale activist / development organisations as well as small-scale ones.

[Ceres]

Kinda.. it's also saying that small actions can have more direct effects on the recipients than large organisations. A lot of big organisations like world vision had enormous overheads and only a small percentage of their funds ever reach the target group.
The bloke on the radio gave some examples of big companies using these approaches too - there was a department store that chose to trust their employees rather than to take big-brotherish approaches to management, and shunned paper advertising etc which made a huge difference to the amount of theft and the environmental impact.

[Janet]

I love love love creativity around life in general and activism in particular. I love a bit of inspiration!