Overview

Training for Transition is a 2-day "fundamentals" course for those wishing to know how to set up, run, and maintain a successful Transition Initiative. It is packed with imaginative and inspiring ways to delve into both the theory and practice of Transition.

The first Training for Transition was held in October, 2007 in Totnes, and there have now been a number of subsequent training all over the world. This training has achieved what its aim: to inspire, encourage, and inform people who wish to undertake the Transition process. There is increasing evidence that those who attend the training find setting up and successfully creating a Transition Initiative an easier, faster, and more convivial process. By learning the nuts and bolts of what has worked in other Transition Initiatives, it empowers you to creatively apply Transition in your locale.

Course Design

The T4T training is designed around six distinctive principles of the Transition model, outlined in The Transition Handbook. These are:

1. Visioning – Creating a clear and enticing vision our desired outcome is the key principle of the Transition Process. The vision we have in our mind when we set out on this work will go a long way towards determining where we will end up.
2. Inclusion –The transition approach seeks to facilitate a degree of dialogue and inclusion that has rarely been achieved before, and has begun to develop some innovate ways of bringing this about. This is seen as one of the key principles because without inclusion we cannot succeed.
3. Awareness Raising – The end of the oil age is a confusing time and we are constantly being exposed to mixed messages which can leave one feeling perplexed. It is essential to start with the premise that the people we are trying reach don’t know how to sort out the issues, and then provide them with key arguments that allow them to formulate their own response.
4. Resilience – The need to rebuild resilience at the community level is alongside the need to move rapidly to a zero carbon society, and it is central to the Transition concept.
5. Psychological insights – It is essential to understand that the key barriers to engagement have to do with an individual’s sense of powerlessness and isolation. The Transition process uses these insights firstly, through the creation of a positive vision; and secondly, by creating safe spaces where people can talk, digest and feel how these issues affect them; and thirdly, by affirming the steps and actions that people have taken, and by designing into the process as many opportunities to celebrate success as possible. This coming together is powerful. It enables people to feel part of a collective response, and understand that they are part of something that is greater than themselves.
6. Credible and Appropriate Solutions – It is important that once folks understand the issues in Transition that they are allowed to explore solutions on a credible scale that encompass the community.

Objectives

• To understand the context for transition
• To understand the Transition model as it has evolved so far – from inspiration to working groups
• To gain knowledge of the main steps of transition
• To work out a plan of action for yourself and your locality
• To understand the inner and outer aspects of transition
• To have the elements of an inspiring talk on the Transition movement.

Questions and training needs that have arisen from other Transition Initiatives

• How large should the vision be?
• What comes after awareness-raising?
• What about ethical differences (e.g. vegans can’t support mixed agriculture projects)
• Am I doing the right thing at any one point?
• Need inspiration, self belief!
• Facilitation skills- from small groups to large public meetings.
• When do you start doing things, and how do you know when you have done enough awareness raising?

1. Introductions and Warm up

• Appreciating and gratitude
• What’s your favorite: food, place in nature, work of art / music, place you can walk to from where you live? What is your favorite place where you would travel to if you could get on an airplane...
• Make a list and see how many you can find the same in the group
• What is it about the place you live that inspires you to want to create a transitioned future?

2. The context for transition towns

• Get participants to brainstorm a map which covers the following:
  • Outer world
    • Resource use – peak oil & gas, fish, grain, water, wood, soil erosion
    • Pollution – climate change, salination
    • Carrying capacity – population x affluence x technology; draw down from past, future and others
    • Social justice – wealth differential as driver for economic growth
  • Inner world
    • Inner psychology – separation; addictions
    • World view – assumptions about growth, domination; competition and scarcity; etc
    • Resulting behaviors
    • Loss of spirituality – sense of human as greater than individual, material
• Start to build the concepts of old paradigm / new paradigm as a map- it’s all a set of connected threads, you pull on any one thread and you find you are pulling on all of them.
• Invite people to give a 2 minute talk on one topic they feel passionate about – start of building their Transition talk.

3. Vision of a healthy World

• Lacking in our media
• Other cultures? Multi-media short films.
• What is your vision for your locale?
• What are we transitioning to?

We will deliver ‘The 12 Steps to Transition’ as an overview of the transition process to make it easier, but explain that it is not necessarily a linier process.

4. The Transition Model In-Depth:

First steps – Initiating group and Awareness-raising

• Initiating group
  • Skills needed
    • Organizing – booking rooms, DVDs, speaker, projector and screen, refreshments, facilitator etc
    • Facilitating meetings and talks; dealing with process
    • Publicity – press, website,
    • Managing information – email lists, website
    • Public speaking
    • Networking with existing organizations - contacts
  • Talks and films
    • Who to aim for – existing groups, general public
    • Publicity – press, posters, word of mouth, email list, website
    • Showing films: include time for introductions to each other at the start. Digestion time at the end. Gather emails. Invite people to think about how they want to be involved.
    • Getting speakers
    • List of resources
• When is the job done?
  • Launch – “The historic night it all started”
    • Speaker? Band? Something that will draw and inspire people
    • Vision for your community
    • Invite participation at the event – post its, spaces to write thoughts, visions, requests, areas of interest
    • What else could come from the launch?
• Practical exercise on visioning
  • Visualization. Time walk; Time line.
  • Joanna Macy exercise – meeting the descendants?

5. Engaging people: Inspiring Vision and Creating Working Groups

• Ways of doing this – brainstorm from the group; add Transition Initiative practices
• 10 Tools (plus)
  • Decide on your strategic groups; Open space days, Talks, Events – examples.. green fairs; seed swap;
• Great re-skilling – making, repairing, growing, preserving, processing,
  • Skilling up for “powerdown”; various models
• Home groups

6. Evolving structure

• A discussion on structures and creating the culture of inclusion and openness. – possibly combine with 7
  • Dissolving the initiating group
  • Theme groups
  • Projects
  • Leadership
  • Participation, accountability, legitimacy

7. Where Next?

• Overview of where Transition Town Totnes has got to and current issues (mainly from us; invite other group/project leaders
  • GFWA model – project support, creativity, open, the field popping
  • Energy descent plan – strategic, focusing, planning, measurement, evaluation
  • Training – in the process, facilitation, leadership; in the concepts;
  • Home groups – support, connection, action, trust
  • Linking resources and needs in the community: volunteers; swaps, skill sharing; space e.g. gardens, tool-sheds
  • Links to the wider field – Transition US and Transition Network

8. Your next steps

• Paper exercises and feedback opportunities to cover:
  • Initiating group – who is it? What roles do people have? What’s your role? What’s the culture of the group – leader? Consensus? How are decisions made? What are your strengths? What are you missing or weak at? How could you address this – invite others to join? Training?
  • Awareness raising: what groups are you linked with – environmental? Other? Who could you approach? What venues do you have? What resources – speakers? Local projects or experts? Places to visit e.g. eco house or permaculture project? What kind of publicity can you generate? Links to local paper? Radio? Other? Local government?
  • Your personal journey. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What support do you have? What is your dream or vision? What do you want to learn about? What makes you passionate?
  • How do you address inner and outer worlds?
  • Who are you reaching? Are there groups that are not responding? Any organizational relationships that need attention?
• Resources list of:
  • Books
  • Websites
  • Videos