ORGANIZING: Ideas & Suggestions of Activities

HIC

Organize an event – Every event, no matter what size, has a part of play in the week of action. Why not consider organizing an event yourself? Register your event (link) so that we can all share strategies, challenges, and successes.



Some ideas include:

ACTIONS:

— A meeting with an elected official who represents members of your community. Such meetings should include as many people as possible and be in a question and answer (Q&A) format. It should be well-organized to ensure the event is lead by the questions the community member need answered, and not be simply an opportunity for the elected official to receive free press.

— A sign-on, post-card, email or letter writing campaign that culminates with the delivery of the letters in a public event to talk about the issues your organization is working on.



EDUCATION:

— Educate community members about housing issues. Your organization’s volunteers can pass out flyers and talk to community members, carry out street theater performances about a problem your organizations is tackling, or a rally to make others in the community aware of key housing issues and to show community support for your organization’s demands.



Get your members involved – In order to mobilize millions of people the call to action needs to go out far and wide. Tell your members about the all actions, and encourage them to get involved too.



Recruit New Members – Use the campaign as an opportunity to bring in new members. With every person you discuss the campaign, also talk to them about joining your organization. People want to join organizations that are making a difference. Recruitment when you are campaigning is a great way to show of your organization’s work.



Endorse the call to action – During the campaign, movements and campaigns from across the world will join together in united action against forced evictions and against speculation of housing, land and utilities. If you plan to be involved, you could discuss the week of action at key decision-making meetings and endorse the call to action. Encourage member organizations to endorse the call to action separately. We need as many organizations as possible to officially endorse the call to action. The more organizations do this, the more it will encourage others to get involved and the more power we will have to win.



Call a consultation meeting – Approach other organizations in your country or community at an early stage and invite them to a consultation meeting to consider the possibilities of working together during the period between October 2007-January 2008 for housing and land rights.



Prior to this meeting identify three types of organizations – those you know will join you, those that are on the fence, and those you think have little chance of joining, but are not people who will work against you. The first group should be asked to speak at the event as to why they chose to join in order to inspire others. The second group should be your target group. Call them ahead of time to make sure they are present, assign someone to buddy up with the group’s representative in case s/he has questions, and make sure to follow-up with them after the meeting. The third group is important for two reasons. First, they may ask hard questions and it is important that you answer those or at least are able to explain that a key objective of the meeting is to deal with such questions; and second, they may be convinced to join.



Get involved in events already organized – Organizations, movements and campaigns have already started organizing events at local, national and international level. Show your support to other organizations. Participate with them, but be clear that you are joining this specific campaign on a specific set of goals, for a set period of time. Be clear what you can offer from the beginning – member support, institutional resources, etc. If later, you choose to build a stronger tie with them you can do that too.



Carry out a Media Blitz – Use the campaign period to place articles, stories, photos, etc in media outlets. Prepare reporters and others for the events by having press releases about your actions, prepared letters to the editor, and key people ready to do interviews about issues of your campaign.