People&PlanetCampaignTrainingProgramme

People & Planet are launching a FREE 10-week campaign training programme at seven UK universities this spring.

Are you passionate about climate justice? Keen to gain campaign skills and develop an understanding of how change works in your university? Then join us for our free campaign training and volunteer opportunity! It will take place across 10 weeks between 4 March and 6 May 2024 at the following universities:

• Edge Hill University
• Middlesex University
• Kingston University
• University of Bolton
• University of Wolverhampton
• University of East London
• Leeds Arts University

(Not at a university on this list but keen to gain training and launch a Fossil Free campaign on your campus? We'd love to help you get set up! Get in touch)

What is the training programme?

The 10-week training programme is shaped around People & Planet’s Fossil Free campaign, which aims to get all UK universities to divest from (stop investing in) fossil fuel companies. More than two-thirds of UK universities have now committed to some form of divestment - and we want to support you to encourage your university to be the next name on our victory list!

The students’ unions we’ve teamed up with to advertise this opportunity are at universities where they do not have any investments in the first place, so we will be supporting you to encourage your university to sign up to the Fossil Free Declaration. By signing the declaration, the university would publicly affirm that they do not hold investments in fossil fuel companies, as well as committing to never do so in the future. Thus far, 22 universities have signed up, and if you get involved, your university’s name could be the 23rd!

When is it happening?

The programme begins on Wednesday 6th March with an introductory workshop and ends on Monday 6th May with an online evaluation form.

Where is it happening?

To make it as accessible as possible all workshops and support will be provided virtually, through Zoom, and sometimes over the phone for informal one-to-one campaign support and strategising.

Why should I get involved?

The programme is designed to offer you a unique opportunity to build campaigning skills and professional development, assisting entry into the campaigning and charity sector. Throughout the programme, you will build a wide range of campaigning skills including, but not limited to: undertaking campaign research, working alongside elected representatives to secure change, navigating governance structures, designing and delivering campaign strategies and lobbying decision makers. People & Planet will also support references for future job applications for those that complete the programme and provide a certificate upon completion.

How will it work?

The campaign training programme is designed to be undertaken alongside studying and has clear milestones and tasks from week to week - each lasting between 30 minutes and 1 hour 30 minutes. This will allow you to get a feel for what campaigning involves in a time-bound way, and will provide you with a diverse range of skills that will be beneficial across the course of your working lives.

Check out the proposed timetable:

WEEK	ACTIVITY
1	Introduction to fossil free campaign
2	Creating a campaign petition
3	Getting support from the student union
4	Contacting the university
5	Getting support from trade unions
6	121 Check-in with People & Planet
7	Campaign development
8	Campaign development
9	121 Check-in with People & Planet
10	Campaign review

What will be expected of me?

This programme has been designed to fit around you! You can complete the weekly task whenever it works best and around any commitments or responsibilities you may already have. The only week where we’d expect you to join us to at a certain time is the introductory workshop: 6th March, 4-5.30pm on Zoom. If that's impossible for you to make but you’re really keen to get involved, then let us know in the application form under “anything else you’d like us to know?” and we can explore if we might be able to create an alternative option.