Melbourne Nonviolence Education Collective

Over the last few months there have been a number of people expressing
interest in joining the Melbourne Nonviolence Education Collective (NEC)
and/or in facilitating introductory nonviolence workshops. The
responsibilities of the NEC, its membership, its structure and processes, and
the nonviolence education programs it conducts have developed rapidly since
it was re-established in August 1993. Therefore, we decided to prepare a
short statement that gives Victorian members of the Australian Nonviolence
Network, including prospective members of the NEC, a clear understanding of
the NEC and its work. This will allow people in the Network to use the NEC
more effectively and give prospective members a clearer sense of the
Collective's expectations. 

Aim and objectives
To improve the quality, range, image and financial viability of nonviolence
education by:
- developing the knowledge and skills of nonviolence teachers, - organising a
regular schedule of nonviolence education programs, - undertaking the
administration associated with these programs, - promoting awareness of these
programs, and securing information about nonviolence education programs being
conducted overseas and utilising this when appropriate. 

Nonviolence education programs
The NEC organises several nonviolence education programs, including: 
1. An ongoing internal education program to improve the knowledge and skills
of NEC members and facilitators,
2. A regular program of introductory weekend workshops,
3. A regular program of Nights of Nonviolence. 

The NEC also offers support in education-related areas by: 
4. Responding to requests to conduct workshops on particular or 'advanced'
topics (e.g. police liaison, media liaison, peacekeeping) or by referring the
request to an appropriate sister organisation, such as Commonground,
5. Responding to any group in the Network that requests a facilitator:
- to assist its members to discuss a specific topic (e.g. 'Should I be
arrested?'),
- to debrief,
- to teach a specific set of skills (e.g. how to facilitate a meeting, how to
develop the strategy for a campaign). 

Members of the Melbourne NEC
Members: Bernadette McCartney, Robert Burrowes, Mark Cerin, Anita McKone,
Karen Rosauer, Kate Kelly.
Associate members (resident outside Melbourne): Margaret Pestorius, Jo
Barter.

Structure of the NEC
The NEC is a collective with a process for involving new people. 

The process for joining the NEC
If you are interested in joining the NEC, please tell an existing member who
will arrange a meeting with you to discuss your interest and the Collective's
work. This member will then take your request to the following meeting of the
Collective for it to consider. In deciding whether or not to accept a new
member, the Collective will take the following factors into account.

1. How many people are in the Collective already? Our Collective functions
very smoothly and efficiently. This is partly a function of its size. 

2. Does the Collective have the capacity to meaningfully incorporate and
provide adequate opportunities for the prospective member to develop their
knowledge and skills in the field of nonviolence education? In the
short-term, we have decided to make a strong commitment to a few people in
this respect rather than to frustrate many.

3. Does the prospective member have the commitment and energy to make an
ongoing contribution to our nonviolence education programs? We do a lot of
work and we need people with time to help us do it. 

4. Does the prospective member have the qualities, skills and experience
(some of which will be acquired and developed with the direct assistance of
the NEC) to become a good nonviolence educator quickly? As our capacity to
support people improves, we will be able to offer support to prospective
members who will need more time to learn. 

5. Would the existing NEC members feel comfortable working with the
prospective member? We believe that groups work best when they take conscious
responsibility for deciding their membership. This might lead to an "awkward"
decision sometimes but we are committed to being honest (in our decisions and
feedback) rather than obliging. 

Once a decision about a prospective member has been made, the NEC will give
prompt, honest and thoughtful feedback to that person. 

The process for becoming a workshop facilitator 
In March 1990, eighteen people participated in a workshop so that they could
become facilitators. Despite their enthusiasm, there was limited demand for
workshops and hence few opportunities to teach. This led to some frustration
and disenchantment. We want to prevent this problem occurring again.

Despite considerable promotional work during 1993-1994, there is still
limited demand for workshops: we are conducting just one workshop every two
months. Therefore, there are limited opportunities to facilitate workshops
and to gain teaching experience in this way. 

Because we are committed to offering consistently high quality education
programs and because the NEC is being asked to send teachers interstate, we
have adopted the following principles to guide us in our effort to generate a
steady supply of highly competent and experienced nonviolence educators. 

1. The NEC will decide who facilitates each workshop. This means that we can
rotate our facilitators so that new facilitators have the chance to work with
more experienced ones as well as the chance to teach three or more workshops
throughout the year. In this way, new facilitators get the chance to practice
and consolidate what they learn. 

2. The NEC is committed, in the short-term, to developing a small number of
highly competent facilitators, rather than having a large number of
facilitators with relatively little experience. As demand for workshops
increases, we will be able to expand the number of facilitators. As we do
this, we will continue to emphasise quality. 

3. The NEC has decided, during this phase of our development, to use only NEC
members (and associate members who live outside Melbourne) as workshop
facilitators. By doing this, we can ensure the expertise and experience of
NEC members and we can monitor the suitability of our carefully (and
laboriously!) developed education programs. 

4. The NEC will ask new members to share the work of the Collective for a
period of time before expecting to have the opportunity to teach a weekend
workshop. In the meantime, we will encourage prospective facilitators to gain
experience in other ways, for example, by organising and facilitating Nights
of Nonviolence.

5. The NEC will encourage potential facilitators to attend a number of
introductory workshops as a participant (to familiarise themselves with the
content and process) in preparation for their subsequent role as a
facilitator.

6. The potential facilitator will need to feel confident and ready to teach a
workshop before they are expected to do so. In turn, the NEC will need to
feel confident that the new facilitator has the knowledge, skill and
experience to teach before it will ask them. The Collective will help
prospective facilitators to identify and work on areas in which they need
support to become a good facilitator.

7. The NEC will prefer potential facilitators who have experience of
organising ANN-style nonviolent actions. 

8. To create opportunities for others, Robert will not teach introductory
workshops in Melbourne unless other facilitators are not available. 
Melbourne Nonviolence Education Collective