Tools for Changemakers

In a world where so much feels out of our control, it’s easy to feel disconnected and to wonder what difference one person can make.

Tools for Changemakers is a values-driven short course that brings people together to (re)discover their purpose, reflect and learn how to create projects with long-lasting impact. It is a breathing space to imagine, play and work together, and to learn the methods that can help us to develop viable projects to create the world we want.

Through the course participants develop a clear understanding of the strengths, experiences, skills and attitudes they and others bring to making the world a more just, sustainable, abundant and peaceful place. Together they develop a positive road map for how to challenge the issues they see around them. They learn how to bring change to both their own lives and their community and the practical and inter-personal skills to make these ideas a reality.

Tools for Changemakers draws on the lessons learned from Citizen Architects’ twenty years of working with communities on design projects and makes them transferable to any form of community endeavour. The methodology is deliberately playful, fast-paced, inclusive and hands-on. It follows a ‘practice first’ approach, meaning that both the overt learning outcomes and the ‘hidden curriculum’ (attitudes and realisations that arise naturally) of each exercise are experienced by participants in a practical, and often visceral, manner first, before being followed up with theoretical inputs where appropriate. ‘Serious play’ activities are used  to communicate and deliver course content in a manner that encourages an exploratory attitude in participants.

The was first developed at the Arts University Linz, Austria and is now fully accredited as a United World College Short Course, their first UWC short course for. Each iteration of the course is rooted in its place and carefully tailored to its participants. No two Tools for Changemakers are the same.

If you are interested in running the course in your community, or at your company or organisation, please get in touch.

 ‘Thank you once again for being a wonderful facilitator/guide/collaborator throughout this whole process. The time spent working on this and the learnings from this course will stay with us forever.’

Rikunj , Pooja and Samyuktha, Course Participants

Group of people holding decorated stones with colorful, intricate patterns and designs.
People working in a vegetable garden on a sunny day with a blue sky and clouds, planting and tending to crops.
Collage of images related to healthy eating and community, featuring fresh vegetables, people gardening, preparing food, and enjoying meals.
Group of people gathering outdoors on a sunny day, sitting and standing on grass near a rustic wooden building, enjoying food and drinks, with trees and bushes in the background.
Three women standing in a room, engaged in a discussion or presentation, with a table and chairs nearby and a whiteboard in the background.
A man and a woman standing in front of a large digital screen displaying microscopic images of cells or bacteria, engaging in a conversation or presentation.