A
New Weave of Power, People & Politics:
The
Action Guide for Advocacy and Citizen Participation
by
Lisa VeneKlasen with Valerie Miller
A New Weave of Power,
People & Politics provides a well-tested approach for building people’s participation and collective power that goes beyond influencing policy and politics to transforming public decision-making altogether. Based on 25 years of participatory research, community development, neighborhood organizing, legal rights education, and large-scale campaign advocacy experiences worldwide, A New Weave combines concrete and practical action “steps” with a sound theoretical foundation to help users understand the process of people-centered politics from planning to action. Published in 2002 and reprinted in 2007, the guide is unique in its emphasis on power and constituency-building discussed through the lens of gender/race/class and based on the concrete experiences of social change in dozens of countries worldwide.
Read reviews of the book in Popular Education News, by John Ruthrauff, for InterAction, and other praise.
Translations of A New Weave are available in Spanish, Russian, Bahasa Indonesia, and (soon) French. (more)
A
New Weave of Power, People & Politics can be ordered through Stylus Publishing (U.S. orders) at 1-800-232-0223 or Practical Action Publishing for orders outside the U.S.
Table
of Contents; Introduction
Chapter
1 "Politics and Advocacy"
Chapter
2 "Democracy and Citizenship"
Chapter
3 "Power & Empowerment"
Chapter
5 "The Basics of Planning for Citizen-Centered Advocacy"
Chapter
10 "Mapping Advocacy Strategies"
Chapter
13 "Messages and Media"
Since the book has been published, we have
received enthusiastic feedback from around the world:
Your book arrived yesterday and I LOVE it. Congratulations on a huge job -- that is not easy work to get it all together. Although I worked on advocacy for 10 years -- the way you have disaggregated the steps is brilliant! I especially like the way you have the planning and training elements for trainers in the back -- very clear and easy to see and use. WOW is all I have to say. I have been going through it -- dipping here and there and lights and ahas going off all over the place. It will also be very very useful in our own work with local government.
SALLY TIMMEL, co-author of the Training for Transformation series
I came across your book "A New Weave of Power, People and Politics" while doing research on strategies to support the development of an advocacy network of grassroots and local media policy activists. I immediately ordered a copy, and forwarded the link on to my co-director, who did the same. We've referenced your book often while doing work to build participatory processes for advocacy, and the title is one of the first that pops into mind when colleagues consult with us on resources and tools to support their own work. In the numerous workshops we design and implement, we've adapted activities such as the Problem Tree, Forcefield Analysis and Mapping Power. The Problem Tree activity, which we were familiar with from other pop-ed resources, is so well laid out in your book and we have used it two years in a row at the Women, Media and Action conference with tremendous success-- it truly helps the participants tease out the structural and root causes of the media problems they perceive and use that to develop strategies for change. We have also often turned to and recommended your report, "Making Change Happen " and recommend it to others, recently printing out and sending copies to the organizers of a national advocacy coalition. We have highlighted both texts on our website and in our newsletters as "essential reading" because they are so clearly valuable for people doing strategic change work. Thank you and the whole Just Associates team for all you do in leading us in creating sustainable, empowered, powerful movements for change.
CATHERINE BORGMAN-ARBOLEDA, Co-Director, Center for International Media Action (CIMA)
Amazing. It is just what I have been searching
for! An integration of all of the various philosophies and schools
of thoughts regarding social justice and how to carry those through
an advocacy process.
RUTHIE-MARIE BECKWITH, Ph.D., Tennessee Microboards Association,
Inc.
I find myself in an everlasting and frustrating
search for appropriate materials to use with our students and
in my work in general, but every once in a while a gem appears
unexpectedly and your book is one of them … It arrived last
week and I have been using it and recommending it to people ever
since … I am also thrilled by your incorporation of gender
and other social variables throughout the book.
JONATHAN DAIN, Tropical Conservation
and Development Program, Center for Latin American Studies, University
of Florida
I feel that that book is a must read for all
those people doing advocacy work… Although I have come across
a number of advocacy books, none has put so well the theory and
practice. It is really a practical guide for all those people
that would want to have and effectively make use of power.
SHEILA KAWAMARA-MISHAMBI, Member, East African Legislative Assembly
… It is very clear to me that [the book]
is going to be of tremendous use in our advocacy work here in
Kenya especially as we continue to struggle for a new constitutional
dispensation. I will share it extensively with the other partners
… Once again thanks for a job well-done.
OPIATA ODINDO, Legal Advice Center (Kituo
Cha Sheria) - Kenya
Congratulations for A New Weave ... The book
will be enormously valuable to us and activists everywhere.
KATHY BOND-STEWART and TALENT NYATHI,
Africa Community Publishing and Development Trust - Zimbabwe
The Action Guide is, first and
foremost, a method for analyzing power and figuring out for
yourselves how to change its nature, distribution, and impact.
It is unique because it doesn't treat advocacy as a technical
fix, but a political process that occurs in concrete, specific
contexts. The framework for analyzing power structures, opportunities
and risks, is the most complex and nuanced that I have seen.
SRILATHA BATLIWALA, Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations,
Harvard University
All around the world, the question
of how to strengthen citizen advocacy is receiving tremendous
amounts of attention. This new manual-at once analytically sophisticated
but eminently practical-will help aid workers and citizen activists
find new approaches to a range of critical challenges in this
domain, including constituency building, power redistribution,
and participatory learning. The manual's strong emphasis on gender
perspectives is an additional major plus.
THOMAS CAROTHERS, Vice President
for Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Action Guide ... challenges dominant assumptions, defines
key political concepts within value systems, sets out action strategies,
and gives guidelines and a comprehensive toolkit for negotiation,
advocacy and organizing. Emanating from participatory activities
and discussions with women's rights activists from around the
world, it provides important insights on the role and process
of political consciousness and empowerment in advancing the rights
and participation of excluded group, …and recognizes the
difficult choices women and other marginalized groups face when
they confront power.
HOPE CHIGUDU, Chair, Global Fund
for Women
This book is important [because] it does not
offer a recipe nor a blueprint. Rather it offers a guide for exploration,
adaptation and learning in a number of contexts. Unlike many guides,
it is not written on the basis of abstract theory or 'drive-by'
consultancies…it is based on critical reflection over several
decades of experience by the authors in their collaborative work
in actually doing popular education for democracy, human rights,
and social justice in many continents of the globe.
JOHN GAVENTA, Institute of Development
Studies - Participation Group
A terrific accomplishment that taps the authors'
50 years of combined international experience as advocates, educators
and grassroots organizers. The book's emphasis is rightly placed
on social transformation, power, and analysis.
DAVID COHEN, Co-Director, Advocacy
Institute and Co-Author, Advocacy for Social Justice.
