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Thank You for Building with Us

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the 3-day Seasons of Leadership Retreat. It meant a lot to be in a space with so many thoughtful, committed leaders—learning together, asking hard questions, and reflecting on what this moment is asking of us.

We’re planning to host another Seasons of Leadership Retreat in 2026. If you’d like to stay in the loop, you can sign up for updates using the form below.

Hope to keep building with you.

The Ayni Team

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About The Training

We’re excited to collaborate with Ivan Marovic, an extraordinary leader in movement strategy and creative campaign design.
 
Across social movements in the U.S., there are countless urgent issues that demand the attention of the public, the media, and those in power. Yet, campaign planning and execution remain a major gap for many of us seeking to build the power our communities need.
 
Many issues already have the support of the public. Majorities agree on them, but lack the active participation needed to carry them across the finish line. That’s why we’re thrilled to partner with Ivan to support organizations in developing campaign plans that can lead to real breakthroughs in 2026.
 
Too often, when we talk about campaigns, the focus is limited to media, branding, or messaging. While those are important components, we know that what’s truly needed are people-powered campaigns fueled by mass participation, strategic enough to engage the public’s imagination, mobilize leadership, and navigate repression and rapidly changing conditions.
 
People-powered campaigns focus on drawing from the real resources of your community and constituency, not the tools or assumptions of the status quo. Part of the art of campaigning is identifying the points of leverage that can open cracks in power and create momentum for change.
 
From our experience assessing campaigns across the field, we’ve seen that many efforts move from action to action without a cohesive campaign plan or a shared theory of coherence to guide and connect those actions. This training helps bridge that gap and turn scattered activity into potential power.

About Ivan

Ivan Marović is an activist and expert in nonviolent resistance, renowned for his pivotal role in Serbia’s Otpor! movement, which was instrumental in the overthrow of Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. As one of the movement’s leaders, Marović helped develop strategies that mobilized significant grassroots support and led to a peaceful transition of power. Following this success, he dedicated his career to advising and training pro-democracy groups around the globe. Currently, Marović serves as the Executive Director of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC), where he continues to advocate for strategic nonviolent action and educate others on the principles of civil resistance.

What You’ll Learn

Over three days, participants will move step by step through the full campaign-planning process:

  • Identify Issues & Map Power – Understand the terrain and locate leverage points.
  • Develop Strategy & Sequence Tactics – Build campaigns that move strategically toward real outcomes.
  • Craft Messages That Move People – Communicate in ways that inspire action.
  • Prepare for Repression & Backlash – Strengthen resilience in difficult political climates.

You’ll practice building a draft campaign plan in learning teams through a collaborative process you can take back and apply with your own organization.

You can learn more about Ivan’s methodology in his book The Path of Most Resistance: A Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Nonviolent Campaigns. A copy of the book will be provided to all participants upon arrival.

Who Should Attend

This Level 1 training is for individuals and teams ready to design and lead campaigns aimed at mobilizing public participation, including:

  • Organizers building mass engagement around an issue
  • Members of movements, coalitions, advocacy groups, or volunteer-led efforts preparing to launch or strengthen a campaign
  • Activists who have organized protests or actions and want to develop a full campaign strategy
  • Anyone interested in learning from the global tradition of civil resistance and applying those lessons to their work today

Applications are open to individuals and team participants who are already working together, or who plan to work together, on a shared issue, campaign, or organizing effort. If someone signs up on their own, we’ll place them in a group with others doing the same. Together, they’ll work on a campaign for the exercise—either one of theirs or a shared case—so they can go through the process as a team.

Participants are encouraged to come with a specific issue, campaign, or organizing challenge they want to develop during the training.

While our february training has spanned a wide range of issues, this upcoming training is centered on three priorities. We are looking for groups working in: (1) upcoming elections, (2) challenging the mass incarceration system, and (3) climate campaigns.
For groups organizing around elections, we mean teams working to increase voter turnout, prevent electoral manipulation, challenge authoritarian forces, expand voter education, and strengthen democratic processes at the state and local levels. For groups working on climate campaigns, this could include a range of efforts, with particular interest in campaigns to stop AI-driven data centers and other harmful projects. For groups challenging mass incarceration, this may include efforts to stop prison construction or closures that harm communities, expand the rights of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people, and advance broader decarceration strategies.

Trainers & Partners

The Structure

Format: In-person
Duration: Thursday, June 25 – Sunday, June 28, 2026
Sessions:

  • Thursday: 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM
  • Friday–Saturday: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM
  • Sunday: 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Apply Now

The priority application deadline is May 1. We will begin reviewing applications and sending acceptances shortly after that date.

Additional applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until May 22, space permitting.

For questions, email us at ayni.trainings@gmail.com

Retreat Format

  1. Deep Personal Reflection – To reflect on key questions, discuss key frameworks, and assess how we’re doing in our leadership.
  2. Group Sharing – Share vulnerable stories in order to process what we have been through with people that going through similar things. Sometimes this format allows for participants to feel seen, relate to others, and create an atmosphere of support for people’s journeys in social change.
  3. Awareness practices – To be present and come back or take respite from potentially emotionally charged group shares (i.e. guided meditation, ritual, breathing and movement exercises).
  4. Communing practices — Both open and structured time to relate with one another and with nature. This can include taking walks together, doing ceremonies, music jams, campfire conversations, etc.

Day 1 Thursday

3:00 pm Welcome & Opening of Retreat

5:00 pm Dinner

6:00 – 8:30 pm Introduction to Seasons of Leadership

  • We’ll review the framework of Seasons & Cycles so that everyone has a baseline on the concepts we will be diving into. You will also begin to identify the season you are in.

Day 2 Friday

8:00 am Breakfast

9:00 am – 12:00 pm Opening & Leadership Cycle Inventory

  • You’ll take the time to map your leadership journey in order to visualize the ebbs and flows of your last 7 years. Understanding where you’ve been will support in determining where you are going.

12:00 pm Lunch

1:00 – 5:00pm Processing Your Last Cycle, The Power of Winters

  • Emotionally process what you went through during your last leadership cycle in small groups. We will also explore the power of Winters and techniques for how to navigate them, as well as what it means if you have not taken a Winter in a long time.

5:00 pm Dinner

7:00 pm Ceremony

Day 3 Saturday

8:00 am Breakfast

9:00 am – 12:00 pm Emotional Openings & Closings, Support Group Meeting

  • Understand and protect the season you are in by processing where you’re currently at in your leadership, and understand how the seasons affect your patterns of regulation and disregulation (of being emotionally open or closed). In other words, you’ll gain a macro perspective of what you’ve gone through (and will go through) emotionally through your seasons.

12:00 pm Lunch

1:00 pm – 6:00 pm Preparing, The Philosophy of Seasonality & Closing

  • Prepare for the rest of your cycle by creating new habits, identifying support and intentionally undoing/subtracting in order to add more to your leadership. We will also explore how to compliment the season your organization is in and how to navigate any tensions where there is a difference in season (colleagues, organization, movement, etc).

6:00 pm Dinner

8:00 pm Communal Fun

The Practical Stuff

Logistics and COVID Precautions

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be provided.

COVID precautions: We ask that everyone test for COVID before arriving. If you have any symptoms, we ask that you notify us and refrain from coming. Thank you in advance!

Below is the cost to attend this training. Please choose your rate accordingly (more information on the difference in tier are below). Payment plans are available upon request (for example, paying over the course of 3 months).

        *Payment plan available upon request (for example, paying over the course of 3 months).

        Please refer to the next two tabs to check the pricing guides.

After reviewing the tier qualifiers, please select the one you self-identify with and the price rate that applies to your tier. Things to consider when reviewing the following tiers:

The following is our guide to help you think about what rate you qualify for and doesn’t encompass all of your personal factors.
Please make sure to consider any personal financial responsibilities; work, family, health, etc. when selecting your tier. You do not have to meet all the factors to fall into a category. Instead, these should be guideposts to help you think about what tier you qualify for. If most of the qualifiers describe you or your situation, you are in that tier.

Ayni Training Center in Revere, MA, located approximately 3.5 miles from Logan Airport.

For In-Person and Online Trainings

To secure your spot, a nonrefundable deposit of 50% of the cost of the training is due 60 days before the training begins. The remaining 50% must be paid by 30 days before the training begins.
We know that sometimes unforeseen circumstances may arise that cause you to be unable to attend a training. We are sympathetic to these unexpected events, but must also be mindful of the associated costs that Ayni cannot recuperate. Cancellations closer to the date of the training make it more difficult to fill a cancelled spot with another participant. For this reason, we offer a timing-based reimbursement policy.
 
60 Days Before the Training:
We can offer a 100% refund of your deposit up to 60 days before the training, minus a small administrative fee of $50 to cover processing and application-related expenses. Or, we can offer you a credit to attend a future training.
 
30-59 Days Before the Training:
We can offer a 50% refund on your deposit, or a credit to attend a future training.
 
Less than 30 Days Before the Training:
At this stage we have incurred non-refundable costs, and unfortunately cannot offer a refund. If you have tested positive for Covid-19 or are having Covid-like symptoms, please stay home. Contact us if you are feeling ill, we will be happy to offer you a credit to join us at a future training.
 
Exceptions:
Cancellations due to serious illness, family emergencies, or other extenuating circumstances or conditions may be considered for partial reimbursement or for credit towards a future training. If you have to cancel your registration for one of these reasons, please contact us at ayni.trainings@gmail.com.

Community Voices

“I’m the Ecology Director for Climate Revolution Action Network. We’re a Gen Z-based group that leads climate initiatives across New Jersey, as well as other political issues. That’s why I’m here at this training with two of my fellow colleagues, and we’re learning how to lead groups of young students and younger leaders who want to contribute to improving the way we’re living in New Jersey and across America.

Altogether, we’ve learned so much, and it’s so awesome to be able to know how to strategize certain campaigns and use different tactics to add on to a campaign, rather than just really focus on making a video or making a social media post. Now it’s more broad, yet also very specific, and it gives us more initiative to lead and makes us better leaders.Altogether, amazing.

 

I absolutely would recommend this training. This is the best training I’ve ever gone to, and I’m going to take everything that I learned today and over the past two days with me forever. It’ll stay with me forever.”


– Kayleigh Henry Climate Revolution Action Network

“I’m from Sunrise Orlando, and prior to this training, I had so many amazing conversations with the people who work on my campaign with me. However, I feel like we didn’t have the structure of writing things down, and some things would get scraps, but then other ideas would go, and there would be no plan. It was just an idea without the structure. So coming into this campaign training, I learned so many things. It’s not only the structure of what we’re doing, but why we do it, who we’re trying to talk to, and how we can move them, and it has made a world of difference.

I look forward to going home, sitting everybody down, and saying, I know you’re all brilliant, and I know what we want, but now this is how we’re going to structure it so that we can get things done.”


– Aija Diaz Sunrise Orlando

Receive the Full Application

Our training for September is currently full, but you can stay informed about future Seasons of Leadership Retreats by filling out this form.