The Craft of Coordination Course is about what it takes to get projects done, of how to lead a team through running a successful event or program, and how to turn a vision into reality. Coordination is an essential skill of community organizing, but it is also an essential skill in our workplaces, in our personal lives, and in the groups or teams we are a part of. We know we need more resources and support to coordinate teams and projects well. This course offers just that!
Through the 10 self-paced modules, you will get a comprehensive overview of what it takes to be a coordinator by learning how to build your team, create a work plan, and follow through on that work plan.
In our experience within social change work, we have seen so many brilliant ideas never come to fruition. Sometimes people can have the most amazing ideas and visions for projects and programs they want to build to change the world, but lack the nuts and bolts to be able to bring their vision to fruition.
If you work in an organization and you struggle with coordinating either yourself or your team, this course is designed to equip you with the tools, examples, and knowledge you need to become a great coordinator and take your organization or volunteer team to the next levels to make your vision a reality.
Like so many other skill-based crafts, coordination requires practice and mastery if it is to be done well. Regardless of what you are working on, every team needs coordination – it is at the heart of working together and building teams that can function to become more than the sum of their parts. To take the work of social change seriously requires everyone to prepare and to practice (repeat) the essential skill that is coordinating. This course allows you to have the building blocks on that journey.
Topics include:
- How to build shared purpose and alignment
- How to create objectives & organize your work plan into activities and buckets of work
- How to conduct the project to bring all of your hard work to fruition
This is a living course that will continue to evolve over time. Currently included are interactive videos and exercises, worksheets, timelines, and sample plans. In the future we plan to host events, include more supplementary material, and build more activities for you to deepen your learning and experiences in relation to the frameworks expanded on in this course. We will let enrolled students know when new material or events are available.
First and foremost, we’d like to express our deepest gratitude to the past movements and political traditions, to all the people that we have learned from who have passed and are still with us, who have contributed through their writing, experiences and struggles. We know we are standing on the shoulders of history and we are grateful to our ancestors who have been on this path before and those who are alongside us.
We also want to thank the many people who have facilitated and participated in our trainings, and have given us feedback, have supported us, and have trusted us with their learning and development. For this course, we particularly want to appreciate Marshall Ganz for all of his contributions toward the themes and frameworks that we develop in this course and for being a mentor. We would also like to acknowledge Faith in Action (PICO) and Movimiento Cosecha as movement spaces where Ayni team members learned and honed the craft of coordination.
Finally, we are grateful to Just Impact Advisors for supporting us during the development process of this course.
This course’s concepts, curriculum and topics were developed by Carlos Saavedra, Fhatima Paulino, Sergio Hurtado, & Phoebe Gardner.
We want to thank Phoebe Gardner for her work in developing the course content and scripts during the initial stages of this project. Thank you!
Editing and post-production support was done by Walter Hergt. We are very grateful for all the ways that he lended support, expertise, and advice in our post-production process. As always, thank you so much, Walter!
Below is additional information on our course’s team:
- Fhatima grew up in Oakland, CA and is a daughter to immigrant parents from Mexico and the Philippines. 10 years ago, following her mother’s footsteps, she joined the PICO National Network in the Bay Area to do community organizing on issues such as education, immigration, and criminal justice. In 2015 she became the Cosecha Movement’s first volunteer organizer and supported its seeding and growth across the country. In 2017 she transitioned to Ayni Institute to support and learn from elders in South America, and has been using her skills as a trainer, facilitator, and coach to co-create trainings that build towards a reciprocal world.
- Sergio grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina and comes from a Nicaraguan family. In 2017, he joined Movimiento Cosecha and the Immigrants Rights Movement as a volunteer organizer where he help coordinate and organize grassroots campaigns such as the Manejado Sin Miedo drivers licenses campaigns which granted access to drivers licenses for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants. In 2021, he joined the Ayni Institute and has since been working on Ayni’s training program, curriculum, and special political education projects.
Course Cost
Kindly consult our dedicated pages for detailed information on our pricing structure. We have distinct pricing tiers for individuals and organizations which you can visit by clicking the links below.
- Individual Pricing Tiers (paying for yourself)
- Organizational Pricing Tiers (organization paying for your enrollment)
These fees encompass the expenses incurred in course development and the dynamic server costs stemming from increased usage of our server-intensive online learning platform. Our pricing tiers are designed to ensure accessibility to our courses for a wide range of learners, embodying our commitment to making education accessible to all. Your support allows us to maintain and enhance this valuable learning experience for everyone.
Please make sure to consider any personal financial responsibilities, work, family, health, and otherwise when selecting what you can give.
GROUP RATES: IF YOU ARE INTERESTING IN ENROLLING MULTIPLE PARTICIPANTS IN THIS COURSE OR SHOWING THIS COURSE TO MANY PEOPLE PLEASE FILL OUT THIS FORM LINKED HERE SO WE CAN DISCUSS GROUP RATES.
Please note: If you fall into the Reciprocity Scholarship Tier, you can fill out our form here and we will get back to you about accessing a module or a cohort for free or a a reduced cost.
Course Content
Developing the Skill
About Instructor
Course Includes
- 10 Modules
- 7 Lessons
