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Influencing and Social Change

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Influencing and social change encompasses all the work being done to support members, and the movement more broadly, to use our combined voices and get involved in our communities about issues that matter. 

u3a founders were clear that the movement should have a voice in public policy discussions:

'The u3a movement was originally conceived to play a number of roles – including to have a strong public voice and take action on issues of importance to members and people in later life more broadly.'

Eric Midwinter, u3a co-founder, July 2022


u3as Making an Impact

Getting involved and making a difference in our communities is not new for u3as.

Here are some examples:

Members of u3a standing in front of an electric bus where they held awareness raising workshops as part of COP26 in Glasgow, 2021

Training

Upcoming Training Dates

Members want to have more of an influence on community and national issues. Our interactive training provides information about the legal aspects and risks of taking action, introduces the diverse ways to create change in our communities, shares some u3a examples and provides participants with the opportunity to exchange ideas and discuss how they might take action. To date, 82% of participants have rated this training as excellent or very good, so don't miss it!

Information about the next introductory session will be added here once available.  

Request a workshop

We are also happy to discuss organising additional online or in-person workshops where requested by a Region, Network or u3a. If you would like an in-person session, we request a minimum of 50 attendees and that the workshop is promoted widely and open for all in a local area to attend. As the session is 2 hours long it would work best as a session part of an already organised day. The Trust will cover travel expenses for the Trainers, however any additional costs e.g. room hire, refreshments will need to be covered by the host u3a, network or Region.  

To request a workshop please complete the workshop request form at the bottom of the workshops webpage. You will be asked to sign into the Member Area to access the Workshops page.


Resources

Influencing and Social Change: Checklist for u3as

u3a members joining Rubbish Friends initiative in the North West

The issues u3as choose to take action on may be very diverse and range in purpose and nature of activities.

Taking action and working across the political spectrum with policy makers are all legitimate and valuable activities for the Trust and u3as more broadly to take part in. However, it is vital that we follow high standards of good practice.

This checklist provides a series of questions for consideration so that u3as can make an informed assessment for each activity.

Click on the button below to download the checklist.


Get in touch

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about our Influencing and Social Change work, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

To stay up-to-date with everything we're doing you can sign up for our newsletter by clicking on the button below.

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