Issue: Organizational Development

Movement organizations can make various decisions to find the right balance between breadth versus depth and unity versus autonomy. This report synthesizes hard fought lessons that organizers have learned in the face of complex challenges related to organizational structure. Movement organizations need to have the breadth—the capacity to organize the masses at scale. At the same time, movements need “cadres” with deep leadership capacity in order to be able to organize strategically in the face of constant uncertainty and local complexity. Organizing also requires unity—coordination to unify our power and resources such that the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. On the other hand, people need autonomy in order to be able to take initiative, unleash their creativity, adapt to the particularities of their context and feel agency in the movement. Movements need to develop structures of leadership and clear authority that can manage the competing demands to create unity and enable autonomy. This report provides general lessons and some specific tips to find the right balance of breadth versus depth and unity versus autonomy.

The concept of a “just transition” has permeated mainstream discourse, yet those who will likely be most impacted by the energy transition – frontline workers and their communities – have mostly been excluded from the conversation. This report, derived from over 100 listening sessions and interviews with workers and frontline community members, encourages policymakers to:

Go Big: Be guided by a just transition vision that is ambitious and comprehensive in order to address the scope of impacts for affected communities and industries. Job creation, labor standards, and workers’ rights must be included.
Go Wide: Impacts from economic transitions can be felt in a number of ways, from financial to social to psychological. Policymakers should engage with existing social infrastructure such as labor unions, frontline community groups, and Indigenous nations to make sure support is readily available.
Go Far: While the climate crisis is urgent, just transition plans must not be fixated on the short-term. Instead, policymakers should include long-term commitments to workers and their communities as part of their vision and take into account differences in generational needs between older, established workers and those just entering the workforce.

In addition, the report addresses how labor and advocacy organizations need to develop authentic, trusting relationships with each other to build political and policy alignment around just transition goals. One way to start is to establish and expand internal committees and capacities to understand each other’s issues and perspectives.

Investing in community-based groups and networks is necessary to build resilience for good emergency response. This report studied different community responses to COVID-19 to help us imagine better responses to climate disaster impacts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, established community organizations, newly formed grassroots efforts, government, and funders all came together in various configurations, based on preexisting relationships and networks. Racism and other systems of oppression were the primary drivers behind COVID inequities. The people interviewed for this report agreed that our cities and our state governments were unprepared for COVID and that we are similarly unprepared for climate change emergencies. What is specifically needed to be better prepared for responses to climate crisis emergencies is investment in the capacity of the organizations themselves, including people (most importantly), back-of-house infrastructure, and technology. Building resilience must be people focused, intersectional, institutional, and rooted in anti-racist/anti-oppressive ideology and practice.

It’s key for organizations to ensure they’re practicing disability justice in their work. “Disability Justice: An Audit Tool” is aimed at helping Black, Indigenous and POC-led organizations (that are not primarily focused around disability) examine how well they’re practicing disability justice, and where they want to learn and grow. It includes questions for self-assessment, links to access tools, organizational stories and more. You can download a PDF of the tool.