“If one can be taught anything, one can also be untaught everything: rules, norms, definitions, recipes, fixed-form poetry and prayer, shame, fear. whatever limits or takes away their freedom.”

Roxana Marin is a grassroots educator and activist, as well a public speaking coach for teens and professional adults working in profit and nonprofit settings. Another hat she wears is that of community organiser in Roma slums and mentor to young fellow-Roma and queer advocates at the onset of their course. For the past 3 years, Roxana has provided support to young transgender teens in different high schools.

Roxana Marin led the workshop on designing and facilitating workshops. Designing and delivering workshops is a valuable skill for activists who are often asked to present their area of expertise to a wide range of audiences such as government bodies, teachers, professionals or students. This workshop focused on providing the activists with theoretical knowledge and frameworks for designing workshops; different learning styles, the 4MAT Model, the ORID Model. The workshop also opened up time for discussion among the participants on their learning styles and room to apply the theory that they learned.

Bella FitzPatrick (she/her) is an Irish, bisexual, LGBTQ+ educator and the Executive Director at IGLYO. Previously Bella was the CEO of ShoutOut, under her leadership ShoutOut has grown and is the main organisation in Ireland delivering LGBTQ+ inclusion programmes in schools, workplaces, and with service providers. Bella also worked with OutRight Action International on UN advocacy and research. Her work focuses on youth issues; primarily inclusion in school settings. Bella is passionate about the power of education in tackling discrimination.

Shawn Flanigan (she/her) is a queer feminist public policy professor and social scientist at San Diego State University in California, United States. She has been an ally of the LGBTQI+, Roma, and children’s rights activist communities in Romania since 1999. Her research centers on the ways in which the needs of low-income populations, minorities, and other marginalized groups are addressed by NGOs and the state. She has conducted field research and education/training in southern Africa, south Asia, Europe, the SWANA (MENA) region, North America, and the Pacific Islands. In addition to working for state health and human services agencies, she has provided technical assistance and/or policy recommendations to nonprofit organizations, local government agencies, the National Intelligence Council, the United Nations, the U.S. Department of State, and the White House Office on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, among others.

As part of the Activist Academy, Shawn will be holding a workshop on how to design a policy advocacy strategy, including topics such as how to select a policy goal, how to select target for policy advocacy, how to select appropriate messaging for your target audience, and how to write a policy advocacy brief.