​A convergence of creative ideas, stories, practices ​and resources from social change leaders and practitioners across the world...
​
“Going barefoot is the gentlest way of walking and can symbolise a way of living - being authentic, vulnerable, sensitive to our surroundings. It’s the feeling of enjoying warm sand beneath our toes, or carefully making our way over sharp rocks in the darkness. It’s a way of living that has the lightest impact, removing the barrier between us and nature.

Adele Coombs, “Barefoot Dreaming”
Subscribe ​
​to Updates
​العربية    Kiswahili      Español      Bahasa      English     Français      漢語      Português       Việt
A New Barefoot Guide!

Future Convergence

Cultivating Practices of Collaboration
for Social Change

By the Forus Barefoot Guide Writers’ Collective
Español - Français - ​English
We all know  that  collaboration is vital for transformative social change. But how do  we practice collaboration in these times? That is the question driving the publication "Future Convergence - Cultivating Practices of Collaboration for Social Change". It is a practical resource intended for individuals and organizations who want to improve their learning processes and social change practices. 

Written by thirty-one civil society leaders and practitioners from twenty countries from across the world, you can find practices and experiences that bring diverse people and organisations together towards a vision of a planet that is more equitable, inclusive, humane and sustainable.
A publication of Forus
Forus is a member-led network of 69 National NGO Platforms and 7 Regional Coalitions from all continents representing over 22,000 NGOs active locally and internationally on development, human rights and environmental issues.
To Download:

​Español

Français

​English
Go to the FORUS BAREFOOT GUIDE Campaign page

Ir a la página de la campaña GUÍA DESCALZO DE FORUS

Accédez à la page de la campagne FORUS BAREFOOT GUIDE
​​From the new Agroecology Series

​Whole Landscapes,
Whole Communities

Working with Nature to Heal, Transform and Regenerate Landscapes
By the Seed Knowledge Initiative Agroecology Landscape Barefoot Guide Writer’s Collective​
This mini Barefoot Guide is an introduction to the SKI partners’ journey of landscape-level work with communities in the Southern African region.

​It is a resource to those communities and those working with them to think about why this landscape-level work is important, to find inspiration and lessons from successful stories around Africa and how to go about working with communities to do the work. 
​Click to preview
​in ISSUU
A publication of the Seed Knowledge Initiative
The Seed and Knowledge Initiative (SKI) is a dynamic partnership of diverse Southern African organisations committed to securing food sovereignty in the region. We work with smallholder farmers to become more seed, food and nutritionally secure through farmer-led seed systems, improved crop diversity, and the revival of local knowledge systems. 

Barefoot Guides  currently being written​

How are Barefoot Guides produced? Barefoot Guides are produced by various communities of practice who approach the Barefoot Guide Connection team to facilitate and support them to do so. We facilitate a series of "writeshops" of practitioners and leaders to design the Guide they wish to produce and then to surface and develop stories of change practice, with reflections and perspectives from these. These can be done online or face-to-face. We accompany editorial teams to further refine and develop the drafts into the final writings, to work with illustrators and then to bring the Guide to publication.
​​Hurt, Resilience and Hope 

As we grapple to come to grips with a global pandemic, ongoing acts of racism, gender-based violence and the consequences of climate change, we are also called upon to understand its impact on the communities we serve. Our task is to find a new language and practice of hope and healing that will foster safety in a world gone upside down, where trauma and suffering need to be met with wholeness and renewed faith.
​
​The Story of Seed

​Seeds are the source of life and in Africa there are sacred practices of family farmers and communities in protecting, multiplying and sharing seeds so that they are not monopolised by the few. This Guide shares many stories and descriptions of these practices. It is being produced by members of the Seed Knowledge Initiative with 18 practitioners, researchers and farmer leaders from different countries in Southern Africa.
Finding our way back to the heart of the earth
Stories from the practice of the Africa Biodiversity Network

​The African Biodiversity Network accompanies Africans in voicing their views on issues such as food and seed sovereignty, genetic engineering, agrofuels, biodiversity protection, extractive industries and the rights of small-holder farmers. We focus on indigenous knowledge, ecological agriculture and biodiversity related rights, policy and legislation. We pioneer culturally-centred approaches to social and ecological problems in Africa through sharing experiences, co-developing methodologies and creating a united African voice on the continent on these issues.
Going forward to our roots:
Healthy soil, safe foods and diverse diets

Indigenous, traditional African diets, farming methods and culture have been denigrated and undermined from colonial to modern times. Yet research is increasingly showing that indigenous and traditional foods and methods combined with modern agroecological approaches to agriculture are not only productive, sustainable and planet-friendly but also provide amongst the healthiest diets on earth. This comprehensive Barefoot Guide, as a follow-up to the mini-Guide "Surviving COVID-19: The Neglected Remedy" provides real stories and compelling perspectives from African farmers and agroecologists to both inspire and guide Africans to develop healthier soils, safer foods and more diverse diets. The Guide is being written by members of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), the largest social movement on the continent.
A Barefoot Guide to Climate Cooling

Climate change is already changing the livelihoods, lives and future potential of everyone, and will particularly impact on the lives of children and young people. While the urgent need for carbon (CO2) reduction is well known, the potential to mitigate, adapt, and even cool the earth through regenerative practices has not been widely discussed or shared. ​This Guide will share stories, practices and approaches that have the potential for climate cooling from people, organisations and communities all over the world who are working with soil and water cycles in natural systems to transform harmful practices and restore Earth’s health. 
Picture
About the Barefoot Guide Connection... briefly
​
​The Barefoot Guide Connection is a global community of practice from dozens of countries, on every continent, dedicated to promoting the writing and sharing of real stories, approaches, ideas and resources about effective social development and change practice.

​Through storytelling and action learning based case study writing we support on-the-ground practitioners to value their experience and appreciate the insights and wisdom they can offer to others, be they other practitioners, programme managers, policy-makers, students and academics or donors. In so doing they provide common reference guides for multi-stakeholder understanding and collaboration around the real work of change.
 Picture
​Barefoot Guide 1
Working with ​Organisations ​​and Social ​Change
​
​Download all languages
​Download English pdf
Picture
Barefoot Guide 2
Learning Practices in
Organisations &
​Social Change
​
​​Download all languages
​​Download English pdf
Picture
Companion Guide to Barefoot Guide 2
Designing and  Facilitating Creative Conversations & Learning Activities

Download English pdf
​​Download French pdf
Resources for Social Change
We also have a range of useful exercises, tools, games, stories and poems for you to download and adapt for workshops and meetings
​Go to the Resource Library
Picture
​Barefoot Guide 3
Mobilizing Health ​Assets for ​Transformation 
​
Download English pdf
Picture
Barefoot Guide 4
Exploring the ​Real Work
​of Social ​Change
​ 
Download all languages
​​Download English pdf
Picture
​Barefoot Guide 5
​Mission Inclusion:
​Building a World Where ​All Belong
​
Download all languages
​Download English pdf

Picture
​Barefoot Guide 6
Generative Leadership:
Releasing Life in a Turbulent World

Download English pdf
Picture
Barefoot Guide​ 7
Surviving COVID-19: 
​The Neglected Remedy

Download English pdf
​
​Téléchargez le PDF en français​
​
​Descarga el PDF en español
Picture
Barefoot Guide 8​
Whole Landscapes,
Whole Communities

Download English pdf
​
Picture
Barefoot Guide 9​
​Future Convergence
Cultivating Practices of Collaboration
for Social Change

Coming Soon...
Español
Français
​English
​
Barefoot Guide Images are in the Creative Commons

​Free for you
​to Use
All the images used in the Barefoot Guides are freely useable for non-profit work. You can access them all here:

Click for the Barefoot Guide Image Download Page

WHAT HAVE OTHERS SAID ABOUT THE bAREFOOT gUIDES...

The Barefoot Guides have been the key influences in my life and work… my constant companions in my community and organisational development work. 
Marie Corcoran-tindill, Trainer, Facilitator of community and group processes, Dublin 

The Barefoot initiative is itself an exciting expression of social change. 
Inez Hackenberg, Utrecht University 

As a trained action learning facilitator their guides have helped me work with grassroots communities in Myanmar and Thailand. 
Kevina Maddick, Program Manager at Right To Play, Bangkok 

The Barefoot Guide's transformative process… shows us the way to transcend borders, sectors, limits, to break the silos! 
Vincent Stevaux, ITECO, Bruxelles

Barefoot Guide has been creating phenomenal content for the critical process of experiential reflection at both individual and organizational levels. 
Jesse Chen, Changemakers, Washington 

…a wonderful contribution to open access knowledge, grounded on a great depth of experience and horizontal learning from across the world. 
Samantha Button, East Africa Program Head, Maliasili 

…the Barefoot Guide collection is having a great influence, especially the lives of field workers and communities. 
Muta Wakilu Tamasco, Ghana 

The Barefoot Guide Connection has a unique and truly transformational approach to collaboration, learning and facilitating social, transformational change across borders. 
Tobias Troll Director, EDGE Europe at EDGE Funders Alliance, Bruxelles 

This unusual and exceptional volume (and series) is hugely accessible yet deeply rooted in solid theory and extensive practice across a wide range of contexts and fields. Expect from it something truly unique in its combination of insight, reflection, experience and highly usable mixed text/visual presentation. It is not "dumbed down." I have seen it bite as deeply at high academic and professional level as at grassroots community leadership level, an astonishing achievement worth honouring. 
Professor Jim Cochrane Cape Town 

Contact Us