The Barefoot Guide Connection

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”

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Play PowerTalk!
A Role-playing Board Game to Download, Print & Play

Download the game files here

An exciting game about understanding power and developing strategies to work with it to effect social change, or to get into the heads of those (e.g. arms-dealers) who want to preserve the status quo.

This can be played by anyone, from high schoolers, to social change activists, friends and family. You choose from one of the many roles and then do what you can to support your allies, convince the sceptics, undermine or even convert your opponents to your worldview. Have fun... its your turn to change the world!

Developed out of the Barefoot Guide 4 Writeshop and the UN Association of Finland, this offers a real-life drama around an arms-dealing scenario. Soon to be published in Finnish.

Further scenarios will be developed and offered. Subscribe to Updates to be notified about these.

Download the game files here

New Barefoot Guides under development

Barefoot Guide:
Generative Leadership
How the future requires the kind of leadership that generates life, creativity and possibility, challenging humanity to see and be different. Held by the Leading Causes of Life Fellowship (the community of practice who were behind Barefoot Guide 3).

Barefoot Guide:
The Story of Seed
… how seeds are the source of life and describing the sacred practices of family farmers and communities in protecting, multiplying and sharing seeds so that they are not monopolised by the few. Held by the Seed Knowledge Initiative with 18 practitioners, researchers and farmer leaders from Southern Africa.

Barefoot Guide:
Healthy food, healthy people, healthy world
Industrial farming not only harms the environment but produces cheap food that harms our health. This Guide gathers stories of people and communities who are restoring and renewing their understanding of nutritious food and how to provide it for themselves, their communities and their societies.

Our most recently published Barefoot Guide:
Barefoot Guide 5: Mission Inclusion

Stories and practices of building a world where all belong

By The Fifth Barefoot Guide Writer’s Collective

Download the book here (freely)

Everyone agrees that inclusion is hard, that reaching the poorest and most marginalised is difficult. The layers and reinforcing cycles of exclusion defy the conventional development project approach. Something else, something qualitatively different is needed.

Many organisations, large and small, are tackling the deep challenges of exclusion and coming up with creative, innovative and workable solutions that are putting into practice the policies and strategies that everyone is talking about.

This Barefoot Guide, written by 34 practitioners from 16 different countries on all continents makes many of these successful approaches and solutions more visible.

Download the whole book - in English (22 mb)

Download the Dyslexic Font version - in English (22 mb)

Download all
the Barefoot Guides here

Barefoot Guide 1
Working with
Organisations
and Social Change

Download all languages
Download English pdf

Barefoot Guide 2
Learning Practices in
Organisations &
Social Change

Download all languages
Download English pdf

Barefoot Guide 3
Mobilizing Religious
Health Assets for
Transformation

Download English pdf

Barefoot Guide 4
Exploring the
Real Work
of Social Change

Download all languages
Download English pdf

Barefoot Guide 5
Mission Inclusion:
Building a World Where All Belong

Download all languages
Download English pdf

Designing and Facilitating Creative Conversations & Learning Activities

A practical guide for facilitators to design and facilitate a wide range of conversational and learning social processes. Full of creative ideas and approaches.

Download

Course:
How to Facilitate a Writeshop

Tapping into the power of stories for deep learning and social change... How to facilitate a writing workshops to help practitioners write up their stories and case studies.

Are you aiming to create change in this world through your work? Are you curious what role stories might play in creating this change? Or do you want to be able to support communities to share their stories so they can have a bigger impact?

If so, then this course is for you! You will learn how to design and facilitate writeshops that support learning processes in teams and organisations. We’ll use writing as a key approach to collectively surface stories and deepen and share practices, key experiences, lessons learned and implications for the future.

For more information email us

Barefoot Guide 5: Mission Inclusion - now in Kiswahili and French

Mwongozo wa Barefoot 5:

"Kuingizwa kwa Ujumbe" sasa unaonekana kwa Kiswahili

Kama Mwongozo wa Barefoot waandishi, tulitaka kuangalia jinsi watu wamefanya na nini wanachofanya sasa kubadilisha mambo. Tunatarajia kwamba kwa kusikiliza hadithi za mabadiliko tunaweza kupata ufahamu wa kina wa maana ya kujumuisha katika mazoezi yetu. Tunatarajia kuwa, kwa kufanya kazi badala ya wale walioachwa tunaweza kuanza kushughulikia kutengwa sasa.

Watu wote wanaoshiriki hadithi zao katika kitabu hiki ni juu ya utume wa kusitishwa na kuunda jamii za umoja kweli. Tunakualika kujiunga na sisi katika kuchunguza jinsi mabadiliko inatokea na jinsi tunaweza kufanya tofauti. Milango ni wazi, kwa hiyo tafadhali ingia.

Nenda kwenye ukurasa wa kupakua

Guide Barefoot 5: "Mission

Inclusion" est maintenant disponible en français

Comme auteurs du Guide Barefoot, nous avons souhaité jeter un coup d’oeil sur ce que les gens ont réalisé et ce qu’ils font maintenant pour changer les choses. Nous espérons qu’en en écoutant des histoires de changement, nous pourrons obtenir une meilleure compréhension sur la signification d’être inclusif dans notre pratique. Nous espérons que, en travaillant à côté de ceux qui sont exclus, nous pouvons maintenant nous occuper de l’exclusion.

Toutes les personnes qui partagent leurs histoires dans ce livre se sont données comme mission de mettre fin à l’exclusion et créer des sociétés véritablement inclusives. Nous vous invitons à vous joindre à nous pour découvrir comment les changements se produisent et comment nous pouvons faire une différence. Les portes sont ouvertes, alors rejoignez-nous.

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Barefoot Guide 5: Mission Inclusion has five chapters, filled with real stories, insights, grounded theories, ideas, poetry and all beautifully illustrated by 7 illustrators from around the world...