Phase III (October 2009 - December 2009):

The Europe Climate Action Factory of Avaaz.org will enter phase 3 and is looking to hire a new coordinator. If you are interested, go ahead and apply! (follow the link below)

Coordinator Application

Phase II (18th August - 2nd October 2009):

The Europe Climate Action Factory of Avaaz.org is entering in a new phase and is looking to hire new fellows! For our German elections campaign we'll form a group of campaigners working together in an office. The nature of our work will be to organise climate change related campaigning actions in the context of the German election. Also, to run an Obama-style volunteer-oriented field program to achieve mobilisation of the public and of the candidates.

The Avaaz Action Factory team in Berlin seeks 7 fellows to implement an intensive six-week, non-partisan climate campaign in advance of the German elections, working closely with our partners Avaaz.org, E3G, Germanwatch, the Climate Pirates, the KlimaAllianz and BUNDjugend, to help to make sure that whoever forms government after these elections has a strong climate policy, and that Germany becomes a leader at the UN's Copenhagen climate negotiations in December.

Where: Avaaz.org Berlin office
When: August 18th through October 2nd

The Fellowship: 
You will work closely with Avaaz's German Elections campaigner in Berlin, as part of a very small but ambitous and highly effective team, to create election campaigns, stunts for media imagery and to apply direct pressure to election candidates for better climate policies. In the implementation of election campaigns and actions, engagement and management of local volunteers will be a priority of your work.

Avaaz's German Elections campaigner, will identify political opportunities and political messaging for campaigns, as well as provide election campaign training for fellows. 

You will be: You'll need to be team-oriented and energetic, have a positive attitude, and a willingness to both put forward new ideas and to do the leg-work necessary to see them implemented quickly. You will be well organised, and take initiative in driving actions and campaigns forward. You have a passion for the avoidance of dangerous climate change, a good phone manner, be full of energy, and be willing to work very hard for these six weeks. Ideally (but not at all essential) you would have experience in event planning, election-related politics, and/or volunteer management and a good knowledge of climate change politics in Germany. We prefer German speakers but may be willing to take on a limited number of non-German speakers.

The Importance: It is less than five months until the world's leaders are set to decide our collective future at the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December, where they will finalise the successor to the Kyoto Treaty. The EU is a key player in these negotiations, traditionally the most progressive of the developed nations, and Germany is a crucial voice within the EU block. Our work will make the 2009 German elections the 'Climate Elections', and will push the resulting government in October to have ambitious action at Copenhagen as their top priority. 

Compensation: Fellows will be paid €2000 for six and a half weeks of full-time work. Unlike the Action Factory phase I over the summer, fellows will NOT live in the same location, but instead will live independently and work together at a central office.

Office Hours: We'll need you full time, at least 40 hours a week, but be prepared to work outside of a 9-6 Monday-Friday hours, as campaign events will frequently be held in evenings and on weekends!

Avaaz Climate Action Factories - Germany and Washington DC

This is an important opportunity for young climate activists who want to live and work in an intensive, fast-paced actions environment with other youth climate activists, based in Europe or in Washington DC, this summer. In return for your efforts as part of this project, you will be fed and have a place to live for three months.

Read on below for detailed info on the program.

To be part of this project, fill out the application/registration form and return to climate@avaaz.org ASAP and read over the Fellowship agreement.

Please note that the European action factory starts in the week of the 18th of May (until 18 August), but we will be recruiting on a rolling basis until all spots are filled - get your application in ASAP. The DC action factory will startup at the beginning of June.

The 'fellowships' described below are for youth climate activists who already have some experience and engagement within the movement, but will also be a great learning/ development opportunity – please circulate to people who you think may be interested and capable.

If you'd like to help but don't have time to be a "fellow", you can sign up here to volunteer and help make these projects possible. 

Avaaz.org CLIMATE ACTION FACTORIES

Incubators of Youth Energy for our Climate

Global climate negotiations are moving too slowly and with too little ambition to save the planet and future generations from climate catastrophe. As the Copenhagen summit nears, global civil society campaigning on climate change needs an emergency infusion of passion, energy and nimble, politically focused action. Meanwhile, dozens of experienced youth climate activists are looking for support to channel their time and ideas over the coming months into effective advocacy.

Avaaz will create action factories at two strategic in Europe and in Washington DC, to gather and deploy youth climate activists. The European centre will first be in Bonn, Germany - to coincide with the UN climate negotiations in June, then moving to Berlin - from where they will move to events like the G8 in Rome and the MEF in France, among others) and also in the United States (Washington DC) –  Each location will house ~20 'Youth Climate Fellows' working as a team, and they will be supported with food, lodging, and (subject to budget approval) modest monthly stipends, as well as resources for climate activism. In exchange, they will commit to devoting their summer months to mobilizing stunts, lobbying campaigns, and other actions. The work of these activists will maximise the possibility of achieving a strong binding global climate treaty at Copenhagen, and will raise the expectations and demands of the global public that governments must achieve such a treaty.

Avaaz will:

• provide funding for overall costs of program

• provide, as appropriate, "microgrants" for specific projects (Eg, $200 to get a professional banner printed; $1000 to hire an high-power outdoor projector to project images onto the US Capitol Building at a heads-of-state event; $4000 to hire a semi-trailer to dump a pile of coal on Sarkozy's front lawn. (This is hypothetical, people!) )

• advise Fellows on strategy and tactics, and request help with particular actions and projects. However, Avaaz will not play an intensive direct managerial role. Much of what the youth do will not be branded as Avaaz actions, and Fellows will not be considered "employees" of Avaaz to be given assignments.

For a given proposal, Avaaz will either:

• “greenlight” the action to go forward;

• “redlight” (send it back for revisions or cancelation); or

• "adopt" it as an Avaaz-branded action, which could then be supported by Avaaz members via online campaigns, could use Avaaz press releases and branding, and so on.

Facilitators

There will be a facilitator to manage each action factory. Initially, this will be Anna Keenan (anna@actionfactories.org) for the first month of the European action factory. The Washington DC facilitators are David and Madeline (david@actionfactories.org, madeline@actionfactories.org)

Facilitators will manage the logistical/day-to-day running of the Action Factory and create systems for Fellows to rotate these responsibilites. They will be ultimately responsible to Avaaz on things like political/strategic accountability, budget management, maintaining clear lines of communication, and regular reporting/monitoring and finally debriefing on the project. Facilitators will also act as part of the community of Fellows undertaking actions.

Fellows

Each location will house a maximum of 25 Fellows. Fellows - students or recently-graduated youth climate activists – will strive to avert catastrophic climate change through advocacy and actions specifically targeted at those nations where change is most needed in order to secure a strong, binding climate treaty.

The Fellows will:

• develop and implement strategic and effective public stunts, actions, and lobbying campaigns.

• commit at least 3 full days of political activism per week and will lodge at the Action Factory.

• focus on action and results, trying a variety of tactics in a results-focused, high-energy, politically-nimble environment

Possible Actions and Projects

Actions and projects may include (and are not limited to):

• 'Adopt-a-politician' campaigns

• "Influencing the influencers" (advocacy directed at media, advisers, etc)

• Banner drops

• Rallies and manifestations

• Street theatre

• Flash mobs

• Embassy campaigns and actions

• Email/letter campaigns

• Lobbying meetings

• Action camps and 'camp ins'

• Newspaper, radio, and online advertisements

Other notes

• The Action Factory program is focused on political advocacy to influence governments in the global climate negotiations through direct pressure and communications. While Fellows are free (and encouraged!) to use their free time for nonpolitical climate projects -- such as building longer-term youth climate movement infrastructure, or general awareness-raising -- these activities are not the focus of the Fellowship. This program is being created in response to a political emergency of lack of ambition and will to confront the climate crisis by the most-emitting countries.

• Avaaz recognises that international youth have already developed highly sophisticated networks, self-government systems, and understanding of climate mechanisms.