Mareike Britten - Participatory Leadership
PARTICIPATORY LEADERSHIP FOR CHANGE
MAREIKE BRITTEN CONSULTING
Welcome, I am a passionate facilitator and trainer with extensive knowledge of social justice and environmental issues. I can help support you and your teams by leading you through deep co-creation processes to develop system changing strategies, plans that are owned by the whole team, effectively framed narratives and tested campaigns that engage your target audience. I also offer team building, advocacy, communications and leadership trainings for change makers. I am working globally out of Amsterdam.
About me
My quest in life is to find ways to contribute to creating a more sustainable and just society.
My personal mission has always been to contribute to a world that was bigger than my own. My journey began when I joined the protests against the yearly nuclear transports through Germany and became a climber for the environmental organisation Greenpeace. I went on to study International Politics and traveled the world discovering beauty, hospitality but also injustice and deep poverty.
Fueled by a deep interest and passion for people and the well being of our planet I started my career working in development education in the UK. To create broader political change I became a passionate strategist and capacity builder working for Greenpeace International, the Global Campaign for Climate Action and Climate Action Network International. My experiences training people in and leading international teams and different groups through strategy development and project planning processes led me to my current path, as facilitator and trainer.
With a strong interest in helping to create systemic and lasting change, I am particularly experienced in the fields of climate change, renewable energy, poverty eradication, social justice, development and labour rights. Although being based in Europe, I believe in meeting people where they are and have clients across countries and continents.
On my way I have been trained in and have tested different methodologies and frameworks that now form the heart of my practice:
The Art of Hosting - an approach to leadership that scales up from the personal to the systemic using personal practice, dialogue, facilitation and the co-creation of innovation to address complex challenges.
Theory U - a method using system thinking and design thinking to lead profound change.
Human centred design - a creative problem solving approach that starts by building deep empathy for the people you’re designing for, generates tons of solutions, tests some of them with your target audience and ends with new solutions that are tailor made to suit their needs.
I strongly believe that if we want to change the structures that govern our world, we have to change the thinking that has created these structures in the first place.
Consulting Services
Whether you need a little bit of help or a lot - just get in touch and let's find a solution together!
Co-creating transformative strategies & project plans - online or offline
Would you like to develop strategies that transform systems and tackle the root causes of social or environmental issues? Would you like to create plans that your group or team feel true ownership of?
Through participatory methods and outcome focused process design, I can support you in the development and facilitate the execution of your strategy development and project planning processes. Online or offline. My longstanding experience and extensive knowledge of sustainability and social justice issues ranging from climate change to child labor provide me with an invaluable understanding for working with groups that aim to create positive social change.
In a custom-made workshop with interactive, collaborative sessions the team builds a solid advocacy strategy using human centred design and system thinking approaches. The team members will define their joint vision and direction of travel, create shared understanding of the system they want to change with its structures and mental models and identify the opportunities they can utlilise. They build deep empathy with their target audience.
Based on this understanding they develop campaign strategies, narratives, visuals and products, which they test and prototype with their target audience to bring them to life.
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Meeting facilitation
Do you need one off support for a meeting or workshop?
With extensive experience in leading groups through meetings that are built on participatory methods, systems and design thinking, my facilitation is built on:
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Intensive preparation: I work closely with the meeting owner and participants to help them clarify the results they want;
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Joint agenda development focusing on engaging, participatory methodologies ;
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Expert workshop facilitation
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Visual outcome harvesting during the meeting, so that everyone knows what has been agreed
Trainings
Building the capacity and skills of others through experiential, hands on trainings and workshops is my passion. No boring lectures or presentations!
I offer trainings on:
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Advocacy campaign development
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Communication & storytelling
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Participatory leadership for change
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Creating strong and effective teams
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Using design thinking to build creative and effective products to change the world
Team management
I have over a decade of experience managing cross functional teams and projects and can help stepping in when you need additional capacity or you need to bring your project successfully to completion.
Co-developing effective public advocacy campaigns
Testimonials
"Mareike is an extremely organised, creative and effective facilitator. She did an outstanding job preparing and facilitating a week long meeting which included balencing conflicting requests for the agenda; ensuring the planning process was inclusive and participatory even though the participants were based around the world in the preparation phase and facilitating the week in such a way that all the participants felt it had been a great success. Her creative and action orientated approach meant that the sessions were powerpoint free and her use of participatory and reflective methods meant the sessions were engaging and allowed for clear outcomes from every session. Added to that her positive energy meant the week flew by!"
Emma Harbour, Lobby & Advocacy Expert, UTZ Certified
“Mareike has an impressive ability to hold and present the big picture while simultaneously commanding the details and understanding individual needs in diverse groups. Strong in front of a crowd, effective in smaller collectives and networking, she powerfully combines leadership, knowledge and experience with quick intellectual and innate emotional intelligence. For those that work with her this creates a confidence building experience where everyone can participate. Inclusion, flexibility, creativity and shared ownership are central, while the importance of the overall purpose, big picture and desired group outcome is never lost.”
Robin Oakley, former Campaign Director Greenpeace UK
Clients have included:
Amnesty International, Greenpeace, Hivos, TechSoup, UTZ/Rainforest Alliance, Europe Beyond Coal, Rhine Waal University of Applied Sciences, REN21, World Animal Protection, Heinrich Boell Foundation (Nigeria) and many others.
Mareike Britten
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Please email me if you have any questions or to schedule a chat so that we can explore together how I can help you. mbrittenconsulting@gmail.com
Photo by G.Aresteanu