For more than 40 years, Amnesty International USA has hosted regional conferences in cities across the country. These conferences have provided a space for people to come together to increase knowledge, build skills, and exchange ideas and strategies for progressing a human rights agenda! This year, given the pandemic, we will be hosting one virtual Activism Conference over 3-days, November 13-15, 2020. More information on the conference (including Action Alley and governance components) coming soon.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

The deadline has now passed.

Deadline for submissions: Thursday, August 27, 2020 at 11:59pm EST

PLEASE NOTE THAT FOR ALL SESSIONS, THE SESSION ORGANIZER MUST BE THE PERSON WHO COMPLETES THIS FORM.

This year’s conference theme, Activism is the Art of Disruption, is a call to action. It is a tribute to individuals that agitate and movements that dare to push the needle for the goal of achieving positive social change. As we continue to confront the human rights disparities that COVID-19 has exposed, demand that police stop killing Black people and attacking peaceful protestors, and continue to challenge bad public policies that violate human rights, we need to increase our activism and build people power! We will disrupt human rights abuse. We will disrupt unjust systems. We will do it strategically, in solidarity and partnership and, and we will win! When creating your conference proposal, consider how it addresses the conference theme.

AMNESTY SUPPORTERS FROM ALL GROUPS ARE ENCOURAGED TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL FOR ONE OF THE DESIGNATED SESSIONS. WE CAN NOT ACCEPT MULTIPLE PROPOSALS FROM THE SAME INDIVIDUAL. SESSION SPACE IS LIMITED. WE ARE EAGER TO HIGHLIGHT THE DIVERSE AND INNOVATIVE ACTIVISM HAPPENING IN COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

Proposals that include interactive sessions inviting participant dialogue, modeling strategies and building grassroots organizing skills, examining topics relevant to human rights, encouraging critical inquiry, demonstrating informed action, and emphasizing creativity and engagement are encouraged and will be prioritized. All proposals will be reviewed by the National Working Group for Regional Conferences, which is a peer review team of member and staff working on Regional Conferences, using the Rubrics.

Please know:

  • All sessions go through a policy review, prior to peer review, to ensure that proposals are in alignment with AI mission and policy.
  • Reviewers may come back with suggestions for a better placement of your session.

Here are the options for submitting a proposal:

  • Power Session (30-minute duration) are short, focused, skill-based interactive presentations that focus on modeling and application. These sessions need little introduction to the subject matter and should provide participants with skills that are essential for effective group and individual organizing and advocacy work. Participants should walk away with a clear understanding of the purpose of the skill and how to utilize the skill set.
  • Breakout Sessions (60-minute duration) provide space for interactive, hands-on learning, conversation, planning, and strategizing sessions. Breakout sessions are good for small group work. Examples of breakout sessions could include the following: discussion on policy or a resolution, hands on learning activities, state strategizing, a group skillshare, etc.
  • Human Rights Discussion Group Sessions (60-minute duration)are presentations on a specific human rights issue/topic with facilitator building in time for questions and answers from participants.
  • Digital Poster Presentations (10-minute duration) provide an opportunity for presenters to illustrate an innovative human rights project, organizing tactic, casework, or successful action. We encourage digital posters or 1-3 powerpoint slides that will be displayed on a screen while each presenter is provided 10 minutes to present on their poster topic. Speaker presentations should be well practiced, clear, and delivery should be engaging. Think of a TED talk.

Questions on how to determine which session might be the best fit for your proposal? Need technical support for how to create a digital poster presentation using powerpoint or google slides? No problem… email [email protected]

All submissions must be received by Thursday, August 27, 2020 at 11:59pm EST.

Important Deadlines:

  • August 27, 2020 (at 11:59pm EST): Close of proposal submissions
  • September 21, 2020: Announcement for accepted proposals
  • September 28, 2020: Session confirmations due
  • October 5, 2020: Conference programming finalized
  • October 13, 2020: Presenter training

The deadline to apply has now passed.

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