Meet Simon: Life as a Professional Activist

Sunday, 23 November 2008 | posted by SimonM
Activism, Greenwich 2007, Guildford 2009

“So, what do you actually do?”

It’s a question that I’ve been asked hundreds of times – most often by my mother, and random people who I meet at dinner parties and events.

And, it’s a question that I still have trouble answering. In effect, I’m a professional activist. I spend my time working with communities, non-profits, corporations and governments helping them work out how they can create, foster or consolidate social change. Of course, it’s a bit weird calling yourself an activist in a company’s boardroom, so for want of a better term, I’m a community education consultant and facilitator – which means I spend time talking to people about, training teams in, and creating strategies for mass mobilisation, media and political campaigns on issues like climate change, sustainability and mental health.

I’ll be blogging on the Global Changemakers site about the challenges and triumphs of life as professional activist, sharing some of my experiences with you, along with some observations about the really amazing and inspiring campaigns, people and programs that I come across in my work.

By way of introduction, I’m a 25 year old Australian, and alongside the consulting work I do, I’m the General Manager of a new initiative called the Global Poverty Project , which is creating a slideshow and documentary on the opportunity to end extreme poverty. The idea was launched in September at the UN’s High Level Meeting on the MDGs by the Australian Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith and the Director of the UN Millennium Campaign Salil Shetty.

Before the Global Poverty Project and consulting, I completed a BA and a Masters of Development Studies at the University of Melbourne, was Chief Operations Officer at youth-run aid agency the Oaktree Foundation, and ran grassroots campaigns for a number of NGOs and social enterprises. Along my journey, I’ve had the great fortune to meet some amazing people from places as distinct as the urban slums of Kigali, Rwanda to hanging with the rich and famous at the Clinton Global Initiative and World Economic Forum.

I’m also a sports junkie, an avid fan of political satire and someone who likes to work in places where I don’t have to wear shoes.

I first came into contact with the British Council as a participant at the Greenwich Summit in 2007 – which was the predecessor program to Global Changemakers. I was part of the first team who headed to Davos, and was then invited back by Gordon Brown to present at a conference in Brussels later that year. I’ll be at Guildford in January to provide advice and support to you all, and will be accompanying those lucky enough to head on to Davos on your trip.

Looking forward to meeting you!