STUDENT ORGANISING IN LATIN AMERICA AND AFRICA
Our organiser in Latin America focused on running online events this year as funding did not permit us to run the annual Latin American School of Heterodox Economics as hoped. We were happy to add Brazilian network Desajuste Fora da Curva as a member of the network, and we began translating some of their analysis to our blog. We attended the Rethinking Economics for Africa Festival in Johannesburg and talked strategy with the network. Meanwhile, Rethinking Economics’ support to Latin America and South Africa has focused on fundraising and resourcing the network.
EUROPEAN GATHERINGS
We attended and participated in the Swiss Rethinking Economics Summer School and facilitated training at an in-person Doughnut Economics Summer School in Copenhagen attended by 300 people.
LOCAL GROUP TRAINING
Two editions of the Local Group Training were run in Spring 2025 and Spring 2026. The two sessions were attended by 12 regular participants on average over the 6 sessions of the first edition and 15 over the 4 units of 2026, but more people were able to join occasionally over the course of the training sessions. Given that the upcoming new REI campaign training will deal in depth with different campaigning notions, we reduced the University Group Training to 4 sessions to focus on organising and on the first steps that groups move once established. Over the training, we discussed what are the issues with economics education and how we can tackle them; how to grow a group; how to understand the power relations within universities; and how to plan a (launch) event. From the feedback we received, we gathered that the training provides a good introduction as to how to organise groups. It has been described as “engaging and empowering”, strengthening organisers’ confidence to move forward. Finally, participants really appreciated hearing from Amaarah (REFA) sharing her experience as an organiser, confirming that involving first-hand Rethinkers should be a priority.
ACTIVITY FUND
Twenty one payments were made from the Activity Fund between October 2025 and March 2026 to 19 of our affiliated groups. This totalled £6635 and averaged about £316 per successful application (The overall amount that groups applied for in the same time period equalled £9505). Groups organised conferences, discussion circles, book clubs and a seminar on different topics such as the climate crisis, pluralist and heterodox perspectives on local and global issues, Doughnut Economics. Groups have also been focusing on national matters, such as the neoliberal policy of the new government in Argentina, the discussion around environmental sustainability in Zambian economic growth and the inclusion of Doughnut Economics principles in a post-conflict context. Recipient countries included Zambia, DRC, Denmark, Kenya, Pakistan, Argentina, Canada, UK, Netherlands, US, Egypt, Finland and Germany.