Democracy Fitness was designed in Denmark and has been used all around the world to help build self-determined and active communities. Democracy Fitness enables people of all walks of life to exercise and train the muscles we all need to be strong and active citizens.
"Democracy doesn’t fall in your lap by accident. Like the muscles in your body need exercise to be strong, your democracy muscles also need exercise. This way we will feel more aware and fit to participate in the many democratic processes in our everyday lives. It is individual training but always performed in a group – because democracy always is a collective exercise."
Each training session lasts 30 minutes and focuses on at least one democracy muscle of your choice. You can ‘mix and match’ each of the 10 democracy muscles, ensuring your training focusses on the key areas of need.
You can choose to train one, or more muscles during a democracy fitness session.
Like any fitness program, the sessions are active and participative – and designed to work for people with all abilities. All you need is 30 minutes, a space where your group can gather, and a curiosity and readiness to learn.
We offer democracy fitness training for any group.
It’s perfect for leaders retreats, team building, conference energisers, community workshops, planning sessions and all types of community-based activities.
Democracy fitness training is also great to help strengthen democratic muscles in the communities you work with – for example Local Government and MP’s can offer it. It helps community members to build the skills they need to positively and actively participate in democracy and exercise their civic right.
It works for people of all ages and all abilities.
It can be built to match the muscles you want to train – and our expert facilitator, Emily can tailor the session to meet your needs.
The skills we need in a healthy democracy are also the skills we need when we work with people and groups. Having difficult conversations, working through challenging situations, reaching agreement and understanding each other – are all things we need to learn and do in our everyday life.
This training will remind your participants of these democracy muscles, and help them to use them more – leading to better, more collaborative and more collective outcomes. Also, it’s heaps of fun!
If you are interested in Democracy Fitness training for your group or team, please reach out to us by emailing our Democracy Fitness trainer Emily.
We can provide you with some more information regarding costs, content and logistics. If you would like to learn more about how this could support you, or young people you know please get in touch.
Contact Emily Jenke. Emily is the only Democracy Fitness Accredited Trainer in Australia.