Denise Lynette Drake / Didi
citizenship: United States and the United Kingdom
resident: Valencia, Spain and available for work locally, nationally and internationally
email: dd<@>laiguana.org
web: actbelievechange.wordpress.com & planetapalomitas.es
My professional profile – what I offer
Education and Training for Social Action and Community Building
- Over 20 years experience using creativity to facilitate learning about and organizing for social justice in diverse settings — schools, universities, community education and grassroots groups
- Design educational programs, facilitate learning, evaluation and follow-up, student-advising, and mentoring, monitoring and evaluation
- Fields I work in: Group-process, Nonviolence campaigning, Creativity, Clown and body work, Personal and collective well-being, Zapatismo, Intercultural communication, Human rights observation and international solidarity, Social sciences and English as a foreign language
- International and local project management
Translation and Writing
- Spanish to English translation – articles, video, and NGO reports, literature
- Short stories about personal and collective change and art interventions
Where I’ve worked and what I’ve done
VALENCIA, SPAIN / 2016 March to present
Freelance group-learning facilitator and translator, clients include Ecodharma Centre, Ulex Project, L’Horta Cabanyal, Valencia Acoge, UK Zapatista Translation Service and others
- Developing processes, systems and content for a new training collective Ecodharma Ibérica; consulting on the Ecodharma’s new project, Ulex; I facilitate “Regenerative Activism and Sustainble Organising” and “Mindfulness for Social Change” among others
- Volunteer instructor “Pedales for Freedom“, Valencia Acoge and Gardening Basics with children from CEE Ruiz Jimenez, L’Horta Cabanyal
- English / Spanish translation of newspaper articles and videos
LONDON, ENGLAND / 2006 January to January 2016
Group-learning facilitator, nonviolence trainer, volunteer co-ordinator for Turning the Tide (TTT) and freelance
- Developed, co-ordinated and facilitated bespoke one-off workshops and comprehensive courses in nonviolence, ranging from strategy, building the alternative, and effective group process to nonviolent direct action
- Co-ordinated and mentored a network of activist trainers in the UK
- Designed and facilitated training of trainers courses in the UK, Belgium, Kenya, South Korea, South Sudan and Western Sahara
- Wrote text for TTT website, my blog, events publicity, hand-outs, training materials; War Resisters’ International ‘Nonviolent Campaigns Handbook’, 2nd edition editorial team
MEXICO / 2000 May to 2005 November
Group-learning facilitator, campaign worker, human rights observer and intercultural trainer for Witness for Peace (WfP) and freelance
- Researched and wrote reports and campaign text on forced migration, free trade, indigenous rights, labour, counterinsurgency warfare and violence against women
- Designed and facilitated people-to-people exchange visits between US and Mexican civil society and mainstream interests
- Expanded WfP work from solely on the conflict in Chiapas to fair trade, biodiversity, gender, migration and labour
- Did human rights observation in communities in the conflict zone in Chiapas
JAPAN / 1990 July to 2000 March
Professor, Kitakyushu University and freelance group-learning facilitator for Kitakyushu Women’s Centre, the Japanese Red Cross, Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme and others
- Developed university courses on Human Rights and Current Events, Conflict and Peace-building, and Changing Gender Roles in Japan
- Published articles on gender, empowerment and learning, UN policy and women’s rights, and maximizing intercultural opportunities when studying aboard
- Facilitated community courses ‘Study into Action” connecting the 12 points from the 1995 UN Beijing Women’s Declaration to local women’s actions
- Prepared volunteers, students and professionals for overseas work and study
Education and Study Abroad
- “Certificado profesional — Docencia de la formación profesional para el empleo” (National Vocational Qualification); Fevecta, Valencia, Spain, 2022
- Masters — Applied Linguistics & Intercultural Communications; Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA, 1994
- Bachelors — Political Science & Latin American Studies; University of Pittsburgh, USA, 1989
- Field research — Youth participation in politics, Santiago, Chile, 1989
- Field research — Gender images in music, Cuenca, Ecuador 1987
- Exchange student — Rotary Club International, Villavicencio, Colombia, 1984
Languages
- ENGLISH: Mother tongue
- SPANISH: Fluent spoken and written, excellent translation and interpreting
- JAPANESE: Conversational spoken and basic reading and writing
- CATALAN/VALENCIAN: Beginner
act, believe, change 