Monica Chen on theories of change, collaboration and leadership within the animal advocacy movement.

A podcast showcasing innovative and impactful ways to help animals and build the animal advocacy movement. Amy Odene & James Ozden talk to experts about a variety of topics: animal rights, animal welfare, alternative proteins, the future of food, and much more. Whether it's political change, protest, technological innovation or grassroots campaigns, they aim to cover it all with deep dives we release every two weeks.

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Today, we speak with Monica Chen, the Executive Director of New Roots Institute, formerly Factory Farming Awareness Coalition.
 
We speak about several big topics: 

• Theories of change for the animal advocacy movement
• Why collaboration between organisations isn’t always easy,
• The importance of focusing on changing culture and social norms
• The difficulties around management and organisational leadership, as well as some lessons Monica learnt along the way

Monica is an inspiring organisational leader who spends lots of her time thinking about what can benefit the movement as a whole so it was a real pleasure to speak with her about these topics.

Resources from our conversation:

• ACE 2023 Recommended Charities
• New Roots Institute strategy and theory of change
• Washington Post poll on climate solutions
• Naito, Rumi, Jiaying Zhao, and Kai M. Chan. “An Integrative Framework for Transformative Social Change: A Case in Global Wildlife Trade.” – Link
• Forge organizing articles: 
  • Maurice Mitchell: Building resilient organisations
  • How not to dismantle white supremacy
• New Roots Institute website

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