What is this?
- We (The Engine Room) are building on findings from community research (see below!) to update and improve two online community spaces – the orgsec.community listserv and wiki/community hub.
- This is a 10 minute exercise that will help us ensure the orgsec.community spaces are inclusive and useful for a wider group of orgsec practitioners.
Our process
We carried out community research with a diverse group of orgsec practitioners, supported by Internews. We did desk research; attended and participated in key community spaces/events, and conducted interviews and focus groups with 15 practitioners from different regions and communities, with different perspectives and backgrounds.
Our findings
Organisational security (orgsec) is…
A diverse security practice, with some common characteristics. It’s about proving:
- Long-term support and/or accompaniment
- Aiming to build capacity amongst staff
- Whilst taking a holistic view of security
Community spaces allow practitioners to…
- Form and strengthen connections, becoming more resilient as individuals and as a community
- Learn and grow, through collaborating, and sharing knowledge and skills
Two major barriers to participating in community spaces include…
- Regional power disparities – funding is concentrated in the “global north”, and the dominant language of many spaces and resources is English
- An absence of trust – the members and leaders of a community affect the levels of trust