Dirk Slater is the founder and Director of FabRiders, with nearly thirty years of experience building collective power in more than forty countries. His work sits at the intersection of facilitation, capacity building, and movement support: helping activists, advocates, and systemic change agents in the charity and social justice sectors develop the skills and structures to act together effectively.
Dirk’s approach to participatory strategy was shaped early in his career, when he served as architect of the Low-Income Networking and Communication (LINC) Project for the Welfare Law Center in the late 1990s — one of the first circuit rider models in the US, which embedded technology consultants directly within social justice movements to co-develop solutions from the inside out.
In 2005, Dirk expanded his impact globally by joining Tactical Technology Collective, where he focused on equipping advocates in marginalised communities, including sex workers and people living with HIV/AIDS, with the skills to leverage technology and data for justice and rights. He contributed to seminal resources such as “10 Tactics for Turning Information into Action” and “Security in a Box,” and large-scale trainings like the 2009 Info-Activism Camp in Bangalore.
Since founding FabRiders in 2012, Dirk has led over a hundred projects built around participatory design principles, spanning government transparency, digital rights, and the empowerment of marginalised groups. He has coached more than a thousand trainers and facilitators in adult learning methodologies, helping them build solidarity through participatory session design at major convenings including RightsCon and MozFest.
His recent work exemplifies his commitment to participatory approaches at scale: co-editing the IFRC’s Data Playbook, developing The Collective Power Playbook, and co-convening The Capacity Builders Convergence and The Event Design Strategy Network. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced major events online, Dirk played a key role in transitioning major events, including RightsCon, MozFest, and Climate: Red Summit, to virtual formats, preserving the collaborative spirit of in-person convenings.
Dirk is a sought-after facilitator, coach, and resource developer recognised internationally for his expertise in building participatory strategies that strengthen movements from the inside out.