Obstacle 3 – resources
This is a classic. We would love to campaign, but we need a full-time campaigns post. What rubbish! I say give me an hour a week and we can begin to make things happen. With a clear focus and plan, …
Category: My blog
Campaigning Summit Switzerland
Just back from a weekend in Zurich where I was speaking at the Campaigning Summit Switzerland. What I found quite remarkable about this event was their success in attracting participants from across an array of sectors including both the not …
Obstacle 2 – nervous leadership
Here the campaigners are ready, but the organisation’s leadership is nervous and the campaign stalls. An explicit risk assessment can be a great tool to confront this nervousness and show how you are going to minimise any risks. The more …
Obstacle 1 – lack of research
I have seen this happen so many times – people say we would love to campaign but we need more research. Yes, research is vital for effective campaigning, but it can also be a major delaying tactic. Be wary of …
Overcoming obstacles to effective campaigning
Back in 2011, I first wrote about a new area of interest in campaigning for me – the internal obstacles to effective campaigning. I had been struck, over the previous few years running training courses around the world, about how …
Taking the plunge and diving in
Last month I spent some time in Prague running an advocacy workshop for an alliance of international NGOs based across Europe. After taking stock of progress made and lessons learnt to date, we brainstormed future advocacy priorities. Having developed a …
All change ….
So at the end of December I left the British Red Cross after four happy and productive years helping that great organisation to develop its advocacy agenda. I am now working on a number of international assignments supporting the development …
Tagged with: advocacy campaigns
So we’ve been doing advocacy for all these years ….
I’m just back from running an advocacy campaigns workshop for the International Federation of the Red Cross/ Red Crescent Societies in Hungary for national societies working across the Balkans and Central Asia. As ever my approach is always to try …
So we’ve been doing advocacy for all these years …. Read more »
I have a dream ….
I’ve just come back from Rome for a meeting of the International Federation of the Red Cross, and I was really struck by the words of one of my international colleagues. She’d been on a training course recently on strategic …
Supporting movements
A few weeks ago I was at a European conference in Budapest attending on behalf of City of Sanctuary in the UK – there were people there from across Europe looking at positive ways to communicate the importance of offering …