Blog
So what is destitution?
Since writing my last blog post, a number of people have asked me: what is destitution? It is a strange almost Victorian term, but I take it to mean a human being who has no income, no home, nothing. In terms of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, they are people who cannot...
End Destitution Campaign
No-one living in the UK should be destitute. By destitute I mean having no job, no income, no benefits, no home, nothing. In the sixth largest economy in the world, no-one should be destitute. And if people are destitute, then just to survive they will be open to...
Passion and campaigning
I've written a lot recently about the importance of passion in campaigning. And passion for a cause has been much on mind recently having just joined the trustee board of Voice of Domestic Workers. If you don't know about this charity they are well worth a look. They...
Beyond campaign training
One area of work I have been thinking a lot about recently is how you can best support people to campaign once you have offered them some initial training on campaigning tools. Earlier this year I worked with the Czech-based INGO, People in Need (PIN) and their...
A passionate Migrant Voice
I’ve recently done a bit of work with Migrant Voice. If you don’t know them, they are well worthy of a look – and as the name suggests they are all about giving a voice to migrants. They were contacted last year by a group of international students, who had had their...
A hunger for campaigning
Last month I ran a workshop in Colombo for some community groups working to promote the rights of migrant workers both leaving and returning to Sri Lanka. What was starkly noticeable for me was their hunger for knowledge and practical advice to help their advocacy...
Passionate and professional
In the last few talks that I’ve given on campaigning in the UK voluntary sector, one theme has kept recurring – the need for passionate leadership. Speaking at UpRising national conference Now you may think that this is a statement of the obvious, but sometimes I do...
A new blog ….
A New Year comes and I am trying out a new blog. I am fascinated at how many cases of injustice I come across in my work and how so often there is little or no change happening. My new blog injustice - but why? seeks to highlight such cases of injustice and asks why...
Can we agree that ….?
I recently ran an advocacy workshop in Pakistan. Having identified our priority issue, we then set about developing our message and working on the opposition messages on our issue. In two groups, we then began to develop a theory of change on our issue. I was...
10 What does good look like? Next steps …
A key challenge in the voluntary sector, where our mission is all about change and where campaigning is so vital to this mission, is how do we, in traditional organisational structures, allow this enabling environment for campaigning? One key answer to this challenge...
9 What does good look like? Theory of change
And there is one missing ingredient here – your theory of change. I remember doing a workshop in Sofia recently, and I did a session on the importance of having a theory of change. Later that day I was talking to a workshop participant; she told me that her heart had...
8 What does good look like? In conclusion continued…
For me that is what campaigning is all about – that is what good looks like. It is not just about having a plan or providing regular updates. It is a living, breathing series of connected activities in the outside world all designed to build support and momentum for...
7 What does good look like? In conclusion
So in conclusion: you have your foundation of a clear message with compelling evidence for your campaign. You are then totally focussed on building support both internally and externally for your issue. You take every opportunity to: engage with your supporters; to...
6 What does good look like? Key activities continued
And here are some more key areas of activity to help you build momentum for your campaign.... Public speaking: you accept every offer to speak in public on your issue. You see every external opportunity as a chance to enthuse more people and get them taking action to...
5 What does good look like? Key activities
I’d like to suggest some key areas of activity to help you build momentum for your campaign. I haven’t been able to use all of these activities on all of my campaigns, but I have aspired to use them. So what are they? Supporters: you take your message out to your...
4 What does good look like? Building momentum
But then what do you do with this clear message and compelling evidence of the problem? Well I think you then look to build momentum and support for your campaign. Having secured your campaign foundation, you then look to get it rolling and build interest – and get...
3 What does good look like? The foundation
To start off I think that a clear message is vital: embracing both a problem and a solution. Whenever I have been running a campaign, which has really been on a roll, there has been a very clear message or elevator pitch that not only my colleagues and I have been...
2 What does good look like? Introduction
When I was at the Red Cross, I remember that they had a project on what a good local Red Cross area looked like; now while it is easy to ridicule such an initiative, I always thought that it was a compelling concept. To help you plan and build for the future what does...
Campaigning – what does good look like?
One of my reflections having published my most recent book on campaigning last year is that I wonder if I should have added an extra chapter on what good looks like in campaigning? My 12 stage approach is designed to get people up and running in their campaigning, but...
Campaigning takes time
Earlier this month the British Government announced that First Aid is going to be included in the school curriculum in England from 2020. This is huge news and could save thousands of lives in the future. But this breakthrough made me reflect that campaigning takes...
Great new report on social power
Last week the Sheila McKechnie Foundation (where I am an associate) launched a new report as the culmination of the Social Change project - Social Power: how civil society can 'Play Big' and truly create change. I've seen many of these reports come and go over the...
World Cafe
I'm just back from running a workshop in Thailand where we were seeking to review a global campaign and discuss next steps with 40 people present. How can you do meaningful planning with so many people? We used the World Cafe method - I've used this approach in a...
Burning desire to campaign
I've just finished two assignments in Bulgaria and Thailand. Both workshops worked really well and whilst they were focussed on totally different issues, I think that their common element was that the participants all had a burning desire to campaign for change. I've...
Practitioners not advocates
I’ve just come back from Sofia where I was running an advocacy workshop for the Romani Early Years Network (REYN), which has members supporting Roma communities in 11 countries across Europe. I was struck during the first session at their insistence that the people in...