HOW TO USE
THIS TOOLKIT
“IF POLITICS IS THE
ART OF THE POSSIBLE,
CAMPAIGNING IS THE
ART AND SCIENCE OF
CHANGING WHAT IS
POSSIBLE.”
The purpose of this toolkit is to inform
you on all things campaigns, to inspire
you to want to create your own and to
empower you to be able to run your own
campaigns.
Introduction to campaigns
Campaigning can mean protesting, lobbying,
signing a petition, activism, advocacy or policy
work and there are many ways to do it. The official
definition of campaigning is: ‘organised actions
around a specific issue seeking to bring about
changes in the policy and behaviours of institutions
and/or specific public groups…the mobilising of
forces by organisations and individuals to influence
others in order to effect an identified and desired
social, economic, environmental or political change,’
– NCVO, 2011.
Why should I do it?
You can campaign to create awareness or change
behaviours, to create policy changes and to use
your skills for something worthwhile. Perhaps the
biggest reason you should do it is because it works!
Many of the privileges that are afforded to us
today can be attributed to successful campaigns.
It allows you to create a real change and really
make a difference.
Campaigning tactics
There are many tactics you can use for your campaign.
It’s important to remember that not all tactics are
suitable for every campaign, so you should choose
ones that are relevant for yours. It is common for
campaigners to view tactics of campaigning (such
as protesting) as campaigning activity rather than as
a tool. Using an ineffective tactic for our campaign
may actually hinder the cause. When selecting the
tactics to use for your campaign you should keep
in mind that a good campaign is one that uses a
minimum amount of effort and resources to achieve
the desired aim. You should choose the tactics
you’re going to employ once you have developed an
effective strategy.
THINGS YOU CAN DO:
•
•
•
•
PROTEST
FLASH MOB
LETTER WRITING
POSTCARD CAMPAIGN
•
•
•
•
LOBBY
• RALLY
STUNT
• HASHTAG
CAMPAIGN
PETITION
HOLD A PUBLIC MEETING
The aims of this section are to get you
thinking about defining the goals and the
actions you’d need to take to help you achieve
these. The following steps are based on the
campaigns cycle:
ANALYSIS
EVALUATION
STRATEGY
DEVELOPMENT
STEP ONE
ANALYSING THE ISSUE
Describe the context of the campaign, explore the issue & gather evidence
•
What is the issue & why is it a problem? •
Is it winnable & popular?
•
Analysing the context- the internal and
external environment
•
What do you plan to do to tackle it?
•
What is your timescale?
Do you have the resources
(money/ people) to be able to do it?
We have funding set aside for
campaigns so get in touch with us to
discuss this.
•
Build a campaigns team
A strong and effective campaigns team is crucial to the success of your campaign.
Having a good campaigns team means you can delegate tasks according to an
individual’s skill set.
CAMPAIGN,
DELIVERY &
MONITORING
PLANNING
The campaigns cycle is an effective tool in
visualising the steps involved in campaigning.
The idea is that you perpetuate around the
cycle until the campaign has finished.
6 STEPS TO BUILDING YOUR TEAM
RECRUIT
RECORD
DELEGATE
REMIND
Convince students they should get involved
Be specific on the tasks you want doing
MOTIVATE
Inspire your team and tell them
they can be effective
Track the activity of your team
Even the most committed members
may forget
REPORT
Communicate regularly on your
collective efforts & celebrate
VISION WITHOUT ACTION IS ONLY DREAMING, ACTION WITHOUT VISION IS ONLY
PASSING TIME, BUT VISION WITH ACTION CAN CHANGE THE WORLD” NELSON MANDELA
STEP TWO
Find out if you’re really passionate about the issue
EXPLAIN THE BENEFITS
•
•
•
Who benefits if you win?
Why is it worthwhile?
Use the evidence to develop
a solution
•
Tell anecdotes or personal stories
•
What will change look like?
•
What are the root causes
of the problem?
•
What impact do you
want to achieve?
•
What is the solution
to the problem?
•
What are the key milestones?
•
Conduct a PEST/SWOT analysis
•
STEP THREE
DEFINE THE PROBLEM
AND THE SOLUTION
What is the key purpose
of the campaign?
Why would it be good to do it?
PROBLEM TREE
CONSEQUENCES OF
THE PROBLEM
THE PROBLEM
YOU ARE TRYING
TO CHANGE
Roots, trunk, branches! Start by
writing the problem on the trunk
of the tree, under the problem
write the root causes of the
problem, above the problem
write the consequences of it on
the branches.
SOLUTION TREE
ROOT CAUSES OF
THE PROBLEM
PROBLEM TREE
Roots, trunk, fruit! Think about
what would change the root
causes, use the trunk to write
down your vision and the fruits
of the tree are the effects of
the change.
EFFECTS OF
THE CHANGE
SMART
OBJECTIVE
THINGS THAT
WOULD CHANGE THE
ROOT CAUSES
THE IDEAL
VISION YOU WANT
TO CREATE
SOLUTION TREE
SWOT
stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and
Threats. As a group, you should conduct a SWOT analysis
for the campaign. You could think about:
STRENGTHS
•
•
•
•
resource • people
expertise • funding
skills
• timing
capacity
OPPORTUNITIES
• the positioning of
the issue
• growing the campaign
WEAKNESSES
• current environment
• future trends
THREATS
• stakeholders
• rival campaigns
STEP FOUR
EXPLAIN WHAT YOU
WANT TO ACHIEVE
Develop a clear strategy
for change and plan your
campaign
•
Have a clear defined aim
•
Develop a campaign concept to
frame the issue
•
Explain what you want to
achieve & how you’ll do this
•
Fill out an action plan
•
Use SMART targets- ensures
your targets are realistic,
measurable and time-specific
•
Factor in risk and for things to go
wrong
•
Get allies and supporters
involved: collaborate with
local groups and national
organisations
STAY SMART
Specific: that the outcome is concrete, detailed, focused and well-defined
Measurable: to measure progress towards your outcomes and impact
PEST
stands for Political, Economic, Social and Technological
and is useful for analysing your ability to influence or create
change. It’s more effective to conduct a PEST analysis with
issues specific or relevant to your campaign. This will help
you weigh up your chances of success.
Achievable: have short and medium-term outcomes to build towards a
long-term impact.
Realistic: that you have the resources; time, money, skills, to get it done
Time-bound: set deadlines for when your outcomes need to be achieved
For example:
‘We want anonymous marking at the university’ is not SMART.
‘We want 65% of targeted courses running an anonymous marking
system by the end of the academic year 2014/2015’ is SMART.
PLANNING A SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN
Why is planning important?
Planning is important as it ensures that your campaign is
focused and effective. Campaigners are often keen to seize
opportunities and follow their gut instincts without planning
properly. This can lead to ineffective campaigning or the
end goal not being achieved. It’s important to plan but don’t
spend too much time doing it. View your plan as a working
document which you can continuously edit.
THERE ARE FOUR KEY
STAGES TO CAMPAIGN
PLANNING:
ANALYSIS
Key questions for campaign planning:
1) How do I know if I’ve picked the right issue?
Is it winnable, popular, and relevant?
2) What will change look like? How do we know when we have won?
3) Who are the key players in the campaign?
Who will support you, who will oppose you?
4) H
ow will people respond? What is the general opinion on the issue?
5) W
hat resources do I need? Do I have the people, time and money I need?
PLANNING
ACTION
IMPACT
Since the first three steps have already been given a lot of focus, it’d be useful to touch upon impact here. It can be useful to first have in
mind the impact you want your campaign to achieve, then to list the actions you’d need to take to achieve the impact, and then realistically
plan the finer details.
The Good Campaigns Guide (NCVO, 2005) defines ‘impact’ as: ‘Significant or lasting changes in people’s lives, brought about by a given action, or series of actions’.
It goes on to explain: ‘This definition is important because it identifies the ultimate goal of campaigning in relation to changes in people’s lives. Changes in institutional
policies and practice, for example, should be seen as means to that end, not ends in themselves. Effective campaigning is about impact not action, results not effort,
outcomes not outputs.’
INPUTS
Resources,
finances, people
ACTIVITIES
Actions you will take
OUTPUTS
Effort generated by
your activity
OUTCOMES
Energy: changes resulting
from the outpurts
IMPACT
Change: in people’s
lives or in govt. policy
The diagram shows related processes. Again it is useful to work backwards and start with the impact first and then the outcomes, outputs,
activities and inputs. You should be able to write down in one sentence what your desired impact or main goal will be. This will form your
campaign aim.
STEP FIVE
Gather information on your
target audience
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
STEP SIX
CHOOSE YOUR
ACTIONS
Choose what you’re going
to do & go do it!
•
Brainstorm ideas of
activities & tactics
•
Choose actions which will
reach your audience
•
Make sure your actions
fit your purpose
•
Assign activities to team
members according
to skills & experience
•
Buddy up where possible
•
Pitch the message to
your target audience
•
Do you know how to reach them?
•
If it’s a firm: do you understand
their governance?
THE
APATHY
STAIRCASE
You can use the apathy staircase
to inspire action from your
audience when engaging them
about your campaign.
•
Talk to your audience about
the issue to gather opinions
(GOAT & GOAL) - Go
Out And Talk & Go Out
And Listen
ACTION
Talk about how you are going to
make this change happen and what
they can do to help you?
VISIONING
Illustrate that it is possible for their experience to change?
Talk about how this would benefit them? What would
need to happen to make this come about? Who makes
the decision about the issue?
INJUSTICE INJECTION
Illustrate how their experience is unfair or wrong. Comparisons are often
a good way to do this. Showing them that there is an alternative to their
experience.
EXPERIENCE
What is the person’s experience of this issue? How does the campaign affect them?
SAY A-HA!
ANGER: you can use anger to
help overcome apathy by conveying
your anger about a certain issue to
people and allowing them to be angry
about it too. The key to motivating
your audience into taking action is
by engaging with their emotions:
anger, fear, hope, inspiration.
STEP SEVEN
MONITOR & EVALUATE
•
•
•
Monitor to ensure you’re on track •
Evaluate the impact you made
•
Celebrate your successes
Learn from your failures
Communicate what happened
Key evaluation
questions to ask:
•
What are we doing well and
what should we continue doing?
•
What are we doing ‘okay’ or
badly and what can we improve?
•
What was supposed to happen,
what actually happened and
why were they different?
•
In what ways has our
understanding about the
situation deepened or changed?
•
What did you learn from the
experience that you’d do
differently for future campaigns?
HOPE: anger without hope
of a solution creates frustration.
By presenting a realistic plan to
resolve the injustice, anger can be
transformed into hope and action.
ACTION: is the way to create
change. Once people are hopeful, you
must show them how their actions
will contribute to making change.
You could do this by describing the
power of collective action.
EVALUATING YOUR IMPACT
It may seem burdensome, but monitoring and evaluating the impact
during and after the campaign can ensure that you achieve the end
goal in an effective manner. Monitoring is about assessing what you are
currently doing against the agreed actions you’d planned and make
sure you are meeting your deadlines. Evaluating is about reflecting
on the lessons you learnt once the campaign has finished. When you
develop your strategy, you should build in time to meet and evaluate.
7 DEADLY SINS OF CAMPAIGNING:
1. Unclear aims and objectives
2. Activity planning happening
before (or without) setting
an aim
3. Lack of evidence
4. Going it alone
5. Targeting the wrong
decision maker
6. M
essages that people don’t
care about
7. F
orgetting to monitor
and evaluate
If you’re feeling inspired
and want to run a
campaign, drop an e-mail
to: [email protected], outline
your idea and we’ll take it from there!