Do you need help in influencing others? Do you want to change the policies and practices of governments, businesses and public sector bodies? Do you want to stimulate public awareness and understanding of your issues and change public behaviours?
For 40 years I have been striving for social and environmental justice – as a student, an activist, a campaigner, a manager and a consultant. I have been hired by over 100 organisations and have learned that real progressive change is never easy but it can and does happen.
Success does not come from reusing strategies and plans from off the shelf. Each cause is different. Every organisation has its own strengths and constraints. And the context in which we want to make change is constantly changing.
Success requires an understanding of how change happens, where your power comes from and how to focus your influence where it will have most effect. It depends on an inspiring vision and a commitment to put aside competition and work together for a common goal. It demands a clear strategy that enables flexible and creative tactics that respond to the changing context. It needs an ability to communicate so that your audiences notice, understand and are inspired by your messages.
To help you be successful in influencing, I have developed and acquired a range of tools to help you and your colleagues to develop and implement your strategy for change.
I can help you identify and analyse the core problems that you need to tackle so that you can agree on your policy positions and change objectives. This might involve working together to map out the social and economic systems that maintain the problem and identifying the pressure points that can transform the system in a positive way.
I can also help you understand and analyse the social and political context that will affect your campaigning, as well as help you identify your main sources of power. From this, I can lead you through a stakeholder analysis to help you prioritise your target audiences and build a realistic Theory of Change – one that is based on the evidence of what actually works rather than being limited by organisational traditions or wishful thinking.
Messaging comes next, and I can help you craft your core message propositions, elevator pitches and key arguments. I can also draft policy positions, briefing papers and other communications materials.
All of this can then be turned into a clear and flexible action plan for engaging the audiences you have identified. To support the delivery of your plans, I can help you put in place coordination mechanisms and systems for monitoring and evaluation.
I can do all this within single organisations or bringing together different and diverse organisations to agree a shared strategy for collaboration.
Located in Wales, I also offer a bespoke Wales Public Affairs service. This will appeal both to UK-wide charities based in England as well as charities and other organisations based in Wales.
A series of Advocacy & Campaigning Mini-Guides are available for free download.