It’s sometimes (but not always) the case that an organisation’s campaigners are not the people who are affected by the problems they campaign on.
The support of any campaigner is hugely helpful, but it sometimes means our campaigners are a relatively un-diverse group, and our biggest advocates aren’t those with lived experience of a problem – i.e. living in poverty in the UK.
At this event, we discussed what we can do to reach the people we’re campaigning on behalf of and inspire and empower them to campaign alongside us. To start, delegates got to choose from a handful of short talks to attend by Mind, Shelter, Crohn’s and Colitis UK, Save the Children UK and Stroke Association. Then in small groups, they worked through a real-life challenge.
Resources
- Article: Involving people in your campaigning by NCVO
Not Every Disability is Visible – empowering the people affected to campaign – Andy McGuinness, campaigns manager, Crohn’s & Colitis UK
Putting the lived experience of homelessness at the heart of Crisis campaigns – Steve Lee, senior campaigns officer, Crisis
Linking up local campaigning with people with lived experiences – Alicia Bainbridge, senior campaigns officer, Mind
- Talk notes – Linking up local campaigning with people with lived experiences at Mind
- Mind’s local campaigning opportunity description:
About the Campaign Network
The Campaign Network is a joint initiative from CharityComms and the Social Change Agency looking to address a gap for heads of campaigns and campaign leads in UK charities for strategic development, campaign sector development and professional development.
The Network will provide an opportunity for campaign peers to meet to discuss important issues at a strategic level, in order to raise the standard around campaigning. The format of the afternoon is a round-table discussion, led by our excellent facilitators, feeding into the group as a whole.
If you’d like to be one of the first to hear about these events, please email Hanna Chowdhury to be added to the mailing list.
If you’re interested in sponsoring this group, please contact Vanessa Weddell.