HOW TO USE THIS TOOLKIT

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2 IF POLITICS IS THE ART OF THE POSSIBLE, CAMPAIGNING IS THE ART AND SCIENCE OF CHANGING WHAT IS POSSIBLE. HOW TO USE THIS TOOLKIT 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, 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 PETITION CAMPAIGN HOLD A PUBLIC MEETING

3 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: 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? EVALUATION ANALYSIS STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT Analysing the context- the internal and external environment What do you plan to do to tackle it? What is your timescale? 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 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. RECRUIT Convince students they should get involved DELEGATE Be specific on the tasks you want doing MOTIVATE Inspire your team and tell them they can be effective RECORD Track the activity of your team REMIND 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

4 STEP TWO EXPLAIN THE BENEFITS Find out if you re really passionate about the issue What is the key purpose of the campaign? Why would it be good to do it? Who benefits if you win? Why is it worthwhile? STEP THREE DEFINE THE PROBLEM AND THE SOLUTION Use the evidence to develop a solution What are the root causes of the problem? What is the solution to the problem? Tell anecdotes or personal stories What will change look like? What impact do you want to achieve? What are the key milestones? Conduct a PEST/SWOT analysis CONSEQUENCES OF THE PROBLEM ROOT CAUSES OF THE PROBLEM PROBLEM TREE THE PROBLEM YOU ARE TRYING TO CHANGE PROBLEM TREE 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 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. SMART OBJECTIVE THINGS THAT WOULD CHANGE THE ROOT CAUSES SOLUTION TREE EFFECTS OF THE CHANGE THE IDEAL VISION YOU WANT TO CREATE

5 SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. As a group, you should conduct a SWOT analysis for the campaign. You could think about: STEP FOUR EXPLAIN WHAT YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE STRENGTHS resource expertise skills capacity people funding timing OPPORTUNITIES the positioning of the issue growing the campaign WEAKNESSES current environment future trends THREATS stakeholders rival campaigns 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 STAY SMART 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 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.

6 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. 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) How will people respond? What is the general opinion on the issue? 5) What resources do I need? Do I have the people, time and money I need? THERE ARE FOUR KEY STAGES TO CAMPAIGN PLANNING: ANALYSIS 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 ACTIVITIES OUTPUTS OUTCOMES IMPACT Resources, finances, people Actions you will take Effort generated by your activity Energy: changes resulting from the outpurts 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.

7 STEP FIVE KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE Gather information on your target audience Do you know how to reach them? If it s a firm: do you understand their governance? Talk to your audience about the issue to gather opinions (GOAT & GOAL) - Go Out And Talk & Go Out And Listen 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 THE APATHY STAIRCASE You can use the apathy staircase to inspire action from your audience when engaging them about your campaign. 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?

8 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. 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. 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 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. 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? 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. Messages that people don t care about 7. Forgetting to monitor and evaluate If you re feeling inspired and want to run a campaign, drop an to: sucampaigns@bath.ac.uk, outline your idea and we ll take it from there!