advocacy evaluation
online resources to draw on in evaluating advocacy and campaigns
Effective Action for Social Change | The campaign to save the Franklin River (Part 1)
Claire Runciman, Harry Barber, Linda Parlane, John Stone, and Gill Shaw, 1986 “Too often activists only develop critiques of campaigns which fail. This implies that successful campaigns use the best of all possible strategies and tactics, and that the reasons...
Conservation enterprise: lessons for corporate engagement
Does engaging with corporations compromise independence and integrity or reduce pressure on nature, and mobilise resources for conservation? Pepe Clark’s 2016 paper discusses key lessons for conservation leaders, including the need for conservation...
Assessing policy windows
This 90 minute workshop draws on John Kingdon’s theories about policy windows and a set of nine ‘conditions’ that increase the chances that our policy advocacy campaigns will succeed. Participants reflect on and critically analyse their current campaigns, and consider...
Public Transport Not Traffic 2014: Campaign review
Danae Bosler and Cait Jones review the Public Transport Not Traffic campaign which began on 29 November 2013 – exactly a year before the Victorian state election. The campaign was run by a coalition of over 35 community groups from across Melbourne and regional...
Rethinking deliberative governance: dissecting the Queensland landclearing campaign
The remarkable campaign highlights an apparent rupture between the discourses and practices of deliberative governance and adversarial power politics. The orthodox processes of consensus politics were rejected as inadequate by conservationists in favour of a strategic...
Om Gaia dudes: The North East Forest Alliances’s old growth forest campaign
Aidan Ricketts’ (2003) analysis of NEFA’s forest campaign, based on activist interviews. Published in Wilson H (ed) Belonging In the Rainbow Region, SCU Press, Lismore.
Power map template
Map out who’s who to prioritise points of influence or change, and generate ideas for strategy: a great exercise pre- or mid-campaign.
Media toolkit > the essentials for keeping our issues hip, hot and happening
Generating media on our issues is one of the most effective tools activists have for informing members of Congress and members of our community about important issues around hunger and poverty.
Going to places that scare me: Personal reflections on challenging male supremacy
Personal reflections on challenging male supremacy by Chris Crass. Part I: “How can I be sexist? I’m an anarchist!”. A great article recommended to us by Ben Margetts who says “It is the best article I have read by a man, for men, on...
Engaging With the ‘Dark Side’
From Avigail Abarbanel’s website, this article explores issues of overwhelm encountered by activists and some ways to develop self-care.
Dealing with or preventing burnout in activist work
Neil Wollman provides hints which focus on actions or mental attitudes you can cultivate to prevent or deal with burnout.
Activist trauma
A site primarily for political activists who may be injured during or by their political activities and or struggling with other mental health issues related to activism.
Power Shifting Towards Tomorrow
Anna Rose reflects how, in 2005, students from the University of Sydney began a campaign to make their university’s Administration clean up their act on climate change. The campaign, called Green Campus Now, called on the Vice Chancellor to commit to purchasing...
water glass exercise
This activity is used by Ouyporn Khuankeaw, a trainer in Thailand who most often works with village development workers, women leaders, monks and nuns, and NGO staff. She finds that popular education/experiential education is easier for participants to get the most...
Training for Change
Training for Change provides activist training for groups standing up for social, economic, and environmental justice through strategic nonviolence.
Wildlife Advocates
Monica Alba Murillo’s case study of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland.
Cutting the issue
It’s next to impossible to make a difference on a huge problem. How you ‘cut’ the problem into issues will influence your prospects of success, and the consequent impact. What parts of the problem (and the solution) are amenable to your...