Effective campaigning

INGOs are devoting more energy to policy influence work without knowing much about what makes a campaign effective. Based on research conducted by the New Economics Foundation, and focusing on case studies of child labour in India and the promotion of breast feeding in Ghana, the authors recommend:

• Effective campaigns require a long-term commitment and take place at many different levels: international, national/regional, and grassroots. To achieve the reach and mix of skills required, collaboration is essential while individuals (or champions) with drive and commitment are also key.
  
• Campaigns are not enough on their own; implementation and change at the grassroots should never be assumed and require additional activity.
  
• A narrow focus can be effective in getting an issue formulated but problems caused by poverty are more complex; if the campaign is not widened out at a later stage it is unlikely to achieve effective change.
  
• Effectiveness is an art not a science: but organisations can learn from past and present experience using frameworks and other evaluative processes.

In evaluating different structures for collaboration, they identify three types: 'pyramid' (quick, helps get access to top level of policy, but can ignore grassroots), 'wheel' (slow but good for information exchange and development of centres of specialisation), 'web' (like a wheel but with no focal NGO, could be too slow for campaigning).

(ODI bibs)