Strategic Campaigning
Outline of training:
•9.30-10.45 A how to on strategic campaigning
•11-11.50 Practise makes perfect
•12-12.30 Let’s see how others have done it
What is a campaign?
Any coherent and planned
series of actions, designed to
achieve an overall aim and
objectives.
Note: A lot of law reform/ justice policy work
we do is not part of a campaign.
How CLCs do campaigns – our values
 Seek to achieve social justice, promote human rights and/or
address structural disadvantage
 Recognition of structural disadvantage and the place of the
campaign in a bigger struggle to address the causes of
disadvantage
 Community Development framework
 Participation of people who are directly affected by the
change needed; seek to empower those experiencing
disadvantage to advocate for themselves (process is as
important as outcome)
 Forming partnerships/ alliances and strengthening
relationships with groups and individuals within
CLCs and outside the sector
 Focus on reforms to laws and the justice system
 Others?
Why bother planning a
campaign?
Putting the “Strategic”
into Strategic Campaigning
Strategic thinking requires:
• A goal – what are we trying to achieve? In an ideal
world? Realistically?
• Understanding of the environment – who are the
decision-makers, allies and enemies? What are the
available opportunities and pitfalls?
• Creativity in developing effective actions
• Acknowledgement of the links between strategies
• Evaluation and learning
Being strategic involves
choices/decisions
The planning cycle
Develop
Act
Evaluate
Reflect
Act
Modify
The planning cycle runs over the life of a campaign
Who, What and How of running
a campaign
 Phase 1 – Information gathering
 Phase 2 – Set an overall goal (like a mission statement)
 Phase 3 – Set objectives (“What” we want to achieve)
 Phase 4 – Develop a strategy (“How” we plan to achieve it)
 Phase 5 – Do it – reflect, modify, keep trying
 Phase 6 - Evaluation
Gather facts about the issue
 What are the issues? – general brainstorm
 Who is affected by the problem? – client group? General
community? Staff?
 How do the people affected feel about the problem? What
effect does it have? - research
 Is the issue a symptom of a bigger problem that needs to be
addressed?
 Has this issue cropped up before and what was done about it
then? Did it work or not? Lessons to be learnt?
Scan the environment
 What is the relationship between the problem and different levels
of government? Is it a local, state or federal government issue?
 Who are the decision-makers? Is it a policy decision at cabinet or
a Departmental level – what do these people think about it? Is it a
law reform issue - regulation or legislation? Is it a practise issue?
 Who else is concerned about this issue? Is it happening in other
areas/ states? Has a peak or other organisation picked it up?
What are they doing? What could they do?
 What events are coming up that could affect this issue?
Eg: an election, a government inquiry, the next police shooting,
new legislation, commemoration day, etc
 Is this issue or a related issue in the media?

Who are our friends? Who are our opposition?
What are our resources?
 What skills have we got? What are we good at? Legal
knowledge, community education, power of the “peak”,
regular meetings with MPs, etc
 How much staff time can we devote to this?
 Will we have volunteer support? Supervision of volunteers?
 $$ for expenses eg: materials, mailouts, photocopying, venues
 Do we have people who can talk to the media?
Set a goal – What do we want
to achieve
 What is our overall goal?
 What are our objectives? (What we want
to achieve, steps to achieve our goal)
 Are our goals/ objectives consistent with
our values, principles?
Eg: Anti-Terror Laws TG
Overall Goal: Get rid of the anti-terrorism laws
and if we can’t achieve that, make them a bit
better or at least stop them getting worse
 Objectives:
1. Raise awareness in communities that are directly affected by the laws
about the laws, their rights and the role CLCs can play in
assisting them (CLE).
2. Raise Community Awareness in general community about terror laws
3. Increase awareness of Federal and State politicians of the issue
4. Build Capacity in CLCs and FCLC networks to take on
anti-terror campaigning
Develop a strategy
 The How (i.e. how are you going to meet your
objectives) and the actions or things that you will do
to deliver your strategies
 Every objective will have at least one strategy and
one action and can have more than one strategy
and action
 Who, what, where, how often, how many
 Remember “Strategic Thinking”
 Are our strategies/ actions consistent
with our values and principles?
 What ongoing mechanisms for evaluation/
reflection are built in?
Tools for action
 Getting people together eg: building strategic alliances
 Community education eg: resource kits, seminars, community
meetings, etc
 Political action eg: lobbying decision-makers through letters,
meetings, delegations, petitions, research, submissions, etc
 Legal action eg: case work to change the law
 Direct action eg: demonstration, boycott, strike, sit-in, etc
 Using the media eg: stunts, call talk back, letters to editors,
releases, etc
 Community awareness/ profile raising eg: web-site,
newsletters, posters, logo, campaign flyers
 Virtual activism
 Others?
Political Action/ Lobbying
 Who are the decision-makers and how do we
influence them?
 Who are our allies? Can they help to
influence decision-makers?
 Who is likely to oppose us and why? How
can they be won over and/or defeated?
The ACF Power Map
Against Us
On the Fence
For us
Using the media
Develop a media strategy:
 Why are we using the media – what do we want to achieve?
 What are our key messages?
 Who is our target audience?
 What activities will we employ to promote our key messages?
 Timing?
 How will we respond to difficult questions?
 Who are our spokespeople and how will we support them?
 How does this fit within the broader campaign?
Doing it, and sustainably…
 Reflect on your strategies before you start - are we being
realistic or trying to achieve too much? Are we working
consistently with our values?
 Is the group good with meeting processes, times, agendas,
conflict resolution, etc
 Reflect as you go and modify – if something didn’t work, think
about trying it differently or doing something else.
 Have fun, have a laugh – make sure this in the strategies
 Who is there for emotional support? For the group? For
individuals?
 Accept that you won’t always achieve your goals.
Know you are making a difference in the long run –
process versus outcome.
Evaluation
 Has the campaign been carried out according to its values?
 What demonstrable outcomes have been achieved? Which
strategies contributed to this?
 Who has learnt new skills in the process?
 Are participants happy with the process and outcomes?
 What did the ongoing evaluation tools indicate?
 What social change has occurred?
 What lessons have been learnt – what worked and didn’t
work?
 How accessible is the information about the
campaign for others to see in the long run?
Write it all up and make it available for future reference.
Further resources
• People.dot.comm unity – Annie Nash, Villamanta Legal Service - A
resource for effective community activism. Contains comprehensive
list of further resources.
• http://www.earthshare.org.au/earthshare/socialtraining.shtm - A
project of Earth Share Australia, to promote and develop training,
learning and sharing of skills as an integral part of the work of
social change organisations and individuals working in this area.
• http://www.greenpeace.org.au/getactive/ - A site setting out the
ground rules for getting active – from planning a campaign and
making it happen.
• http://www.active.org.au/ and http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/
- internet resources for social change.
• http://www.activistrights.org.au/ Legal Resources for
Activists by Fitzroy Legal Service