Category Archive For "trends"
Can we ever hope to influence Beijing?
China officially became the second biggest economy in the world last month overtaking Japan for the first time, and while the influence of China over most international processes has been clear for a long time, can we ever expect to influence the Chinese government? Both Oxfam and Greenpeace must believe so, as they’ve expanded out of …
When a NGO admits it’s wrong. WWF and it’s (non) involvement in the Save Our Forests campaign
It’s not often you see a big NGO come out in public and admit that they got something wrong. So it’s great to see WWF put out a statement today effectively apologising for its lack of public action and clarifying its stance on UK forest sell-off in response to some harsh criticism it’s received in …
Are top ministers avoiding meetings with NGOs?
Tom Watson has shared a treasure trove of information about who’s getting meetings with the new government on his blog. Publishing documents previously available only to those with access to the House of Commons library. It shows who advice is being sought and who’s being locked out. The first few months of a governments matter, …
Lists of people who matter
Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m a big fan of lists. Although I’m not a natural Daily Telegraph reader, their annual profiles of the top 100 most influential people in each of the political parties is an invaluable resource when it comes to planning routes to influence. 100 Most influential Left-wingers – 1 …
Progress reports – letting campaigners know how it's going!
I’ve just (belatedly) come across Oxfam’s excellent ‘Climate Change Campaign Progress Report’ it’s a simple idea, but I think that this the first time I’ve seen it used by a big campaigning organisation. For much of the last year, Oxfam have been writing a monthly progress report on their climate change campaigning, giving themselves a …
How are new MPs adjusting to campaign tactics?
Parliament rose for the summer recess this week, and it’s been interesting to see how the new (and some returning MPs) have responded to all the campaigning actions that they’ve been on the receiving end of. Exhibit A is an Early Day Motion (EDM) from the new Conservative MP for Weaver Vale, Graham Evans, who …
Community Websites: a new space for activism?
While much has been written about the power of Facebook, and the impact of other social media tools in campaigning, another growing phenomena, that I’ve seen much less written about is the growth (or perhaps resurgence) of community websites, one of the most high-profile of which is Mumsnet, which seems to be in the news …
Campaigning in 2015
What might campaigning look like in 5 years time? NCVO have set out to answer the question in their recent paper ‘Future Focus’. It’s an interesting paper, and its a useful exercise to take a step back and consider some of the broader trends that influence our campaigning. The introduction argues that the context for campaigning could …
mrtombaker
Director of Campaigns and Organising at Save the Children, previously worked for Bond, Tearfund and Christian Aid, co-founder Campaign Bootcamp, blog about campaigning because I'm passionate about seeing more campaigns win, election geek (and recovering Labour Party activist), interested in monitoring and evaluation, this blog is all my own views. Prone to bad spelling!