Organizational Development

A strategy for a social change campaign can be as simple or complex as you and your group determine. It should communicate your theory of change, the political context you are working in, the problems and solutions, your goals, power analysis, tactics and timeline. ‘Cut the issue’ to narrow down bigger picture problems into more manageable parts. What part of the problem or bigger issue do you intend to work on? It might be helpful to frame it as a solution or partial solution. Name the problem, identify issues and justify which one/s you plan to tackle. The campaign focus might include a ‘problem statement’ that defines the social or environmental justice that your group is most concerned with. The ‘cutting the issue’ exercise can help you define your goals. How do you want things to be? If this issue or problem is resolved, how will the situation have changed? How will justice be achieved? Goals should be discrete and directly linked to the scope. It is generally best to focus on one campaign goal or limit to two or three. If your goals are sufficiently different, it may be worthwhile developing separate campaign plans. This guide also covers: vision, situational analysis, critical path analysis, organizational considerations, allies, constituents, targets, objectives, tactics, evaluation, and success indicators.

Here are the four simple questions that could transform your advocacy strategy and increase your impact. Campaigners and advocates try to influence change and make a difference on the issues, and for the people, that they care about. However, processes of change are complex and unpredictable, so it is often difficult to decide exactly what to do. Faced with this complexity or messiness, when planning campaign strategies, advocates often try to simplify by: identifying a problem and a solution; producing campaign messaging, policy proposals and research which supports the analysis; and communicating core messages to as many people as possible using multiple channels (media, lobbying, social media, supporter mobilization, etc.). Developing a theory of change can help you to: “zoom out” and better understand your role in the context of the broader processes of change; reflect on and theorize about how change might unfold and what role you can play in it; build a common understanding within your team and strengthen critical or evaluative thinking which is vital for effective advocacy and campaigning; remain focused on the change you are working towards and how what you do makes a difference, so when the context changes you don’t lose your way; strengthen your understanding of your progress and results and your contribution to change; and develop a framework for measuring your learning and effectiveness.

A theory of change can help guide campaigners, their teams and communities. A well-crafted theory of change helps align the available energy, keeping your team focused and clear-headed about the change you plan to make and how. To influence people and institutions to veer from the status quo or the path most frequently taken – such as deciding to reject a development application or to prioritize programs that put health, the environment and education first – we need to understand what makes them tick. Community campaigners often craft theories of change that rely heavily on awareness-raising. A theory of change created to explain how we’ll influence one or more political decisions this year is unlikely to provide a compelling explanation about how people who share our values and concerns will bring about a better world over decades or generations. The theory of change for a campaign we aim to win this year will be based on this year’s political realities and incorporate fine-grained information about what will influence specific decision-makers. Here’s an example: IF workers and community members refuse to provide labor and services for the construction of a new coal mine THEN the mine’s development will be slowed and costs will increase, possibly resulting in the mine not going ahead BECAUSE the company relies entirely on local labor and community resources.

Lay a solid foundation for a campaign by working backwards from long-term goals to identify the conditions that must be in place in order to achieve those goals, and why. This is a campaign planning methodology that forces participants to get specific about how social change happens. Participants start with the long-term goal of the campaign, and then work backwards to identify all the conditions needed to achieve that goal. Next, get specific about what actions participants can take to create those conditions. Developing a theory of change can be particularly helpful during the early stages of campaign planning. It guides participants to choose the right tactics to most efficiently achieve those outcomes, and helps avoid the common mistake of jumping immediately into action without connecting today’s tactics with tomorrow’s strategy. This also includes a training guide to lead participants through an exercise to devise their theory of change.

One-on-ones are how to invite people into organizing work, encourage people to step into leadership, uncover barriers to campaigns, and so much more. To build the power needed to stop unending war, climate chaos, and inequality across race, class, and gender, it’s critical that new people come into movement organizations, are given meaningful roles, and ultimately stick around—instead of marshaling the same, small group of people who already know and agree. One-on-ones are a key vehicle for how that happens. Here’s a 6-step model to use to help plan one-on-one conversations. Whether following this model, adapt it, or use a different one, having a clear sequence of steps to learn and practice helps prepare and meet goals in your organizing conversations. Here are the 6 steps of a one-on-one: introduction, issues and stake, agitation, educate and plan to win, the ask, and next steps.

Winning climate campaigns requires understanding the public to make strategic, data-driven decisions and capture the public narrative. This training is for advocates who understand the basics of public opinion research but want more concrete guidance on how to work with polling researchers to inform your campaigns and communications.

When developing and carrying out a nonviolent campaign for social change, organizers need to consider steps for increasing the pressure on those whose actions or decisions are opposed. There are lots of ways a movement can escalate a conflict while remaining nonviolent. In Ebert's model, the first stage of a nonviolent campaign emphasizes bringing an issue into the public sphere. In the second stage, the campaign increases public pressure by staging legal forms of non-cooperation (strikes, consumer boycotts, slow-downs) as well as innovative lawful activities (fair trade initiatives, alternative economy structures, nonviolent intervention). The third stage of escalation uses nonviolent civil disobedience as both a protest and as a form of civil usurpation. Of course, there are more ways to escalate a campaign than increasing the level of non-cooperation or developing constructive alternatives. Perhaps the most common are escalation through increasing numbers of participants, increased length of public protests (think of people occupying a public square to protest against a repressive regime for many weeks) or a wider variety of participants.

Digital security is key for organizations relying on teamwork, especially with lots of team members working from home. This site describes tips in a few categories, including: secure group chat and conferencing tools, physical and emotional protection while using home for work, digital security and privacy, digital first aid kit, surveillance self-defense, and more. With teams increasingly working remotely during COVID-19, we are all facing questions regarding the security of our communication with one another: Which communication platform or tool is best to use? Which is the most secure for holding sensitive internal meetings? Which will have adequate features for online training sessions or remote courses without compromising the privacy and security of participants? Security in-a-Box is a guide to digital security for activists and human rights defenders. The Digital First Aid Kit aims to provide preliminary support for people facing the most common types of digital threats. Surveillance Self-Defense is the Electronic Frontier Foundation's guide to defending yourself and your friends from surveillance by using secure technology and developing careful practices.

This curriculum is intended to be a starting point for training(s) you may be delivering to your community in moments of rapid response. This curriculum was developed with love and adapted from years of direct action training in and out of the Ruckus Community. During a training, provide a rapid overview to participants of what to do to prepare for mass action. Pay attention to verbal and nonverbal communication. Prepare an action pack. Protect your data. This guide provides many specific steps to use during a training and during action preparation and planning.

A security culture is a set of customs and measures shared by a community whose members may engage in sensitive or illegal activities. Security culture practices minimize the risks of members getting arrested or their actions being foiled. While we are trying to stop bad things from happening, our powerful opponents (usually governments or corporations) are working hard to stop us. This guide is about the security measures activists can take to protect ourselves and make our work more effective. This guide mostly focuses on the actions of law enforcement, such as intelligence officers and police, as it usually has the greatest authority to target activists. Law enforcement uses the legal system to harass protesters. Law enforcement investigates and infiltrates groups. Law enforcement disrupts activities. Opponents and law enforcement engage in targeted excessive force and violence. This guide also describes some ways for activist groups to protect themselves, including assessing risk, weigh the pros and cons, manage emotions, be nice and supportive, stop bad behavior, and more.