If it’s true that more hands make light work then it’s true that more heads around a campaign table make for better ideas & more creative campaigns. Ultimately, working together with colleagues in different organisations builds a greater sense of solidarity and shared commitment to a common goal: a happy oasis in the sometimes competitive, dog eat dog world of NGOs! Question: Professional relationships are the driving force of advocacy work; what does collaborative working do for those relationships and is it always straightforward?
Many hands, many heads, many voices! One of the best reasons for collaboration is the power of unified voices & the basic of movements for change: strength in numbers. Collaborative campaigns make us harder to ignore & allow us to pack extra oomph into our advocacy. Working together gives us credibility, coverage & contact where contact matters: with each other, decision makers, the public.
Question: Compelling people to change is tough. How do we make the most of creating a unified voice to move issues forward? Are there lessons we can learn from other sectors?
Many hands make light work, except when the corresponding heads can’t agree on basics like key messages, who does what &, critically for campaigning, how to respond quickly when opportunity calls. Collaborative campaigning is sometimes like trying to steer the Titanic round an iceberg. The gears are slow to react. Question: What does it mean for campaigns & professional relationships, when time is of the essence and you’re watching golden opportunities sail by? And how do we overcome insecurity about the messages we put out and what they mean for our individual ‘brands’?
On the flip side of all that joined up strength & power, there’s the risk that in trying to unify many voices, we water down our messages. Collaborative advocacy work can narrow the scope of campaigns, undermine key positions among its members and in the scrabble for consensus can actually mean we end up with outcomes we don’t really want or that fall far short of the vision we started with. Question: Is there a risk that by coming together, especially at the behest of Government/ funders, we in fact allow ourselves to be united and conquered?
Workshop D: 5 things we have learned from collaborative campaigns - Barnardos