This pamphlet was drafted by Niall Crowley.. The publication of this pamphlet was made possible by support from St Stephen’s Green Trust Fund and Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.
shared agendas!
CLAIMING OUR FUTURE DECEMBER 2016
Intro Civil society groups, campaigns and organisations working for transformative change pursue a wide range of individual agendas. These include: agendas for broad based change such as a society based on equality and human rights; agendas for specific areas such as climate justice, sustainable development, community development or anti-poverty; and agendas for specific issues such as homelessness or specific groups such as Travellers, women, workers, or people with disabilities. Shared agendas have a potential to strengthen work for transformative change. The process of building shared agendas can involve sharing ideas, expertise and knowledge and resources. This in turn may lead to the emergence of new strategies and approaches which could ultimately contribute to deeper and more sustainable change outcomes. Shared agendas can be developed both within and between sectors. Shared agendas between sectors have an added value in preventing fragmentation, the development of silos and a spirit of competition and mistrust. Claiming our Future’s Plan B working group developed and campaigned over a number of years for an alternative to the austerity budgets of the Government. By 2013, the group wanted to develop its focus to a broader agenda for transformative change, a long-term vision for the kind of society and economy we wanted. It would build on and give greater practical definition to Claiming Our Future’s core values of equality, solidarity, environmental sustainability, participation, and accountability. At this time many organisations were beginning to plan ways to mark the centenary of the 1916 rising. It was decided to launch a process to develop a ‘Declaration for a New Republic’. This was later changed to ‘A Declaration for a Future Ireland’. The process would involve the development of what was in effect a shared cross-sectoral agenda. At the early stages it was hoped that up to 100,000 signatures could be secured for the Declaration. However, this ambition changed over the life of the initiative.
What was Done? Developing a Draft Declaration A series of well attended open meetings were held around the country in 2014 from which the Declaration Working Group developed a draft Declaration. From the beginning, the importance of mobilising support for engagement with the process was emphasised. A toolkit was developed to support this, entitled ‘Call for Responses’. The Working Group was aware that mobilisation would be challenging as other groups were also planning initiatives to commemorate 1916.
Adopting a Creative Approach A dedicated website (www. wedeclare. ie) was developed to act as a platform to generate interest and support engagement in the Declaration. A challenging short opening video was used to draw people in that included a representative of corporate interests ‘declaring’ for a future Ireland based on so called ‘free market’ capitalism. It was hoped that people would react to this approach and declare for a socially inclusive, equal and sustainability society. The website was a key tool to promote and engage people in the initiative as well as ensuring that the process was open and participative.
The importance of creativity in releasing new ideas, approaches and energies and also to generate interest in the initiative was identified early on. Working with an artist activist and a team she subsequently brought together, a ‘Future News’ approach was devised. This involved preparing news items in different media that were set in a future, where desired change or outcome has been achieved. The Future News approach was tested in a workshop at Claiming Our Future’s 2015 Assembly. Six training and production workshops were then held around the country to support groups to produce their own Future News. Groups working on migrant rights, women’s equality, environmental sustainability, community activism and development and youth development got involved. One workshop included a diverse group of activists interested in a wide range of issues. The Future News clips were made available through the website and were widely disseminated through social media. Representatives from thirteen prominent national civil society organisations and campaigns participated in process of presenting their personal Declarations as Future News items. These were recorded and uploaded to the website.
Supporting Development of Organisational Declarations Civil society organisations were invited to develop their own Declarations as a contribution to an eventual shared Declaration. A range of civil society organisations attended a briefing meeting and some of these then submitted Declarations. In response to a request from an interested secondary school, three workshops were facilitated with Transition Year students to develop their Declarations.
Finalising the Declaration All submissions, comments, Declarations and Future News contributions were reviewed and a final Declaration was drawn up. This was presented for feedback at Claiming Our Future’s Assembly in January 2016. Ideas were also requested on presentation and format. Drawing on this feedback the Declaration was finalised. The values base of the Declaration was emphasised in headings of: Equality, Rights and Justice; A Participatory, Accountable and Inclusive Democracy; An Environmentally Sustainable and Vibrant Economy; and A High Quality of Life based on Solidarity. The final layout of the Declaration was designed by a communications agency in a poster format.
Promoting the Declaration In March 2016, a framed poster of the ‘Declaration for a Future Ireland’ was presented to President Michael D. Higgins at Aras an tUachtarain. The President acknowledged the vision and values embedded in the Declaration and their importance. A series of actions to promote the Declaration were pursued. These included: promotion on social media; encouraging civil society organisations to promote and use it; sending the posters to TDs and Senators; and offering framed copies to civil society organisations who participated in its development. Village Magazine and Liffey Sound community radio promoted the Declaration. Promotional postcards were designed and distributed at events.
Learning from the Process Success factors for developing a shared agenda
own particular issues and develop a common agenda. The need to move from a position of reacting to governments’ austerity strategies, cuts and poor policies to a positive and proactive position with a long term vision was also widely acknowledged.
Relationships and trust: Claiming
An inclusive process: A diverse range
Shared values: Claiming Our Future’s
An innovative process: A variety
A focal point: The anniversary of the 1916 Proclamation provided a significant political and cultural focal point which resonated with people and inspired them to get involved.
Organisational Supports: The involvement of members of the Declaration Working Group and the support of COF’s Coordinator were essential. The availability of some, if limited, financial resources to develop the website make Future News videos and publish and promote the final Declaration was important.
Shared concerns: There was a growing awareness across civil society that to achieve transformative change there is a need to move beyond one’s
Producing a final shared outcome:
Our Future had previously established credibility in working across sectors and with a broad range of civil society actors. Relationships and trust had developed which helped gain buy-in from across the sectors for the initiative.
five core values provided a good starting point for building a shared agenda. They had been tested over time and had a high degree of support across civil society organisations. This provided a solid starting point on which to build a Declaration.
of inputs were secured and drawn on in shaping the final Declaration. This led to a broader and more comprehensive Declaration than was originally envisaged and helped to ensure broad based support for it.
of ways for people and organisations to provide inputs including those that were fun and creative were developed and organisations were assisted to develop their own Future News videos.
Great care was taken in finalising the Declaration to ensure the different inputs
were taken into account and reflected. The process ensured that there was a consensus in support of the final product.
A systematic process for dissemination: The printing of the
Declaration as high quality posters that can be displayed in the long-term by civil society organisations, their dissemination to a wide range of politicians, the media and interested actors; and promoting the Declaration at key civil society events and conferences were all important parts of the process
Challenges in developing a shared agenda Appeal of a values based visionary declaration: For most
people who attended meetings over the course of the initiative and for those who participated in a deeper way through drafting Declarations and making Future News items, there was a strong belief in the central idea. Questions remain as to whether the idea appealed to enough organisations and at a deep enough level or did it appear too aspirational at a time of ongoing struggles against austerity.
Civil society organisations and their struggles to survive:
While there was success in engaging organisations with which Claiming Our Future had good links, it proved more
diďŹƒcult to move beyond these to win wider involvement. There were particular challenges in engaging local community organisations. A major challenge was the extent to which in recent years much of civil society including local community groups has been caught up in trying to survive and make progress with their own specific agendas. It was diďŹƒcult for many to move into thinking about the longer term. On the other hand, other organisations were fully engaged in different initiatives opposing austerity policies or responding in other ways to the 1916 centenary. While seeing the need for shared agendas they lacked the time to actively contribute to a further initiative.
Civil society-organisational constraints: Many membership
organisations were constrained by the fact that in order to make a visionary declaration for their organisations they would have had to engage their members in a process to agree such a declaration. This had time and resource implications for them. So, while many organisational representatives attended meetings and gave input to the Declaration, they were not able to make a declaration in their own right.
Organisational base and resources: Claiming Our Future lacked
the organisational base, resources and
skills to engage and mobilise widespread interest in and support for the process across society. The original plan to get up to 100,000 signatures for a Declaration was overly ambitious within the resources available. It proved easier to reach organisations than people. The original idea of a society-wide process had to be refocused towards developing a civil society vision for the future. A popular broad based process would have required more extensive investment of time, staff and funding. The Future News process in particular was demanding in terms of time for the Working Group, Claiming Our Future staff and the participating organisations.
Public profile, media and social media presence: Claiming Our Future
had a limited public profile and, linked to this, limited media presence. The limited level of skills and expertise available in the use of social media to stimulate interest amongst a wider audience was a challenge. Related to this, were the unsuccessful efforts to bring a high profile public figure or celebrity on board to promote the final Declaration.
Conclusion Shared agendas do not tend to emerge spontaneously. They require time, effort, an investment of human and financial resources, and inclusive and participative leadership. Civil society organisations need to invest more of their time and resources in addressing these organisational challenges and building these shared agendas. Otherwise, shared agenda will not emerge and everyone will remain struggling in their own silos. There is a need to move out of comfort zones and find new ways of communicating and doing things that appeal to and engage a wider range of interests in building these shared agendas. The importance of imagination and creativity in developing and promoting shared agendas was evident in the Declaration process in particular with the Future News videos. The importance of further fostering the links between activists and artists is evident. Civil society needs to become better at articulating and communicating its messages. In particular there is a need to maximise the potential of social media to appeal to and engage a wider range of actors, especially younger people. Only in this way can the common understanding of and support for what civil society is trying to achieve be challenged and changed.
This pamphlet was drafted by Maureen Bassett, Mary Kinane and Hugh Fraser. The publication of this pamphlet was made possible by support from St Stephen’s Green Trust Fund and Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.