making a difference
Democracy without activism is a hollow thing.
Advocacy is about changing the world. Sometimes it is as local as parents organizing for a better school. Sometimes it is as global as the movement to take on climate change. Advocacy is about diving into an issue deep and understanding it. It is about bringing people together, taking a stand, and getting something done, something real. Some advocacy is as quiet as a meeting. Other times it is as roaring as a mass protest. But it is always about having a vision in mind of something better and fighting for it.
THE URGENCY OF STRATEGY
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
— Sun Tzu, The Art of War
‘People power’ is too important a resource for us to waste. Our advocacy and activism must always aim to have the best chance possible of making an actual difference. If we are not careful and wise, then all the energy and work we put into it can just as easily become the noise before defeat. This is why the Democracy Center, in all our work with advocacy groups around the world, puts the focus on strategy.
But what is strategy? It’s the big picture. It’s a vision about what you want to achieve, that is honest about where you are starting from, and that lays out the actions that offer a plausible chance of winning. After decades of working with groups as diverse as indigenous communities in Bolivia to the global leadership of UNICEF, we have figured out that good strategy boils down to people asking and answering three fundamental questions:
1. What do you want?
What is the problem that you are really trying to solve? What do you think needs to change to actually solve it, not a pretend solution, but a real one? Given that solutions like that are not won overnight, what can you work toward now, in the shorter term, that builds toward your long-term goal and makes a difference in people’s lives along the way?
2. What is the map of power you need to navigate and change to get it?
Who is it that has the formal authority to deliver the goods, to say yes to what you want? Who else has influence over how they will exercise their power? All those actors of both authority and influence need to be mapped: How much power do they have over what you want? Where do they stand and what will it take to move them? Who needs to be made more powerful? The purpose of this analysis is to help you see and prioritize who you need to move to have a real impact.
3. What are you going to do that has a real chance of winning?
Finally, what are you going to do: What are your messages that will actually persuade and mobilize the people you need to (not just the ones pleasant to your own ears)? What actions will you take that have the best chance of making a difference, from lobbying to protest? How will you evaluate your progress along the way to test whether the strategy you thought was the smartest at the start needs to be changed and adapted as you move forward?
Thinking clearly about these questions, together and from the start, is just common sense, and it is remarkable how often groups don’t do it. They just jump right to the tactics they know and are comfortable with. And understanding how to do this kind of strategic thinking does not require a degree in political science or years of experience. In fact, the best strategic thinking we do is when we are children, planning the ways in which we will manipulate and convince the adults around us. In some ways, thinking strategically about advocacy is recovering the wisdom you had as a child.
Read More: The Art of Advocacy Strategy in Stanford Social Innovation Review.