Posts Tagged: coalitions-and-alliances - (18 found)

Can NGOs and social movements be authentic allies? [blog]

[Michael Silberman writes] Many NGO staff rightly have an overwhelming fear of causing harm to movements by acting in ways that are (or appear to be) self-serving or co-opting. They also fear causing harm to their own organization through legal risks or supporter attrition. That said, inaction during a ‘movement moment’ also risks an organisation’s relevance and impact…

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An Australian civil society success story | Joan Staples

Late 2017, Joan Staples first wrote of threats to democratic advocacy from three foreign interference Bills.  Then in November 2018, the final most controversial Bill, the Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform Bill, was passed with the support of civil society. The story of this transformation from horrified opposition to support for the Bill is a story of Australian civil society working together to influence legislation in a way rarely seen. It opens the way for future collaboration to proactively promote the strengthening of our democracy. [Joan Staples coordinates the mentoring program in the Change Agency’s Community Organising Fellowship]

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Embracing the Network: How to Build a Powerfully Collaborative Campaign

“Embracing Networks” in campaigns can lead to powerful results. Many of the largest campaigns in the world, mobilizing millions of people, use the power of networks. It’s easier than ever to embrace networked campaigning thanks to new technologies that have come on-stream in recent years. This free download is available for progressive campaigners and organizations who want to learn more about embracing networks to drive powerful results. A report produced by New/Mode and NationBuilder.

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10 Things You Need to Build Clever Coalitions [Gemma Mortensen]

There are many ingredients that make up clever coalitions, and it is only in rare, heady moments that they all coexist perfectly together. The process requires stamina and patience on behalf of all involved. In my work at Crisis Action, an organization that builds coalitions to secure the protection of civilians in armed conflict, I learned the value and power of this approach, and the principles that underpin successful efforts.

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Networked change | How progressive campaigns are won in the 21st century

What makes some of today’s most successful advocacy campaigns work, while so many others fail to make an impact?

The Networked Change Report maps out the strategies and practices that made 47 of today’s most successful advocacy campaigns work. These campaigns achieved success because of their ability to open up to the new cultural forces which favor openness and grassroots power, but also because they framed and strategically directed this power towards concrete policy outcomes. In short, these “directed network campaigns” married old power with new.

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A Radical Alliance of Black and Green Could Save the World

But first the two movements will have to rediscover their shared roots in a fundamental critique of an economy and a society that value things more than lives. As in the environmental world, many in the black community are seeing limits to traditional advocacy…  a number of black leaders, from grassroots organizers (such as those involved with Black Lives Matter and the Moral Mondays movement) to scholars, are calling for a rediscovery and revitalization of the civil-rights movement’s radical roots to address the deeper structural issues that America confronts.

 

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The New Bottom Line: Building Alignment and Scale to Confront the Economic Crisis

The New Bottom Line effort was a daring experiment that grew out of a moment of crisis and a shared understanding that organizing in traditional modes as disparate networks would not be enough to win against the banks that had crashed the economy. The four organizing networks that formed NBL came together on their own initiative. They launched campaigns that opened up important space to consider new economic ideas. And they pioneered new ways of working across organizational lines. The New Bottom Line represents a significant innovation for the organizing field, and the NBL model will serve as an important touchstone for the future of organizing and movement-building for economic and racial justice.

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First Chapter: How Organizations Develop Activists by Hahrie Han

What are the best methods for recruiting, maintaining, and empowering involved members? Using observational and experimental data, Hahrie Han isolates the strategies in which effective associations invest time and effort in order to increase levels of involvement and activism among their members. They organize—build relationships, cultivate interests and motivations, and teach leadership and other skills, what Han broadly calls “the transformational work of building democratic citizens”—and they also mobilize—“maximizing numbers by activating people who already have some latent interest. Read more >

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How alliances to stop climate change are possible, but require a radical rethinking of how we work together

Amanda Tattersall writes: A key concept in community organising is ‘self-interest’.’ Self-interest” is a frequently used phrase, and like “community organising”, it is an often misunderstood term. When community organisers use the term self-interest we contrast it to ‘selfish’ and ‘selfless’.  The word self-interest derives from the Latin word inter-esse which means ‘to be among’.  The idea of a person’s self-interest is not simply about ‘getting rich’, but rather is a broad concept that speaks to the passions, interests, hobbies and legacy we want to have in our lives as we live and work in relationships with those who we love, and the natural environment that allows us to thrive.

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