Four key factors can drive change: (1) purpose, (2) vision, (3) collaborators and (4) actionable steps.
Purpose entails having a clear goal that is defined and articulated. The purpose needs to have a clear rationale for the campaign. It can have personal motivations along with social obligations that drive the purpose.
Vision is an immediate goal. The visions help design actions and activities for the purpose and help people understand the goal. However, both purpose and vision can’t be enough to strike policy changes; rather, it requires support from collaborators. Having support and coalitions is an essential component in bringing change. Activists and community groups who advance similar change and work on grassroots level can help advance the vision to more people. This creates more support and awareness amongst the general population.
Lastly, the campaign needs to be developed around actionable steps such as social activities’ these steps might seem simple but require brainstorming to drive change effectively. For instance, with respect to collaborating or gaining support, what tactics should be used? Who are the relevant stakeholders in the matter? Whether the evidence is strong enough to advance the purpose and gain attraction, and lastly, how do you deal with the unwillingness of the population to accept the new finding or evidence? Therefore, whenever the process of change is advanced, an objective view is required to study these factors and develop either a tactic or a different tactic depending on the pool of people you want to create influence on.
Thus, it is imperative that the right stakeholders are identified. Who will be the influencers, beneficiaries and decision-makers fro the action plans. In simple words, a stakeholder is affected by the action plan or change you are advocating for. Furthermore, every sector has a different mechanism that needs to be taken into account, meaning the civil sector does not operate in the same manner as the private sector. Thus, the approaches, power structures, and processes all need to change. The obstacles encountered are all going to be different and so the solutions.
The use of the findings in terms of data or evidence has to be used in a valuable way. Some stakeholders might require quantitative evidence, whereas some may prefer the qualitative version. Thus, the evidence has to adapt to the target group, and the arguments should be framed similarly. An important task is also to foresee the consequences of the actions and have backup plans. Thus, a foresight exercise is vital before implementing the action plan. AND always remember that impact cannot be achieved alone thus, the coalition is essential.
Lastly, always remember to jump at the right policy window. The term means to take an opportunity that will help the action plan and vision gain momentum. Examples of gaining political alignments are elections, crises, and practices of communities and the influential position of stakeholders. Elections are a great chance to promote your policy vision as a part of platform of an individual, group or movement. Presenting innovative policies to win election votes creates the opportunity for your policy vision to be part of someone’s manifesto. In terms of a crisis, your vision can present a solution to the challenge and advance the implementation quickly.
