During the course of our work I regularly come into contact with other consultancies who claim to offer similar services to us, but I am constantly surprised at the different approaches that they offer.

Some, I can genuinely say, are excellent and committed professionals (just like Principle!) who have a real grasp of their client’s issues and understand the landscape their clients work in. Others (and I am naming no names) are more interested in name-dropping their ‘contacts’ in Westminster while offering no real comprehension of the charities goals or policy ambitions – I even met someone from a company whose big idea was to target MPs spouses, but could not advise on what business was happening in Parliament. I have no doubt that in some sectors the ‘old boy network’ may be a valid approach, but in charity lobbying I think that strength of your argument and clear reasoning are 100 times more effective. Obviously good contacts are important and we all work hard to build up useful networks, but it’s about knowing what to say to whom and when rather than setting up meetings with no clear goals.

This is why we impress upon our clients the importance of strong policy development work alongside any political lobbying. Principle understands that policy and public affairs are two sides of the same coin. An excellent public affairs strategy is rooted in an organisation’s policy objectives, whilst excellent policy development requires a comprehensive understanding of the political environment. The best strategies combine policy and public affairs assessing the best way to progress an organisation’s policy goals within the prevailing political environment. As well as having all the usual attributes of a public affairs agency, Principle has the added dimension of real understanding of the relevent policy aims. We combine the two to achieve the best possible results for our clients.

Charities walk a constant tightrope trying to make their policy goals relevant to a particular political environment whilst staying true to their core values, and we are constantly on-hand to clients to offer advice on how to do this. It may sound obvious but it’s amazing how many seem to overlook this.

For the last couple of weeks I have been working with some film-makers to design a campaign to accompany a feature film (drama, not documentary). The idea being that when the film gets a cinematic release next year, the campaign will be launched alongside it and cinema audiences will be motivated to add their support.

This got me thinking about the use of film in campaigning, and particularly drama. I’ve worked on many campaigns that have involved the use of documentary footage, which can be a powerful testimony, but doesn’t do that much to bring new campaigners to the issue (surely if you’re prepared to seek out a documentary on an issue you must be pretty interested in the first place?). And let’s be honest, there are some fascinating documentaries out there but many more are preachy or resort to scaremongering. Some are just too highbrow or plain boring, and very few are any good for appealing to the masses. Drama, on the other hand, could potentially reach a whole new audience. Good drama can be thought-provoking and conscience-pricking, and open people’s eyes to a problem they never knew existed.

I don’t know why more campaigns don’t make use of film and drama but I’ve been racking my brain to think of a recent example, to no avail. In 1966 the BBC broadcast Ken Loach’s Cathy Come Home which was watched by over 12 million people. This was, coincidently, the same year at the charity Shelter was founded. Shelter have since said that “the film alerted the public, the media, and the government to the scale of the housing crisis, and Shelter gained many new supporters”. This is surely a ringing endorsement of the power of good drama, so why are there so used few today in campaigning?

I recently spoke at the first ever UK Feminista Summer School in London. UK Feminista is a feminist campaigning organisation which aims to act as a link between ordinary women who are interested in feminist campaigning and the many different excellent campaigns and organisations already out there.
 
I was asked to give a presentation on how campaigners can influence politicians, but with only twenty minutes to make my case I had to be very specific! I talked primarily about working with MPs and how to identify those that may be broadly supportive of your issues. I have offered to run a broader and in-depth workshop-style session, which is something Principle has done for clients in the past. 
 
If the attendance at the Summer School is anything to go by, then UK Feminista is doing very well at reaching out to new activists. The event was fully booked and got some terrific media coverage: both Kira Cochrane and Bidisha wrote about it in The Guardian and the Today Programme featured the event on its programme the day before. The vast majority of people there were enthusiastic but inexperienced campaigners – I found this really exciting and a great privilege to speak to so many eager activists.  Kat Banyard and the rest of UK Feminsta had done a brilliant job in appealing to this group, and it made me think that a lot of campaigns could learn from this model:  not only reaching out to grass-roots supporters but also continuing to support them in their campaigning actions. 
 
(Find out more about our charity training sessions.)

Last month we were thrilled to win the prestigious Communiqué ‘Best Health Policy Campaign’ award for the work we do with the brilliant patient group, The Hepatitis C Trust.
 
The Hepatitis C Trust is an inspirational organisation that puts patients at the heart of everything they do (it is led and almost entirely staffed by patients) – and they do a lot!  Public, professional and political awareness of hepatitis C is low and it is a health issue that disproportionately affects vulnerable members of society (for example, homeless people and injecting drug users) so making sure they have a strong voice in political and policy making circles is crucial.
 
We have worked closely with the team at the Trust to analyse the problems in services for hepatitis C patients and produce a robust evidence base and cross-party political support for reform.  Our call for action was for a national liver strategy driven by a ‘National Liver Tsar’ to solve many of the problems experienced by patients (such as low diagnosis rates, poor public awareness, low treatment rates, a postcode lottery of care and undefined patient pathway).
 
Working closely with the members of the All-Party Parliamentary Hepatology Group (APPHG) and other liver related charities, we built a cross-party political alliance to support this aim and raised the issue in Parliament through a variety of constructive questions, debates, motions and meetings.  Developing an evidence base for reform was crucial, so we audited Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities on their hepatitis C services which revealed the previous Department of Health Action Plan for hepatitis C was not working and change was urgently needed.
 
Needless to say, we were delighted when the Minister for Health responded to the campaign and announced the development of a National Liver Strategy in October 2009 and appointed a National Clinical Director for Liver Disease (in February 2010) to drive forward the work. 
 
There’s still lots to do!  The Trust is now working with the Department of Health to make sure that the strategy will make the necessary changes to patients’ health and wellbeing… and then will be working with local health services and local authorities to make sure the changes are implemented on the ground and that patients feel the difference. 
 
The judges said:
“Quite simply this campaign helped transform the policy landscape for Hepatitis C”
 ”This stood out in an extremely high standard category. An outstanding piece of work – very defined, robust and measurable. Their success ensured they over-achieved against very tough objectives”

After several years with our previous website, we felt it was time for a change.

Our new site is designed to provide more information about our charity advocacy services, as well as offer more useful resources for our colleagues and clients.

We’ll be blogging here whenever we’ve got some great news, tips or reports to share.

In the meantime, take a look around and let us know what you think!