Civil society has a long tradition of advocating for social change, and that has led to significant improvement. We want to keep supporting people to build the skills to influence government, policy-makers, media and the general public, in order to tackle the root causes of poverty and inequality.
What we'll fund
Building stronger voices
The skills we believe are crucial are campaigning, community organising, gathering evidence and strategic communications. Central to this is the amplification of the voices of those experiencing the problems first hand. Development of strategic communications is also critical. Too often the messages we use do not connect with the audiences we are trying to reach. Sometimes they even damage the causes we are supporting.
Better understanding of public attitudes on the issues outlined in our funding programmes is also vital, and we are keen to improve skills in this field. This could also be work that enhances the capacity of civil society to influence policy and decision making in our priority areas.
This might be by:
Second tier and specialist organisations
proposing to improve the skills and practice of smaller or less experienced organisations.
Civil Society organisations
working alongside groups of individuals to increase their collective voice in campaigns to tackle the root causes of poverty.
Work should focus on the following areas:
- Campaigning: community organising and advocating for specific policy changes.
- Strategic communications: improving the framing of narratives and messages to influence public attitudes.
- Gathering evidence about poverty and inequality: collecting qualitative and/or quantitative data about the impact of poverty and inequality on different communities.
- Voice: increasing the involvement and skills of people with first-hand experience of poverty and inequality in campaigning and leadership of organisations and movements.
