Campaigns to End Violence against Women and Girls - Virtual ...

networks. In addition, donors may be more receptive to funding alliances rather than
a single organization.
Example: The We Can Campaign in South Asia has built an alliance of 2,400
members across six countries, including women’s organizations not traditionally
involved in campaigning (e.g. Indian self-help groups), schools and colleges,
professional associations, NGOs and others, thus reaching a large cross-section of
society (Aldred & Williams, 2009).
See the external evaluation.
– More resources: members can combine strengths and resources, and share the
work-load. Ideally, strengths should be complementary – for example, an alliance
may include women’s organizations that are experts on the campaign issue, groups
specialized in designing communication materials, and others who are experienced
in fundraising. Different types of campaigns require different expertise: in advocacy
campaigns, it may be useful to co-operate with human rights organizations; in
campaigns aiming for behaviour change among men, men’s groups can play a key
role.
– Synergy and impact: rather than duplicating existing efforts, alliances help build on
these instead, to produce more and better outcomes than what the sum of individual
activities would achieve alone.
– Overcoming marginalization: involving groups that address the campaign issue
from an intersectional perspective (e.g. indigenous women’s rights, disabled
women’s rights) can ensure the campaign respects and promotes their rights.
– Effective support to survivors: campaigns to end VAW are likely to prompt an
increase in numbers of VAW survivors seeking help from specialized services or safe
houses. Bringing such service providers into an alliance ensures their perspectives
are reflected in the campaign.
FRAMING AN ALLIANCE
The framing of an alliance, i.e. the way the alliance defines and presents itself, is
important so as to build cooperation on a shared purpose and transmit the campaign
message in a credible and forceful manner. The campaign strategy, especially its theory
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Campaigns December 2011