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

� It should allow for learning from patterns of action that help actors to take on new
roles. An effective structure should help them practice new patterns of management
action, for instance in communication and decision-making.
It serves as a model for organization, stimulating and generating innovative and
better ways of working in the alliance’s partner organizations.
Other important issues to take into account:
� Gender balance in alliance leadership: alliances bringing together both women’s
groups and groups including men (or men’s groups and groups involving women)
may experience tensions, especially if there is a strong gender imbalance in
campaign leadership. Such imbalances should be addressed openly so as to agree
on decision-making mechanisms that are both democratic and gender-sensitive.
� Diversity in leading structures: Especially in larger campaigns, it may be crucial to
create leading structures that reflect the diversity of the alliance or of the society as a
whole – for example, by including representatives of different religious or other
community affiliations.
� Participatory and democratic decision-making: This enhances the sense that the
campaign is jointly owned by all alliance members. For decisions affecting the entire
alliance, all members, or a representative body of members, should be consulted.
Common options for reaching joint decisions are:
(i) By consensus, i.e. the decision is taken only if all members agree to support
it (even if some may have reservations)
(ii) By democratic vote, i.e. the decision is taken if the majority agrees with it; it
may be convenient to require a “super-majority”, e.g. 70% of all votes, for well-
defined strategic decisions.
Reaching a consensus takes longer than passing a vote, but it increases the
chances all members remain committed to the campaign. For example, an alliance
that disagrees on some elements of its campaign issue may decide to focus
campaign activities only on those elements all alliance members agree on.
Conversely, a quick vote on a contentious issue may yield a faster decision, but a
disappointed minority may choose to leave the campaign altogether. See also
Overcoming Challenges in Alliances.
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Campaigns December 2011