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Campaigning for Change in Consultation – simple steps for more constructive engagement

The year of Brexit and Trump has seen absurd claims and outlandish statements beating evidence and reasoned argument, and catastrophic campaign failures turning certain victories into tragic losses. So you might think that 2016 hasn’t brought much for a seasoned, liberal progressive campaigner to be cheery about. But in late November, while Hilary’s campaign managers were still in shock, a story from the Grantham Journal popped up in my newsfeed and reminded me I’m an optimist.

“ Campaign group Fighting 4 Grantham Hospital (F4GH) has launched its own consultation on the future of Grantham Hospital’s A&E department.”

‘Campaign’ and ‘Campaigners’ are terms too often used by newspapers when ‘protest’ and ‘protesters’ would be more suitable, but this short article gave me hope that a change is possible.

Protester: A person who publicly demonstrates opposition to something

I’ve long argued that consultors would get more constructive interaction from protesters if they were more open about the consultation process. Traditional tactics are to reach for a placard or petition as a way of publicly registering opposition to proposals. Protesters use stunts like this die-in at Heathrowhand-deliver piles of paper petitions, and hold vigils or stage rallies to hit the headlines and gain awareness for their cause.

Protest tactics are often dismissed as obstructive by consultors, who have to show they are listening and stick to procedural requirements for discussing petitions and other forms of objections. But all the energy invested by protest organisers is wasted if the activity doesn’t influence the decision. And it rarely does, because consultation isn’t a numbers game.

Consultors’ press releases keenly announce the total numbers of people who have participated, issue percentages of people who agree with the proposals, and refer to the ‘results’ of their consultation exercise. So is it any wonder protesters play the numbers game straight back?

Rhion Jones and Elizabeth Gammell, directors of the Consultation Institute, have warned that measuring success of consultation by the absolute numbers of questionnaires returned and participants at public events can be damaging. ‘Too much emphasis on quantity at the expense of quality,” they argue, “can undermine one of the basic principles of consultation: the understanding of who says what and why they are saying it.’*

Consultation is part of our democracy, but the general public’s poor understanding of its mechanisms, limitations and purpose means protesters’ efforts are often relentlessly misdirected and that’s why the article about campaigners in Grantham launching their own ‘consultation’ gave me hope.

Placards, petitions and protesting have their place in successful campaigns, but in consultative decision-making it is information and evidence that carries real weight. And holding public events like the ones organised in Grantham (even though the exercise seems to have started as a stunt to grab headlines and putting aside that there is no decision process to influence right now), organising a local referendum like the recent one in Alston, Cumbria, or undertaking major survey of patients like this one planned in Staffordshire gives protesters the chance to gather evidence and information that, done properly, might influence decision-makers. And that could make them campaigners.

Campaigner: A person taking part in coordinated activities designed to achieve a social, political, or commercial goal.

In the Good Campaigns Guide**, Brian Lamb sets out eight essential elements for a successful local campaign:

  1. The Issue — state it clearly and spell out the consequences for those affected.
  2. Research — the key message of the campaign must focus the proposed change will have.
  3. The Alternatives — campaigns should be constructive proposing alternative courses of action that will achieve the desired results.
  4. Identifying the Correct Target — identify who will make the necessary decision and target the campaign accordingly.
  5. Seeking Allies — valuable support can be found in the local community.
  6. Tone and Style of Campaign — agree a consistent voice and profile for the campaign.
  7. The Campaign Plan — it’s crucial that time and effort are not wasted. Draw up a realistic plan, stick to it and change it as the situation changes.
  8. Evaluating the Campaign — assess what worked and what didn’t. Learn for next time.

So protesters and campaigners can both use the same passion and sense of purpose. The difference is perhaps simply that a campaigner is being fundamentally constructive and working to a plan. The general outcome that campaigners are more successful.

Consultors are undoubtedly more comfortable working with constructive campaigners and there is much they can do to foster the approach by implementing best practice consultation:

  • Being clear on the scope of the consultation (the matters on which decisions will be made) allows campaigners to focus on the issue, the first of Brian Lamb’s essential elements for successful campaigning.
  • Clearly setting out the goals of the exercise, publishing the evidence consultors are basing their proposals on, and identifying who will be most affected (positively and negatively) by change, inform elements 2 and 3.
  • Transparent governance arrangements, who will make the decision, when they will make it, and the oversight arrangements, addresses element 4.

And I’m calling on public bodies to go further and build on best practice in consultation with a commitment to inform and upskill the people in their communities, working with them to highlight opportunities for influence and explain how best to take advantage of them, so local people in Grantham, Alston, Staffordshire, and everywhere else can stop wasting their efforts and become by default constructive partners in change.

That would bring something truly positive about public participation to this end of the year and get 2017 off to a fabulous start.

Happy New Year.

— — — —

*Rhion Jones & Elizabeth Gammell, The Art of Consultation, Biteback, London 2009: p40–41

**Brian Lamb, The Good Campaigns Guide, NCVO, London 1997: p48–50

Originally posted on Meduim

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