Dear

I’d like to introduce myself as the new Campaigning Effectiveness Manager at NCVO. I’ll be working with Nicola on the Forum for Change and our other work to support the development of policy and campaigns skills in the voluntary and community sector.

Thanks to everyone who contributed and attended our last seminar on working with a hung parliament. It was a huge success, and was set up as a direct response to feedback from members of the forum. We really value ideas and feedback on seminars and events that will be useful so please do keep your thoughts coming in to me and Nicola.

Following the success of last year our work shadowing programme is being launched again, with applications to be in for Friday 16th July.

Our last seminar before the autumn is now fully booked, but as ever will be posting up learning after the event in the working with Whitehall group so do join now to make sure you don't miss out.

We hope to hold some other networking events over summer so if you have any ideas for an event do let us know. I look forward to meeting you and hearing from you with any ideas or thoughts on what more we can do to support your work.

Kind regards

Sasha Daly

We are very excited to announce that we’ll be once again running our ‘A Day in the Life’ work shadowing scheme this year, after a very successful pilot in 2009.

This is a unique chance for you to be partnered with someone from central government and to spend up to a day in each other’s working environments during September 2010. You will have the opportunity to find out more about their day-to-day work, ask questions and make valuable new contacts.

“I think the work-shadowing experience was the best way of learning… It did bring [the work] alive in lots of ways, in a way that other learning possibly wouldn’t have done” VCS participant, 2009

Confirmed departments taking part this year include the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), Home Office, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Ministry of Justice and the Office for Government Commerce (OGC). 

For much more information, including feedback from last year’s participants, and to apply online please visit www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/workshadowing. Hurry though as closing date for applications is Friday 16th July.

We are also looking into ways we can increase voluntary and community sector engagement with civil servants more broadly. One idea is to provide opportunities for a small group of senior civil servants to spend some time working with a community or voluntary organisation to get some first-hand experience of the challenges faced on the ground in local communities.

The placements would give you and your organisation the chance to work more closely with civil servants, make useful new contacts, and demonstrate the value and importance of your work to feed into government decision-making.

We are still in the early stages of scoping how this scheme would work, so if you have any ideas for suitable projects or more general comments about how to make this a success, please get in touch with Nicola on 020 7520 2465 or nicola.gilbert@ncvo-vol.org.uk by the end of July.

What is the future of campaigning?

Are you already there?

Vast changes have occurred in campaigning over the past 10 years from the growth of ecampaigning and use of social media to the profesionalisation of the discipline. But what does the futurehold? How will we all be campaigning come 2020? And more importantly are you doing it already?

We are working with NCVO’s Foresight team, who building on their Future Focus work, will be holding a seminar in the autumn looking into the long term future of campaigning.

William Gibson, ‘inventor’ of cyberspace, said “the future is already here – it’s just unevenly distributed” so we are looking for suggestions of people who you think are already campaigning now in innovative ways that we will all might be come 2020. This could be both in ways of strategy - for example the growth of leaderless campaigns or tactics - for example utilising new technologies - unleashing the power of live broadcasting

Please contact Jess Farr on foresight@ncvo-vol.org.uk/ 020 7520 2578 with your speaker suggestions, or to register advance interest in attending this seminar as a delegate.

The new campaigning landscape - post election implications

Back to present day we have set up a Forum group to help you discuss, debate, share experiences, resources, opinions and thoughts on the changing campaigning landscape. What does the recent general election mean for campaigning? What implications, insights and issues can we define? We know you have a lot to say on the matter and there is no better time to link up with others to plan for the future so join the group today.

Influencing a hung parliament

A big thank you to everyone who came along to last month’s seminar on working with a hung parliament. It was our biggest event yet, with five speakers, three case studies and 90 delegates – all in an afternoon! We received some really great feedback, with an average score of 8.8 out of 10 for the seminar overall.

Don’t worry if you couldn’t make it on the day though, as we’ve now uploaded all the presentations here in our Influencing Government group. Do join the discussion and signpost to any other useful resources that you come across, we have made a start to a reading list here. 

Working in a small organisation?

Are you in a small organisation campaignign with limited resources? Or the lone person working on campaigning or policy? Want to discuss the issues that raises with others in the same position? Or just link up with others to share experiences and bounce ideas off?

As requested we have set up a small organisations group on the Forum for Change to help bring you together with your peers.But it's only as successful you make it. So join up today and get posting...

Campaigning on a shoestring?

We've had a number of calls for a future seminar around campaigning on a budget so we're looking for your ideas on what topics you'd like us to cover at en event like this. Current suggestions include: staying motivated as a 'lone campaigner', making the most of e-campaigning tools without any expert tech support, and getting publicity for your messages if you're from a relatively unknown organisation. What other challenges do you face? Share here

Using film for social change

We all know the potential power of strong campaign visuals to inspire and motivate, sparking anger at injustice. The potential to turn that anger into meaningful action is campaign gold and the kind of thing we all hope to be able to attach to our own causes.

In the latest Louder blog we cover how campaigners are using film in their work from linking up with film makers to doing it yourself. As ever there are lots of practical examples and links to other resources. Read the blog and if you have any tops tips for film making then please do post them up.

Also if you missed it in last week's Third Sector students at the University of Westminster are offering their time over the summer to produce short campaigning films for VCOs that could not otherwise afford it. Find out more here.

Holding your own screenings just got easier

The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation new initative Good Screenings provides a choice of social action documentaries with clear calls to action. The license is calculated according to who you are, the number of people viewing and where you screen and all profits made from the screening go back into your cause. Find out more at www.goodscreenings.org including tips on how to hold your own screening.

Britdoc are looking to hear from organisations who are using film as part of their campaigning. They’d love to hear from campaigners, communications managers and funding organisations about the ways in which they are using film and the strategies behind it.

You may not have thought about using feature films as part of your campaign work, but if you would like to know the best routes to action, either way please get in touch with Sarah Moses at sarahm@britdoc.org. 

10 top tips on e-campaigning

Want to know why campaigning is like judo? Read Patrick Olszowski's (Senior Campaigns and Policy Officer at Mencap) top 10 tips on ecampaigning on the Louder blog to find out.

Working with civil servants

Today's seminar on working with civil servants is now fully booked, but we’ll be tweeting live from the event using hashtag #F4C_whitehall and as always, posting up all the event resources on our online forum in the Working with Whitehall discussion group. 

If working with civil servants has been particularly effective in one of your campaigns or policy work, please do share your experiences – it would be great to hear what has worked well for you.

You might also like to look through our handy Getting you started guide on working with civil servants (PDF 47KB). Here are our top 5 tips:

1. Be sure of your objectives: sometimes building and maintaining relationships can become a pursuit in itself so be clear about what you want to achieve from the outset.
2. Find the right person: You should be aiming to deal with civil servants at assistant director, head or principal level (grades 5 to 7 under the old system).
3. Establish shared priorities: Be aware of the issues that ministers are taking most interest in and establish areas of overlap by relating your arguments to wider government objectives.
4. Offer solutions: Avoid any desire to simply complain about the failures of current policy without offering clear alternatives, in the form of realistic, deliverable policy recommendations.
5. Work in collaboration: Putting forward joint agendas can help get your voice heard in a crowded arena and also gives you a chance to share information and ideas with other organisations.

Read the guide for lots more!

Do you want to improve your skills in planning, delivery, evaluation and strategic thinking? Our university accredited course covers good practice campaigning and influencing over 10 modules. Series 7 runs from September 2010 to April 2011. The deadline for booking is Wednesday 28 July but due to popular demand we expect this course to book up early, so don’t hang around. 

Find out more http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/certificateincampaigning and contact Davinder to secure your place now davinder.kaur@ncvo-vol.org.uk or call 0207 520 2505.

Bursary spaces still available

The course is supported by Capacitybuilders funding enabling us to offer £300 bursary spaces to support providers and those working in the equalities fields - contact Davinder to secure your place now davinder.kaur@ncvo-vol.org.uk or call 0207 520 2505.

The deadline for applications is 12pm on Monday 28th June. For further details go to www.smk.org.uk/smk-awards-2010