The Campaign Company Blog

Is Civil Society Prepared for the Future?

Geoff Mulgan wrote in the Guardian yesterday about the Carnegie UK Trust Inquiry into the future of Civil Society. He was Chair of the Inquiry and in his article summarises some of the key findings.

Quite a few findings were pessimistic. Societal fragmentation, inequalities, racial tension, loss of public spaces (both physical and intangible) and increased fear through raised security against terrorism were all issues that could challenge civic society.

Third sector involvement in the delivery of public services was expected to modestly expand, but there was an issue of the private sector displacing the third sector in areas where it was established.

At the same time there was much greater debate, public awareness, government interest and cross-party consensus over the need to support civil society than the past and no senior politician ever argues "there is no such thing" nowadays!

Geoff Mulgan concludes by posing the question:

"So is civil society prepared for the future? Probably not. Most organisations have to live hand to mouth, juggling short-term funding and perpetual minor crises. Even the bigger ones rarely get much time to stand back and look at the bigger picture. Many are on a treadmill chasing after contracts and new funding."

This is probably the biggest challenge out there. Only through more wide ranging community engagement and public debate can we perhaps address the question posed.

Advice for Campaigners

An interesting article by Chris Stalker, head of campaigning effectiveness at NCVO in Guardian Society this week examines some of the issues faced by campaigners at a time when "people power" is being enthusiastically welcomed in government circles.

As well as setting out some of the challenges faced by voluntary sector in its relations with the government - some of which I personally think are a little pessimistic, - the article also makes some telling points regarding how the voluntary sector campaigns:

"We must be clear about what we want to achieve, and have a narrative and model for change. We must target and influence the relevant decision makers, be agile, and monitor and evaluate for impact. The importance of assessing and demonstrating impact to stakeholders is critical at a time when campaigners are increasingly in the public eye and when weak campaigns can be exposed for setting inappropriate objectives around promotion of the organisational brand and growing levels of funding support, rather than explicitly seeking social and political change."

This is sage advice and something that TCC stresses in both the advice we give and the hands on engagement we do in partnership with many organisations.

Internet TV - An aid to Democracy?

Two websites have just been launched that cover political campaigning and political participation by young people. Both are internet TV channels. Is this a new trend?

Catch 21 is described as "the political internet channel run by young people for young people".

CampaignTV is a broadly pro-Labour site that has just been launched and featured in an article in the media section of the Guardian today.

Sites like these join established political internet TV sites like 18 Doughty Street.

With a General election now unlikely for at least 18 months and with the speed in which websites can become essential to use in just a few months, will Political internet TV be a key communication medium by then?

Why Democracy?

Yesterday's Observer newspaper reported on a unique global project, Why Democracy? - whose centrepiece is 10 powerful TV films - which aims to find some answers to the question posed. Initially developed by broadcasters in South Africa, from Saturday, BBC2 and BBC4 will show the films worldwide. They will air in 200 countries to a potential audience of more than 300 million.

The Observer also posed 10 questions to leading thinkers, politicians and activists. They were:

• Are Dictators ever good?
• Are women more democratic?
• Who rules the world?
• Is Democracy Good for everyone?
• Can Politicians solve climate change?
• What would make you start a revolution?
• Who would you vote for as president of the world?
• Can terrorism destroy democracy?
• Is God democratic?
• Why bother to vote?

The films and the questions should stimulate debate on blogs across the world.

In the UK we can sometimes take democracy for granted but in South Africa they have only had it for 13 years. In Croatia, where we have worked with local politicians they have only had it for 17 years. In Burma of course the people are still struggling for it.

Therefore projects like this are still important to show why the "least bad" system of government still should be argued over and why there is still much to do to make democracy work.