It’s 6 months (give or take) since we launched the Activism, Influence and Change programme at LSE, so thought I would give you a brief update, and plug some of our plans for the autumn.
The blog: Ticking along nicely, with 65 posts to date, and the numbers of visitors growing steadily. We’re getting a good range of pieces from LSE students and others from outside the School – please keep them coming. I would also like to generate more conversations in the comments. Input, people!
Research: A slower burn, but my co-director Tom Kirk has got funding for research on influencing tactics in fragile/partial democracies. For methods folk, it’s using fsQCA and will focus on activists supported by INGOs. Watch this space, and if you have any case studies to recommend, please send them over.
Training: This is the growth area, and taking up an increasing proportion of our time. Over the last year that’s included advocacy and strategic comms on deforestation and land restoration (Global Land Initiative), health equity activists in SouthEast Asia (AFHESEA), civil society leadership in Middle East and North Africa (Asfari Foundation), CSO influencing strategies in Papua New Guinea (BCEP), and ‘faithing up’ the influencing strategies of Islamic Relief and Christian Aid in the UK. We’ve also done more general sessions on designing research for impact at SOAS, the Chatham House QE2 Leadership Academy and elsewhere. If you want to see what our partners think, here’s some quotes.
A delight to work with, Duncan and Tom asked us clear questions, provided strategic insight and shared valuable feedback throughout the process.
Shazia Arshad, Head of Communications, Islamic Relief
Which brings me to what’s next. As well as doing bespoke training for particular institutions, we are trialling some sessions for individuals in November. In addition to me and Tom Kirk, we’ve pulled in some great teachers, including Jess Crombie, Dr Edward Ademolu PhD, FHEA and Peter J Evans. These are:
- Two Day Research for Impact MasterClass
- One-Day Scholar Activism Surgery
- One-Day Activism, Influencing and Change for Impact MasterClass
We’re asking for those interested to register for now (here’s the link). If we get enough sign-ups, we will make tickets available to purchase in mid-September.
Finally, we are busily assembling a bunch of free short videos and podcasts which introduce some of our core ideas (power, systems, stakeholder mapping, and how they should inform influencing strategies), and will be uploading them over the next month or two.
Really enjoying having a new sandpit to play in. If you want to join us, get in touch!
As a PS, we put together this internal table + notes to identify what we do in our various courses. We tweak each element depending on the topic and the participants, and make sure that there are large chunks of participation to make it relevant/less boring.
| Topic/Course | GELI | Chatham House | Asfari | GLI | Research for Impact | AFHESEA | Random one/half day |
| Systems thinking | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Unpacking the problem —> points of entry | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Power frameworks | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Stakeholder mapping and analysis | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Bridge to tactics | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Insider/Private Influencing | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Outsider/Public Influencing | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Field Visits | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Personal Project | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Mentoring | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Some thoughts on what emerges from this:
We have a clear core syllabus, with other areas dialled up or down according to the participants and the time available
We haven’t cracked mentoring – low take up on multiple courses
Site/field visits are emerging as a powerful didactic element
Other things we could include in future courses:
- Alums, post course support
- Peer to peer exchange during or after course
That’s where we are at for now. If you want to discuss possible courses, get in touch, and all advice and links welcome, as ever.
Duncan Green founded the From Poverty to Power blog and, though he has left Oxfam, is still part of our blog team with the new title of Blogger Emeritus. He is a Professor in Practice in the LSE’s International Development department and Co-Director (with Tom Kirk) of the LSE’s Activism, Change and Influence programme and website. He can be reached at d.j.green@lse.ac.uk, or on @duncangreenlse.bsky.social. He doesn’t look at Twitter any more.
This piece is adapted from a post on Duncan’s new blog about activism, influencing and change, hosted by the LSE, which we often share highlights from here. You can read more from it and subscribe here.