Advocacy and social change

Advocacy and social change are at the heart of what we do, whether working to achieve gender equality and social inclusion or to ensure universal health care. We know that creating long-term social transformation within societies requires investment in strong advocacy and social movements. We also know that progressive social policies are influenced by mobilising civil society, changing the political process to include previously marginalised groups, challenging existing gender norms and promoting alternative social norms.

We are creating change by:

• Working with multiple partners to manage complex, multi-country and global social change initiatives
• Developing and managing branded campaigns for social change and advocacy that bring together civil society organisations
• Partnering with civil society and governments to develop strategic and operational plans, advocacy plans and messaging frameworks based on strong theories of change
• Building the capacity of civil society organisations and the media to better use and package data to influence political will
• Conducting innovative research to understand the perspectives of marginalised people and to identify opportunities for social change
• Monitoring and evaluating advocacy and social change initiatives to draw lessons from complex processes of change.

Our campaigns

The Girl Generation is DFID’s flagship programme to unite and inspire a global movement to end female genital mutilation (FGM). It supports campaigns to break the cycle and end FGM globally in one generation, with a particular focus on ten of the most affected countries in Africa.

MamaYe is a campaign to spark the changes needed to ensure that Africa’s mothers and babies survive pregnancy and childbirth. Initiated by our Evidence for Action (E4A) programme, and supported by DFID, MamaYe gives individuals, organisations and the media the information and evidence they need to question, analyse, compare, understand, challenge and act for positive change.

Save a Mama and a Baby is a MamaYe campaign in Malawi and other E4A countries to address acute shortages of blood. It also demonstrates that the public are willing to give blood – a concept not previously accepted. As a result, the Malawi Blood Transfusion Service changed its policy to include community blood collection for the first time leading to a significant increase in the amount of blood collected.