Peter McVitie and Stuart Martin
Workshop round-up
Five workshops, centred on the INSP campaign, took place this morning. Delegates attended the workshop of their choice to discuss subjects such as; what the INSP is campaigning for, designing the 2011 campaign, deciding what makes the campaign successful and the idea of making poverty illegal worldwide. After a quick coffee break, the delegates gathered back and master of ceremonies, Nick Bevens, conducted a feedback session in which a member from each workshop presented a summary of the ideas and concepts discussed in their group.
John Watson, Amnesty International Scotland Programme Director, discussed the mechanisms of planning, executing and measuring an Amnesty International style strategy of trying to change the world’s view of the socially excluded people it represents and helps. The aim was to promote positive images of the socially excluded and to change the world’s perception of them. The group concluded that it was important for members of the INSP to publish the success stories of their work and their vendors in their publications and that members should share these with others in the global network. John said that the campaign must have specific aims, objectives, audiences to target and activities to execute its plan.
Sara Cowan, Campaigns co-ordinator for Oxfam Scotland, lead a productive session looking specifically at what the ISNP is campaigning for. Making reference to Oxfam's current project, the Grow Campaign (a global initiative with the primary goal of achieving equality through food justice), Sara encouraged delegates to discuss the key themes and concepts which they thought united ISPN members and which they thought should form the basis of INSP's future campaign focus. The group agreed that policy change, entrepreneurship, empowerment and vendor identity were the principal issues. However, they could not decide which theme carried the most importance and during the workshop feedback seminar, suggested that the decision be devolved to a global campaign committee.
All in all, the workshops proved a big success, providing delegates with a greater understanding of future INSP campaign strategies.
