Did it work?

Of course you will know whether or not you reached your main objective.

Did you stop the road/save the park in your area from development, etc? Spending just a little time thinking about which parts of your campaign worked and which didn't will help both you and other campaigners do better next time.

Being involved in a campaign can change your life.

Many people then move on to work on other issues in their community or with other groups.

During the course of conducting any campaign, successes, failures, mistakes and jobs well done all yield lessons that can be learned from. These lessons can provide guidance for future campaigning on a broad scale, or can simply result in an adjustment of the ongoing campaign strategy.

By taking the time to review your campaign:

• You will learn as an individual.
• Be better prepared if it happens again.
• Be able to pass on your knowledge to others (a two-page summary can be invaluable for others).

Don't turn this into an exercise in blame, credit taking, or self justification. Remember that the ultimate purpose for conducting evaluations is to improve the effectiveness in campaigning.

If you are campaigning as part of an organisation, separate the evaluation of the campaigns from the performance evaluations of individuals. An individual can be fantastic and still lose!

Asking The Right Questions

• What were the objectives: were they SMART
• Were the objectives achieved? If not, why?
• Were the strategies focused on the right audiences?
• How was the campaign received externally (media, government, industry, your community)? Is this what was expected?
• Were there any problems of co-operation/co-ordination within the people working on the campaign? How could these be addressed?
• Were the timelines realistic?
• Were the right materials produced? Did they reach the right people?
• Was the money spent the best way?

Celebrate

Helping make a difference can be one of the most uplifting experiences of your life. It can also be an emotional roller-coaster so it is vital to recharge your batteries in the good times.

So plan your campaign, run your campaign and celebrate your campaign! When you win, you have done the most precious thing possible - made the world a better place.

Community Group Successes Page
Read about community groups who have taken on a campaign and won!

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