The power of building community in advocacy

Dear community members,

I hope you’ve been keeping well. On my end, it’s certainly been a busy few weeks. Earlier in the month, there was a lot of advocacy leading up to the?Education Cannot Wait (ECW) High-Level Financing Conference , public engagement efforts related to?International Development Week , organizing for internal team meetings and events, and more!??

Following the Family Day weekend, this time of year starts the policy countdown for the release of the Federal Budget - with many predicting it is set to be released in mid-to-late March.?

All this hecticness after the lull of the winter break, along with the weather, makes this time particularly challenging - we are in the midst of dull, sunless winter here in Toronto, Canada. Despite this all, a friend asked: ‘how do you stay so?energized?and, simply put:?joyful?

I’ll be the first to admit - winter isn’t my favourite time of year, so it is not always easy to be cheery with these snowstorms.?

Now, I have come to embrace that I am indeed a?happy leader?and a bit of an ‘energizer bunny.’ I’ll share more about my leadership philosophy in a future post, though I’m sure it will likely come to no one’s surprise that?positivity?is one of my?top 5 strengths.?

One of things that brought me so much joy the past few weeks was seeing both units of the team I lead,?Team PLAY?(Policy, Leadership, Advocacy and Youth)?at?Plan International Canada , coming together for team bonding + collaboration. A?fantastic?crew of passionate, brilliant change-makers, educators, youth programming innovators, and global development and humanitarian policy advocates!

What also brings me great joy and definitely energizes me - both in my career and life, is?building community,?giving back?and?paying it forward.?

In reflecting on some of the most effective advocacy campaigns I’ve participated in -?coalition building?and?fostering community connections?- were essential hallmarks. In policy influencing and government relations (and, honestly, it can apply to all functions), the best advice I can share to folks at all career stages is to?find your counterpart.?

Finding your counterpart might be building connections with a peer?within your organization?in another department. It can be finding colleagues who do similar work?in your sub-sector in another organization?(like international cooperation and global affairs). It can even be making friends with someone who has a similar function in?another pillar of society?- from academia to civil society to the labour movement to the public service to the private sector and beyond. I’ve seen this?investment in building community and connecting with my counterparts pay great dividends?across multiple policy files I’ve worked in - from health equity, public health and health care to economic justice, decent work and labour conditions to global development and humanitarian policy, and more.?

Building community in policy advocacy ?can be vital for sourcing actionable insights, creating strategic alliances, influencing the public discourse, fostering a broadbase of support, galvanizing political will, and making your issue (and solution) undeniable.??

Inspired by global health researcher and advocate Peter Singer’s recent excellent substack multi-newsletter posts,?Global Health Insights ?(which you should definitely subscribe to), I’ll share more on the power of?giving back (Part 2)?and?paying it forward (Part 3)?and the benefits it can have in your policy advocacy work and life, in future editions.

In the spirit of building community and connection, and in partnership with? Marie Sereneo ,?Curator?of? Global Shapers Calgary ,?and? Christina Caouette ,?CEO?of Young Diplomats of Canada - Jeunes diplomates du Canada , I hope subscribers in Calgary will join me for a?casual social gathering?I’m hosting for policy and public affairs professionals on?March 6th. You can register here:?https://bit.ly/Calgary-Policy-And-Public-Affairs-Connect-March-6-2023

Till we speak again - take good care!

Sincerely,

Anjum

PS: If you or your friends want to sign up for the newsletter, you can do so here:

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