Campaigns Toolkit

Campaigning is actually surprisingly easy, promise! But here on this page are a range of guides and 'how to's' that can help you in your campaigning.

Campaigning and lobbying guides

Student Stop AIDS Campaign 2009 Action Pack This is a guide to everything you need to know about the Stop AIDS Campaign and the Patent Pool.

How to visit your MP a guide from GhAP Bristol

Medsin Campaigning Resource Pack A comprehensive guide to campaigning taken from the old Branch Resource Pack.

A guide to 'bird-dogging' from HealthGAP, a US based campaign group (bird-dogging is the art of making your presence felt at meetings where politicians are present!)

University Coaliations for Global Health (UCGH) Action Guide This toolkit is a collection of the “best practices” of the UCGH advocacy organizations. It provides a tutorial for students and national coordinators on how to run an effective campaign for global health.

University Coalitions for Global Health (UCGH) Campus Organising Guide A guide of how to organise people to take action at your branch

How and Why of Advocacy A 'how-to' of advocacy by the British Overseas NGOs for Development network. Includes participatory advocacy; a process of empowering stakeholders (e.g. from developing countries) as part of the advocacy process, in addition to suggestions of how to monitor and evaluate your campaign.

How to influence the Parliamentary process This brief guide outlines how laws are made in the UK and how we can influence their making. The guide has been kindly provided by Steve Symonds from the Immigration Lawyers' Practice Association who from his workshop at the UCL National Conference in 2008.

UK Corridors of Power Another publication by BOND which gives an overview of the UK parliamentary process and various ways of influencing it.

Ways of Campaigning

Get into a position of authority and perform the task according to your principles, for example:

  • Royal Society of Medicine (become a rep from your med school on the RSM student committee)
  • BMA (especially the med students part of it!)
  • Student BMJ
  • Continue as Rosie is doing as an editor for London Medical Student
  • Work for other university/med school newspapers

Lobby your MP, useful tools are:

  • Write To Them - Simply enter your postcode to start writing to your MP, or other democratic representatives.
  • They Work For You - provides access to the Hansard database, offering detailed information on all MPs, how they voted, and all discussions in parliament. You can also sign up for alerts when your MP talks on issues you are interested in.
  • The Public Whip - Another Hansard directory with alternative visualisation/campaign tools. You can create a person "virtual MP", vote on the issues in parliament, and see how you compare to other MPs.
  • Hear From Your MP - Tool to encourage MPs to tell constituents what they have been doing.
  • Advise for medical students on lobbying your MP. See attachment box.

Get in the media

Download a guide from the attachment box, top right of this page.

The future of campaigning

Will e-campaigning change everything we do? will it deepen democracy and improve campaigning? See Nick Street's (ex-medsin imperial president) article on the exciting future of campaigning and what it means for you. You will find it in the attachment box, top right of this page.

Last updated on Wednesday 28 October 2009 at 10:22.