Filling the power gap: the case for the development sector deep organising in the UK

The paradox of current development campaigning is that it seems to have got easier while having less impact, despite more people being eager for progressive change.

The signs of people being eager for change are everywhere: the Greens just won the by-election in their 171st marginal seat. Support for peace and justice in Palestine is widespread. Even support for the far right is a misplaced response to people wanting to feel more secure and heard.

Without visible campaigning, politicians have ‘plausible deniability’ to ignore the public will. Impactful campaigning is more than online petitions, emails to decision makers and political briefings. It must sustain support so political backsliding becomes toxic.

Deep organising (or just organising) is having broad-based, long-term local support which is constantly active, even when there is no coordinated campaign.

It is people organising local events to talk about the issues and inviting new people to join. It is people independently initiating meetings with politicians on issues because they care. It is people sharing content with their local contacts via email, social media and instant message groups. It is supporters demanding more action from national campaigning organisations even when it isn’t part of the plan.

The rise of the paper tiger

Many organisations’ campaigning has become ineffective. Their campaigning is visible, but it lacks the weight to shift the needle with the public or decision makers. This has happened because, as the sector withdrew investment from deep organising, the public felt less connected, which made it easier for politicians to cut budgets, leading to further demoralisation.

A lot of campaigning is now over-simplified, unimaginative and overly-centralised. Yet there are also great stories of effective campaigning we can all learn from.

This decline has happened exactly at a moment of global rupture: the breakdown of post-WWII consensus and the rules-based-order, most recently recognised by Canadian PM Mark Carney. If the old rules are done, new power must come from somewhere. It is unlikely to come from a national government and national media, yet is an easy bias to fall for when it remains the dominant narrative fed by big media, big politics and big tech. It isn’t completely wrong, it’s just a half-truth.

Politics and media now act as if campaigning organisations are paper tigers, which occasionally – but briefly – make a lot of noise but don’t bite, and go away if ignored. This isn’t a position of strength. The bite needs to be brought back into campaigning.

The power gap

We need effective, deep local organising in the UK and beyond to shape what comes next: the missing half. There is real power in communities if they are driven by citizen organising. This may be local, messy and barely newsworthy on a national scale., but if you look hard you can see this pattern happening everywhere.

Yet this is happening despite campaigning organisations. If campaigning organisations wish to regain relevance, they need to re-think how they campaign and how they invest in campaigning. Doing so can have a positive ripple effect across other areas like fundraising and authority. It starts locally.

Campaigning is about achieving lasting change. It is achieved through a mix of insider support, deep public support and public mobilisation. Over the last two decades, expert briefings and public mobilisation have been expanded. Meanwhile, deep public support has declined, despite a supportive public consensus. There seems to be widespread support for positive policies on immigration, climate change, justice for Palestine and international development, yet media and successive governments have moved in the opposite direction. Why? Perhaps because decision makers have plausible deniability to ignore public will. That needs to change.

Gaps are always filled in nature and in society. The question is with what and by whom. Currently an unholy alliance of malicious disinformation, criminal gangs and power hungry extremists are rushing in to fill the space. But campaigning organisations have an advantage if they show up: people care about the issues they address because they give them purpose and hope.

Local presence matters

The issue is local organising: the slow, messy, time-consuming art of helping to develop and organise local people to be active within their community. Without it, campaigning is a paper tiger: full of roar without strength, bite or claws. The insiders get appeased; the mobilised get ignored and disillusioned.

If the development sector’s power is to be re-built, it needs to return to campaign organising as if its future depends on it – because it does.  Funders should step up and fund movements (although strong movements can fund themselves and often just need alliances).

The good news is there is lots of great experience within the UK for the why and how. This is what development has been advocating for and supporting in the communities it works with around the world. Now it is time to bring it home.

Rebuilding the muscle

The first step: read Citizens by Ariane Conrad and Jon Alexander. This will help you know where to look, why it is critical and give a direction to shape what fills the power gaps. Next, look into the work on Gentle Protest by Sarah P Corbett, look up the Mobilisation Lab Collective, working with Marshall Ganz’s organising models, and absolutely get involved with Citizens UK and citizen assemblies. The next big opportunities are A Million Acts of Hope, Stand Up to Racism and the Great Get Together 2026.

Avoid the mistake of just adopting organising strategies. The secret is local people, and they are already organising or looking for how to be involved. Start by reaching out to existing local and national initiatives to learn what they are doing and actually have staff show up and be involved. Ask them how you can support them: you don’t endear your organisation to anyone by entering their spaces and demanding support.

Support will come as you build relationships and share your expertise.  If you start now you might see some results by the next general election. It takes years to build and months to unravel so it needs to become core to your long-term strategy.

Filling the gap

Just connecting with existing initiatives is insufficient. The retreat from community spaces over the last 25 years mean very few staff, from leaders to new hires, have much experience with this. If you have staff active in local politics or canvasing for a political party, they have experience you can tap into. But the development sector also needs to learn from other sectors.

There used to be a range of choices for this: NCVO used to organise a campaigning conference, SMK organised People Power, even BOND had their Campaigning Forum for a few years. Most online spaces have been curtailed by big tech. But for 25 years (since my time as Oxfam’s first eCampaigning Manager) I have organised the annual Campaigning Forum event in Oxford (next one April 14-16) and the online community: Campaigning Forum email discussion list. These don’t just focus on campaign organising, but there are enough people at various stages of that journey to always provide insight and help when needed.

The rupture in international development and the wider ruptures from Brexit to the decline of the US hegemony are painful but also opportunities. Rupture creates gaps, and gaps need filling.
Malicious actors are desperately trying to fill those now as a route to long-term power. They could succeed if there is no alternative. It won’t come from governments. It will come from organised communities, and to stay relevant and impactful, you need to be involved.  It’s time to get back in the game.