Campaigns in Global Health

HOW WE MAKE CHANGE

THEORY OF CHANGE

Policy decisions are made in a complex, ever-changing environment. To consistently secure policy and funding wins, we've built a theory of change based on academic research, backed by our own experience and and the expertise of people who have run some of the most successful campaigns.

There are three key components have come together for every policy or resourcing decision.

GENERAL IMPORTANCE

The problem we need to solve has to be perceived as having general importance to the decision-maker's key stakeholders.

PERSONAL MOTIVATION

The decision-maker must prioritise the issue highly enough to allocate financial or human resources to implement the solution.

APPROPRIATE ASK

The ask itself must be 'appropriate' - within the 'Overton Window' and the decision-maker's sphere of influence.

OUR PROGRAMMES

There are a range of tools and tactics that can influence a decision-maker's sense of the general importance of an issue, their level of personal motivation, and the appropriateness of the ask. The core of our day-to-day work is identifying the most appropriate approaches based on the the specific skills and capabilities of our partners and the change we are trying to make.

CGH is structured around these key approaches, so that whatever the challenge, we've got the expertise to try to meet it.

SCIENCE-LED ADVOCACY

Health workers and researchers choose their profession because they want to have a positive impact on patients. Too often, policy and funding constraints stand in the way of that. As experts with frontline experience, these professionals can be hugely effective advocates for evidence-based policy and funding, but many don’t know how or where to begin or are cautious about doing it on their own.

Through our ‘Science-Led Advocacy’ Programme we are convening and supporting individual scientists and healthcare workers, national research networks, and global platforms to undertake evidence-informed policy engagement and advocacy on key global health issues.

Examples of our work

In 2023, we worked with over 400 academics and clinicians from across the world to engage directly with their UN Missions around the recent High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis (TB) - one of the largest academic-led initiatives in the TB space in recent years.

At present, we're running a Global Scientific Panel, in partnership with the Intellectual Forum at the University of Cambridge, involving academics and clinicians from over 25 United Nations Member States, with the objective of producing an evidence-based white paper for governments outlining the potential synergies between the global policy response to AMR and work already being undertaken in the global fight against TB.

CIVIL SOCIETY AND AFFECTED COMMUNITIES

Civil society and affected community group input into policy and funding dialogues is critical to developing and implementing policies and programmes that deliver genuine impact. They push for change and hold leaders accountable. They are also true experts, because no one knows how to ensure people get diagnosed and treated as well as the people who have gone through that process themselves.

Too often, civil society and affected community-led campaigning groups operate under immense budget and staffing pressures. Through our Civil Society and Affected Community programme, we partner with advocacy groups all over the world to develop resources, plan and coordinate campaigns that make a difference.

Examples of our work

In 2023, we collaborated with the Stop TB Partnership Affected Communities Constituency to build and advocacy toolkit in support of the 'Deadly Divide' report - a shadow accountability report designed and written by affected communities mapping how well countries are meeting their own international commitments on TB.

At present, we're collaborating with the PAS Centre in Moldova around an upcoming report looking into the governance of TB programs, helping build tools that campaigners can use to push for further improvements in the way programs are managed.

RESEARCH AND POLICY

A good campaign is built on on robust data, convincing arguments, and clear recommendations. This helps to build the general importance of the issue by outlining a powerful argument for the scale of the challenge, and establishes the credibility of subsequent asks.

CGH prides itself on high quality research and policy development. We undertake original research that can then form the basis of our own, in-house campaigns, and support the work of partners and allies. In particular, we focus on cross-cutting areas, that more issue-focused campaigns may have overlooked and where integrated action can deliver maximum impact.

Examples of our work

In 2023, we published a paper on the potential overlaps between TB programming and efforts to prepare for and prevent future pandemics. The "Ready Next Time" report (which you can find below) was launched at a special event in the UK parliament. The picture on the left is from our Director, Janika Hauser, speaking about the report at the United Nations.

We're just putting the finishing touches to another report exploring the role of infection prevention and control (IPC) in protecting healthcare workers from occupational TB and other airborne nosocomial pathogens. This work was conducted in partnership with Ending Workplace TB (see more at www.ewtb.org).

PARLIAMENTARY PARTNERSHIPS

CGH's team have a strong track-record of working with parliamentarians to push for progress on global health issues. Parliamentarians can be critical allies for campaigners: they pass budgets, they make laws, they scrutinise the effectiveness of government programmes, and they have access to decision-makers that civil society groups and their allies can struggle to reach. They also are professional campaigners in their own rights, knowing how to navigate their own political systems.

We seek to work with parliamentarians, individually and collectively, to make the issues we campaign on as salient as possible for Ministers. MPs are a key constituency that every Minister wants to keep happy!

Examples of our work

We host the Global Equality Caucus, an international network of parliamentarians dedicated to advancing LGBT+ rights around the world. We provide the administrative and bureaucratic foundations for the GEC to thrive, and support their operational teams with our insights and expertise when required.

In 2023, we partnered closely with UNITE and with the Global TB Caucus, two international parliamentary networks working in the field of global health, helping them scale-up their operations and their impact.

PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS

Our work is built around capabilities that interact. That means that although we talk about 'programmes', each of our campaigns brings together different, complementary approaches to build salience and drive change in a meaningful way. Communications and media work is a critical part of that puzzle.

Public communications is the only one of our intended programmes that is not yet fully operational. As it stands, were are excited to work with a range of trusted consultants to make sure the comms needs of any campaign is covered, but we are hoping to secure the funding to bring on board a full-time communications expert soon.

If that person could be you, let us know.

OUR PUBLICATIONS

Below is a sample of some of our most recent publications and tools. If you have any questions about any of the documents, please feel free to get in touch!

Toolkit: Hosting more equitably accessible global meetings

September 2023

Where you host an in-person meeting matters because it determines who is able to participate and shape the meeting's outcomes. In global health, this has become a major problem, with the effectiveness of conferences and meetings undermined because visa and budget barriers prevent colleagues from low- and middle-income countries participating fully.

We developed a methodology to help us identify the most suitable location for any event, that prioritises countries that are accessible to those with direct lived experience and who will lead the implementation of policies and services being discussed. We thought the approach might be useful to others, so are sharing it as a toolkit.

To explore the toolkit, click here.

Report: Ready Next Time - Beating TB today and preparing for pandemics tomorrow

March 2023

This report maps the intersection between efforts to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPPR) systems and efforts to end tuberculosis (TB). It sets out how policymakers and funders can deliver impact across both agendas, saving lives today and tomorrow and helping to make the case for sustained investment in public health.

To read the full report, click here.

To read the 2 pager briefing, click here.

To read the key findings (slide deck), click here.

To read a briefing on TB, PPPR and AMR, click here.

To read a briefing on TB, PPPR and UHC, click here.

Occasional Paper: Impact of High-Level Member State Representation

January 2023

This occasional paper seeks to identify whether there is any correlation between the political seniority of representatives of member states speaking at the 2018 UN High-Level Meeting on TB and the subsequent progress of that country against TB.

Download the paper here.