A Guide to Coalition Building

Funding for this paper was provided by the Community Action Initiatives Program of Health Canada's Tobacco Demand Reduction Strategy. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Health Canada.

Definition of a Coalition:

“A temporary alliance of distinct parties, persons, or states for joint action” - Webster’s Dictionary

You will often hear people talk about collaboration inaction vs. collaboration in action. Your group will decide the success of its coalition simply by choosing which path it intends to take.

Advocacy Coalitions: The Advantages

THEY WORK!

Coalitions are a cost-effective means of fighting a Goliath such as the tobacco industry. It is important for the health community to pool its meagre resources - both human and financial. No one organization could be as effective on its own because we all have a variety of strengths.

Coalitions offer:

• strength and power in numbers, leading to a wider reach
• added credibility to the health community when it has a coordinated plan, a united front and a consistent message
• a public perception of tangible, broad community support
• media attention and public profile for organizations which they may not otherwise achieve
• increased access to policy makers
• networking and partnership opportunities
• economies of scale and cost-efficiency
• division of labour and reduced duplication
• information
• the exciting feeling of belonging to something greater than the sum of its parts

The Disadvantages:

• conflict is inevitable because of the variety of groups in a coalition and the strengths and weaknesses, as well as personalities, that they bring to the table
• a great deal of time is therefore spent in consensus-building (note that consensus should be defined as “Can you live with it?”, not “Do you agree with it?” - otherwise, consensus often becomes the lowest common denominator, which is probably not the most effective approach
• you have to spend valuable time “selling” advocacy coalitions to your organization because few people involved in health charities, public health organizations, etc., understand advocacy
• coalition management can become cumbersome, unless a concerted effort is made to ensure that there is a convenor who has the resources to share information among the players - at the very least, the job is time-consuming

TYPES OF COALITIONS

Process Coalitions are defined as those in which:

• planning, programming and networking functions on broad-based interests are the focus
• longer time frames and less flexibility result
• considerable interagency administration and communications are inevitable
• output is often hard to measure

Action Coalitions are defined as those in which:

• there is a stronger results orientation
• stakeholders join forces in order to achieve a specific goal or objective
• specific events or issues which require concentrated effort are the focus, such as public policy advocacy, government lobbying, legislative initiatives or media campaigns
• shorter time frames, considerable flexibility among members and more narrowly-focused interests result
• rapid communications and fast-track decision making are of paramount importance
• output is easily measured

How to Make an Action Coalition Work:

One of the most important factors in a successful action coalition is a fast-track decision making structure. Decisions simply cannot be funnelled through the Board of Directors, for example. Nothing heeds progress more than having individuals around a table who cannot make decisions. Therefore, CEO endorsement/ participation from each member organization is important. If it is not the CEO sitting at the table, the individual representing his/her organization should have a policy framework that states the level of decisions which are within his/her power.

There should be a designated key contact from each organization to maintain consistency and build expertise. Coalition participants must be chosen carefully. They can be either volunteers or staff who are high profile, think well on their feet, are articulate, have good negotiations skills, are very knowledgeable about the issue, and are dedicated enough to work long, irregular hours to meet the goals of the campaign.

Many coalitions are made up of staff, rather than volunteers. Staff support is a key component for success due to the intense nature of lobbying, but staff must always keep volunteers informed and ensure that there is volunteer support for the coalition’s activities.

Collective goal setting is a crucial first step, but the group must also have the flexibility to change strategies quickly. One of the best ways to deal with the breadth of tobacco control is to agree to deal with a limited number of issues and assign a lead agency for each issue.

Without central coordination and good internal communications, coalitions also break down because there is no sense of accomplishment or purpose. If your coalition is very large, such as the Coalition Québécoise pour le contrôle du tabac with close to 600 member organizations, communications become even more important. It is also crucial in such a case to have a small group of individuals managing the coalition within a specific policy framework that defines the limits of what the coalition can do or state publicly.

Any publicity generated by the coalition should be shared to reduce competition amongst member organizations. One way to do this is to decide on a coalition name and use it in all communications, listing member organizations on letterhead or on news releases, for example. Spokespersons therefore speak on behalf of the coalition and only refer to specific agencies when identifying work carried out by that agency.

Each coalition member must trust the others - one organization or member cannot make independent decisions without running the risk of losing the trust of the other members. Since conflict is inevitable, a dispute resolution system should be established.

There is always a bottom line. Organizations involved must have a financial commitment to the issue. A great deal of action can be taken very inexpensively, but there must be at least some funding for postage, telecommunications, etc. Don’t forget that support can also be provided in kind if cash is a problem. One of the best ways of creating equal partnerships is to charge a fee to each member organization to fund the coalition. This is, however, a barrier to growth and may hamper your efforts to be as broad-based as possible. Since public opinion is what drives governments, broad public support is therefore necessary to effect change. Your coalition must tap into this public support in order to succeed, so you may wish to create two levels of membership to maximize participation.

Roles in an Advocacy Action Coalition:

Convenor - Every coalition must have an organization which will take the responsibility of coordinating the activities of the coalition, but this is particularly key in a fast-paced action coalition. It doesn’t have to be the organization with the most resources. Rather, it can simply be the person in the group with the most expertise in organizational management.

For example, for the National Campaign for Action on Tobacco, CCSH calls meetings, develops the agenda and action list, stays on top of action items delegated to members, keeps everyone informed, provides some logistical support, encourages teamwork, and offers a dispute resolution mechanism, if required.

The convenor must excel in group dynamics, team-building, people skills, negotiation skills, and administrative skills. He/she must also have a solid understanding of advocacy, but does not necessarily have to be at the same level as the leaders and workers. Above all, the convenor must have patience.

Leaders/Strategists - These key members provide the vision and set the path for the coalition. This is obviously a crucial role, but the strategist(s) must be willing to work in a team setting and give credit to others for their roles in the coalition. If a leader dominates, others may begin to resent him/her.

Workers - The worker bees keep the coalition moving forward, provide knowledge and expertise, skills, financial backing, etc. It is important to note that the workers must include the convenor and the strategists for optimum success.

The Continuum of Joint Action:

Organizations will vary in their commitment to the coalition. How organizations relate will range from total independence to a close-knit, structured coalition. The stages on this continuum are:

Independence –> Cooperation –> Coordination –> Collaboration –> Coalition

Independence - the organizations are all working in isolation on the same issues

Cooperation - the organizations are assisting one another on an ad hoc basis

Coordination - the organizations always ensure that their activities take into account those of other organizations

Collaboration - the organizations work together jointly and continuously on a particular project towards a common goal

Coalition - the organizations have an overall joint strategy and function within an on-going structure, however loose it may be

Commitment:

Various organizations within the coalition will be at different stages on the continuum, depending on how long they have been involved, the level of trust of the other members, the amount of money/human resources they feel they can contribute, etc. The convenor must be able to move the players along the continuum to a true coalition.

Avoiding the Pitfalls:

The convenor must work to ensure that the coalition members:

• limit the number of issues they will address over a given period of time
• do not suffer from an imbalanced distribution of workload
• share the visibility/credit/power which comes from the coalition’s accomplishments
• benefit from high quality communications, both within the group and to the outside world
• do not publicly criticize the actions of another coalition member
• do not compete among themselves - the issue should be a uniting factor

The convenor must work to ensure the above, but not to the exclusion of the accomplishments which relate directly to the coalition’s mandate, given that the convenor also has to be one of the workers.

In order to be effective, your public policy advocacy coalition should:

• prepare for the opposition - never underestimate the impact of opponents, especially those as powerful as the tobacco industry and its allies
• prevent any public opposition from otherwise collegial organizations
• take the issue public; debate the issue in the media or any other means that draw your opponents from behind closed doors
• build your case and then meet with editorial boards or news editors
• use a variety of means, including news conferences, news releases, letters to the editor and letters to politicians, as well as the release of poll results, new information, public endorsements, etc.
• develop media contacts before and after major news stories - send them background information
• don’t inundate the media with “soft” news releases (in which there really isn’t much news), or they may start automatically throwing out your news releases
• make sure the convenor is kept informed and in turn keeps the group informed of media relations and appropriate public positions - singing from the same songbook is crucial to success
• always frame the debate in your terms - always bring the issue back to a context you can control or win - e.g. the health arguments instead of sponsorship issues or jobs - speak about what you know best
• work both inside of government (meetings with public officials and political staff) and outside (letters, polls, advocacy ads) in a coordinated fashion - this is all part of the overall strategy
• go to meetings with politicians or bureaucrats in a small group which still maintains broad representation - be brief and address the issues at the level which your audience will understand - one of your responsibilities is to educate, but you can’t be seen to be patronizing either
• investigate the official’s previous position on the issue - if opposed, try to persuade; if in favour, enlist his/her support and ask for ways in which your coalition could help
• listen and learn - this will help you develop your strategy in future
• leave BRIEF, clear materials on your position with them at the end of the meeting (do not inundate busy people with reams of paper - they just don’t read it - instead, offer additional details if they require them)
• follow up with a letter of thanks and a summary of agreements or positions as you understand them
• be prepared to shift positions or negotiate in ways that still advance your cause; you should have worked out your negotiating positions as a group before the meeting
• always know/understand what cannot be done (politically)
• deal with governments on a non-partisan level - meet with all parties, give all parties equal access/information, but don’t hesitate to use political affiliations of individual members to gain access
• keep your messages consistent: never provide governments with inaccurate, false, misleading or self-serving information

Continued Future Successes in Tobacco Control Coalitions depend on:

• more resources being put towards the interagency approach to healthy public policy advocacy
• skilled convenors
• public policy strategists with vision
• troops to set the strategy in motion
• broad-based public support for tobacco control.

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