Chapter 3

Carrying out a strategic analysis on your campaign

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You have identified the issue you would like to campaign on and what you want to achieve. Having done that, it’s time to carry out a SWOT analysis. 

A SWOT analysis is a technique you can use to assess your campaign by looking at your:

Strengths

Weaknesses 

Opportunities

Threats 

Assessing your Strengths

Strengths you can assess including: what experiences and skills do the people in your group bring to the campaign? If you are working in coalition with other groups, what skills and specialisms are those organisations bringing to your campaign? What powers do you already have? What knowledge? What have you already achieved that can now be built upon?

Assessing your Weaknesses 

Just as important as understanding your strengths is understanding any weak points. Are there any weaknesses in your group culture? Do you need to resolve any conflicts? What don’t you know and you need to find out? What’s missing from your team? Or your strategy? Is your goal too big – or too narrow?

Assessing your Opportunities 

Once you have analysed what is going on internally, you can then move on to explore the external context. To do this, reflect on the Opportunities available to you. Think through the social movements that are active on your issue. What opportunities do you have for collaboration, or opening up the political space, for finding others who agree with your message?

Assessing your Threats

Who are your opponents? What is the political climate towards your issue – is it hostile? Where are the tensions and conflicts? 

To help you get started, you can draw the diagram below on a piece of paper or flip chart, (or in a google doc if meeting online) and answer the following questions:

  1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your group?
  2. What opportunities and threats are there for your social change work?
  3. What would it take to build on the strengths and opportunities you have as a group or coalition internally and externally? 
  4. How can you neutralise or mitigate the weaknesses and threats you have identified in this analysis?


Internal
Strengths Weaknesses
  • Build
  • Enhance
  • Be aware of
  • Resolve
  • Reduce
External
Opportunities Threats
  • Build on
  • Expand
  • Avoid
  • Thwart
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