Tobacco Control Strategy Planning

Strategy Planning for Tobacco Control Movement Building


	Introduction


	Overview Letter

	Introduction to the Series

>	Movement Building Introduction

	Early Strategy Planning

	Allies Outside the Government

	Policy-specific Allies Outside the Government

	Allies Inside the Government

	Recruiting the Allies We Need

	Organizing Alliances

	Movement Leaders' Roles

	Lessons in Movement Leadership

	Appendix A: "The Canadian Tobacco Control Coalition," by Ken Kyle

	Appendix B: "Ten Ways to Kill a Citizen Movement," by Byron Kennard

	Acknowledgments

	Download PDF Version

The most important thing is that no one does tobacco control alone. The more allies you have, the more effective you are going to be. For years, we suffered from isolation within our own cancer society because we really didn't know where we were supposed to go.
	-Akinbode Oluwafemi, Nigeria

The single biggest benefit [of collaboration] is the networking of people who provide benefits such as information. We're relatively isolated, and the fact that you can pick up something, whether you need an image, or some bit of legislation, whether you want to compare statistics, whether you want to look at tactics used either by the anti-tobacco lobby or the tobacco lobby, you can find it all.
	-David Bristol, St Lucia

The important message that needs to go out is that we are a global community dealing with global tobacco companies; they are not isolated; they are not just living in one country.
	-Shane Bradbrook, New Zealand

We have a diversity within our coalition. We have consumer organizations, then we have health groups, we have women's groups. Then we have medical associations. It's like a support system, a partnership, and there's more facilitating to get tobacco control policies on board and make it a priority for the government at the local, state, and national levels. We have an understanding to share resources to an extent. And now that we are able to do things together, we have a greater group to reckon with-we have greater strength from our numbers.

-Shoba John, India

The reason we have an alliance is actually to coordinate all of these efforts-the issue of tobacco, its health effects, its economic effects, cessation. We realize that the medial associations are the best in their field as experts on health promotion and smoking prevention. So we're tying that up with our push for legislation, and we're tying that up with advocacy in public awareness.
	-Ulysses Doroteo, Philippines

Guide #1 in this series, Strategy Planning for Tobacco Control Advocacy, is a basic guide to developing a national strategic plan for tobacco control. That guide defines a two-part process. First, advocates identify their long-term and short-term strategic objectives. Next, they proceed though several steps to develop the most effective activities to achieve those objectives.

But who, exactly, will you need to help develop such a plan? Once the plan is developed, who, exactly, will you need to translate it from paper to action? Answering these questions is the purpose of Guide #2, Strategy Planning for Tobacco Control Movement Building. This guides asks a series of questions to help guide your strategy-planning group, step by step, through the process of planning the most effective tobacco control collaboration—in other words, through building a tobacco control movement

	Question 1. Whom do we need to join us in our earliest strategy-planning work?

	Question 2. As we move forward, what kinds of groups outside the government will we need to help us move the decision makers to create the laws and programs we want?

	Question 3. As we develop strategies and plans to achieve specific laws and policies, what additional allies outside the government will we need to strengthen our advocacy for those objectives?

	Question 4. What kinds of allies will we need inside the government?

	Question 5. How can we most effectively interest and recruit the allies we need?

	Question 6. Should we organize a formal coalition? If so, who should be included? Who should not be included? How should our coalition be managed?

	Question 7. What roles do leaders need to play to help build and maintain an effective movement?

	Question 8. What are some of the most important lessons to learn in movement leadership?

This guide will discuss some of the answers to these questions that other advocates have found important and useful. It also provides online links and references to guides and other writings that have proved helpful to advocates like you in developing effective tobacco control movements.

Links to General Guides for Movement-Building Strategies

Smoke Fighting: A Smoking Control Movement Building Guide (ACS/UICC, 1985).
http://www.strategyguides.globalink.org/guide15.htm

The Democracy Owners' Manual: A Practical Guide to Changing the World, by Jim Shultz (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA, 2002).
http://www.democracyctr.org/resources/manual/index.htm#train;

A Burning Issue: Tobacco Control and Development, A Manual for Non-governmental Organizations, from PATH Canada.
http://www.pathcanada.org/library/docs/tcmanual.pdf

The World Health Organization's Tobacco Control Legislation: An Introductory Guide, (Geneva, 2003) This Guide provides a helpful starting point for advocates, health officials and others interested in developing tobacco control legislation. Chapters 4,"Foundation for Success: Capacity Building," and 8,"The Legislative Battle," focus on the importance of movement building and ideas for broadening the base of support.
http://www5.who.int/tobacco

Organizing for Social Change, from the Midwest Academy.
http://www.mindspring.com/~midwestacademy/Book/page3.html