You’ve all been there. That summer residential or in house training where someone from NUS starts banging on about ‘impact.’ We’re not allowed to talk about outputs or outcomes anymore and we’re certainly not allowed to talk about ‘awareness’ campaigns; it’s all about the ‘impact chain.’ More than a few times, I’ve also thought to my self, ‘bog off’.
Despite my scepticism, it turns out that there is a good reason why we talk so much about impact. NUS, and other organisations such as Oxfam, Amnesty and NCVO are trying to create a different campaigning culture and all organisations are clear that campaigns must stem from an intended impact if we are going to make wins for our members. We have to be smarter about how we plan and deliver our campaigns.
NUS Scotland’s most recent success was the Budget for Bursaries campaign where college students’ unions reversed a £1.7m cut and secured an extra £15m for FE bursaries. Who ever gets elected in the Scottish elections this May are likely to reform the scheme in order to stop the post-code lottery that currently exists; a key aim of Budget for Bursaries. The work of students’ unions was utterly inspiring and a great example of textbook campaigning.
IMPACT
For the past three years, FE bursaries have been stretched to breaking point. So when the Scottish Government announced a £1.7m cut to bursary budgets, we knew we were in real trouble.
In a sector where the average is 32, bursaries represent rent payments, childcare, travel costs and food on the table for not just the student, but their entire family. If bursaries were cut or stopped, students would drop out. Our impact was clear- we wanted FE students to have the financial security to continue, and succeed in their education.
OUTCOMES
At the start of our campaign, we never thought that we would get anything more than a stop to the £1.7m cut. But, in actual fact we achieved lots more outcomes bringing us closer to our intended impact.
Outcomes need to have both long and short term options. Short term wins provide campaigners with the encouragement to aspire for longer term changes. In this case, the win of an extra £15m for next academic year has shown them that fundamentally reforming the entire system of FE support is possible.
OUTPUTS
This is the bit we all get caught up in. What are we physically going to do? This is where the difference between activity and impact starts to become stark. None the less, this stage of the chain is as important as any other. These actions are what influence decision makers, which provides you with your outcomes and impact.
With such a short time available to change the Scottish Budget before it was passed by parliament, the Budget for Bursaries campaign wanted as much contact with MSPs as possible, local actions that would buy activists into the campaign, and evidence of how the current bursaries system was failing students.
We launched a website that allowed people to fill in their details, which sent an email to all of their MSPs and the Scottish Government and we included an open comment box asking “why are bursaries important to you?” As a result we had thousands of really powerful case studies that the media were biting our arms off to cover. Crucially, we kept in contact with everyone that signed up and we know a number of people are now involved with their students’ union because of their win on Budget for Bursaries.
Physical activism such as lobbying MSPs surgeries, as well as pickets and protests at colleges also played a big part in the campaign and ensured it was discussed in Scottish Parliament for three weeks solid.
INPUTS
As well as sticking to a budget, how many volunteers do you have at your disposal? The best resource we had was the students’ unions themselves.
For Budget for Bursaries, we invested in the website and sent NUS Officers across Scotland to help with actions and meetings. Locally, students’ unions mobilised hundreds of students as well as organising their own stunts.
Results
Ultimately, the campaign was a huge success. Johann Lamont MSP said:
“We all get campaign letters on a wide range of issues, but I cannot over-emphasise the degree to which the Budget for Bursaries campaign has been brought to my e-mail box in a way that no other campaign has.
“Colleges across Glasgow do a fantastic job in encouraging into education those who may already have faced huge challenges in their lives or who come from families with less money to spare.
“I congratulate the NUS on its hugely effective campaign in highlighting these issues.”
So, next time you’re sitting fiddling with the squishy toy and being bombarded by flip chart paper, listen when they start talking about ‘impact’ – as Budget for Bursaries and so many other campaigns have shown – it’s worth taking the time to listen.