Campaigns require knowledge of the right context, a community to support you, and sufficient capacity to work. Here’s how SMK’s Campaign Carousel helps with all three.
“Campaigning for ambitious changes to broken systems can feel like a fruitless task at times,” said Evangeline Knapman, Campaigns Officer for Z2K and Campaign Carousel rider, in her blog post with SMK.
Knapman joined the Campaign Carousel in 2024 to help with her current campaigning work.
“I am currently working on our #SecurityNotSanctions campaign to defend vital benefits for seriously ill and disabled people and advocate for a system that works for disabled people,”
SMK’s Campaign Carousel training programme is designed with people like Evangeline Knapman in mind, people who have big and important ambitions and causes. Here’s how SMK’s Campaign Carousel can support you:
Campaign Context:
Throughout the training, early-stage campaigners are urged to be curious about the world around them; to analyse the problem they want to campaign about, evaluate what matters, and to practise active solidarity in social change.
“Learning about the Problem Tree planning tool on the core workshop on Analysing the Problem and Planning for Change has helped me to identify the key issues with our disability benefit system and where to target our campaigning resources,” said Knapman.
Campaign Community:
Campaign Carousel riders consistently tell us that they enjoy feeling part of a wider community, which SMK nurtures through bringing past and present participants together at an informal quarterly Campaign Carousel Brunch. It’s a great opportunity to discuss burning issues of the day, hear from inspiring speakers (such as Campaigner of the Year Sarah Finch), and build your own campaigning network.
“As an early-career campaigner in a small charity, I have relished the opportunity to connect with others who are also on the campaign journey through SMK’s Campaign Carousel™. Learning from each other’s experiences has helped me become an even more determined, resilient campaigner and translate the insight I have developed, into building social security and housing systems which work for everyone,” Knapman noted.
Campaign Capacity:
Most Campaign Carousel riders also appreciate the two-stage approach to the programme designed to ‘layer up’ your campaigning skills. You first take four foundational workshops to give you an introduction to campaigning and social change, how to plan campaigns effectively, learning how to communicate for social change, and finally, how to evaluate what matters. Then you choose five further workshops from a diverse plate of specialist skills ranging from influencing parliament to digital strategy to avoiding burnout. SMK regularly reviews and updates its workshops to ensure we deliver value for money.
SMK’s Campaign Carousel also provides a practical campaigning toolkit to help build campaign capacity. It also draws on real-time examples of which campaigns are winning and why through the stories of our National Campaigner Award winners.
We pride ourselves on grounding our approach in what works. Knapman specifically said, “I came away from the [Campaign Carousel] with a much clearer idea of who our targets should be and how we can use lived and learnt experience to engage with them.”
We have just launched the Campaign Carousel September 2025 programme. To find out more visit https://smk.org.uk/what-we-do/training/campaign-carousel/ Book now and join a diverse cohort of impressive campaigners and change-makers.