In this blog, we show you 3 things to keep in mind if you’re looking for comprehensive campaign training.
Summary: If you want to find the right campaign training course for you, look for ones that cover a range of campaigning methods, provide ongoing community support, and are proven to increase your chances of achieving social change. SMK’s Campaign Carousel provides all three.
Are you starting out in your campaign career, or looking to brush up on your strategies and tactics? If so, you might be in need of some campaign training. Here are three things to look for when choosing the right course.
Top 3 things to look for in a campaign training programme:
1. A programme that covers all campaigning methods.
If you’re going to learn how to campaign, on top of the basics, you’ll need to know how to campaign in a range of different ways, such as how to effectively use digital campaigning methods or social media, or more specialist routes, such as how to use the law in your campaigns. There are many ways to make change, and you’ll need to know which route to take.
On the Campaign Carousel, you’ll take a total of nine workshops—four foundational and five optional. The foundational workshops will cover the basics of how change happens, how to plan a campaign, how to evaluate a campaign, and how to communicate your campaign. For the optional workshops, you’ll choose five from our eight specialist topics.
2. A programme that offers ongoing community.
The campaigning community is your best resource for ideas and collaboration, and you need to make sure you always have access to it in your work.
If you join the Campaign Carousel, you can access group chats and attend quarterly alumni events, sometimes in person and sometimes online. Currently the Campaign Carousel alumi includes over 200 campaigners from over 150 organisations across 7 countries.
Attendees of the Campaign Carousel programme are from a range of organisations including Amnesty International, UNICEF, Crisis, Disability Rights UK, Oxfam, and more.
Countries outside of the UK that have taken part in the programme include Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Hong Kong, and more. You will have enriching discussions and benefit from a range of diverse insights and experiences.
Over 74% of Campaign Carousel participants reported that their networks and links with other campaigners increased as part of the programme.
3. A programme that actually increases your campaigning efficacy.
A lot of campaign training programmes will give you workshops and connection, but how many can report that 100% of participants’ campaigning efficacy skills have increased? Or that 96% of participants have more confidence in their campaigning?
It’s not just that they’re confident; they’re learning how to get things done. 87% of participants report increasing their ability to change laws, and 83% increasing their ability to change behaviours. Those are skills that will actually change society.
Sign up to the Campaign Carousel today if you want to take your campaigning to the next level and become part of a diverse, interesting, and engaged group of campaigners. Sign up for the April 2026 cohort here by Monday 20 April here.