Strategy Development Process

You can also view this page in a PDF format

You can read this page in Arabic

The coalition is king…

Overall objective: To develop a new global strategy for PWYP 2012-2015

In June 2012 the Publish What You Pay Coalition (PWYP) will turn ten and after an exciting childhood the coalition will enter its adolescence. PWYP has a lot to celebrate: from a small ad-hoc group of six London-based NGOs in 2002, we are now 633 organisations strong –and still growing- of which the majority are based in resource-rich countries in the developing world. Thanks to our joint commitment, determination and solidarity we have seen our efforts rewarded through strong legislation in the US and hopefully soon in the EU which will oblige all publicly listed extractive companies to publish their payments to governments by country and by project. We have also seen the establishment of the EITI as a great step in the right direction and in some of the implementing countries this has resulted in integration of the mechanism into national laws. Overall it has been a very successful decade for PWYP and the coalition is generally recognised as one of the most successful international campaigns of the last decade.¹

The tenth anniversary offers a great opportunity for reflection, learning and some critical self-analysis which will help the global coalition prepare for a new strategic cycle. It is a good time to ask ourselves some critical questions to ensure that the network structure and governance at both global and national levels are a 'best fit' to achieve the collective aspirations (i.e that we continue to exploit our core PWYP strengths as 1) a highly successful niche campaign, and 2) a diverse civil society coalition with global reach).

Some of these questions include: Are we a finite campaign, coalition or a network? Is our work done? If not, what is next? Does the brand still reflect what we do? Are we still relevant? And is how we are organised the most efficient and effective manner?

The proposed participatory strategy development process will be an appropriate lens through which to do this and will result in the global strategic priorities for PWYP 2012-2015. The PWYP International Team has developed the following four stage participatory process which is described below through a visual. The core principle is that all coalition members and/or partners will have an opportunity to express their opinions and participate in developing the strategy through either personal interviews, online surveys, internal coalition assessment and / or workshops. The process has been endorsed by the international Management Committee and is a result of consultations with various key constituencies, such as the US coalition, the Africa Steering Committee as well as the Eurasia regional network.

^{[1]As evidenced by Campaigning for International Justice, Brendan Cox, 2011.}