Building national campaigns: activists, alliances, and how change happens 

Women workers are an increasing part of the global labour force. However, they often find only poor-quality employment, thus, they are working, but remain trapped in poverty. No matter the context, many women workers face multiple challenges. Women’s organisations, migrant-advocacy organisations and trade unions have developed many strategies to try to improve the conditions of women and migrant workers and to generate respect for their rights. Yet in many contexts, it is unclear to organisations how to campaign most effectively.

The aim of this book is to share stories and learning from alliance-based efforts to improve employment standards for workers, primarily women in export orientated supply chains. It particularly focuses on case studies from five countries (Colombia, Morocco, Nicaragua, Sri-Lanka, and the USA) and describes and analyses what, and how actions happened. Based on these experiences, the book concludes with a number of lessons including that:

• many organisations start their work to change the world by organising strategies, carrying out awareness-raising activities, and undertaking capacity-building programmes 
  
• campaigning is a long-term process, and innovation, imagination, flexibility, patience, and persistence are all valuable qualities. Alliances are necessary and effective, even though they may be hard work 
  
• all campaigns, even if not explicitly proposed to be about women’s rights, should be informed by a rigorous gender analysis before research is done and before strategies are defined 
  
• the reality is that it is hard work to make change happen. The stories in this book show that change happens when people work together. The women and migrant workers in these campaigns show that change can come from all quadrants 
  
• it is imperative that to rise towards the challenge to overcome the histories and experiences that divide people. Above all, it must be remembered that the ideals of justice and development are worth all the hard work of campaigning.