Coalition Building

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Coalition Building
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If you think youre too small to make a
difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a
mosquito.

• -African Proverb-

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Questions to be Answered

• What is a coalition?
• Why is a coalition important?
• What makes a coalition successful?
• What can impede/challenge the success of a
  coalition?
• How do you build a coalition?
• Who will coordinate the coalition?

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What is a Coalition?

• A coalition is a diverse group of community
  partners (people and organizations) who join
  together to solve a common problem.
• Coalitions are useful for accomplishing goals
  that reach beyond the capacity of any individual
  member or organization.

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Why is a Coalition Important?

• Shared vision
• Unified voice
• Unduplicated efforts
• More efficient use of limited resources
• Credibility

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What Makes aCoalition Successful?

• Representative membership
• Access to community leaders or decision-makers
• Meet the needs of the members
• Commitment and energy
• Willingness to change to achieve results
• Develops activities to keep people involved

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What Impedes/Challenges the Success of a
Coalition?

• Lack of administrative support.
• Delayed communication.
• Structure is too formal.
• Too many meetings with no follow through or
  activity between meetings.
• Poorly run meetings. (wasted time)
• Lack of timely updates and reminders.

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Coalition Challenges

• Lack of administrative support
• Delayed communication
• Structure too formal
• Too many meetings with no follow through or
  activity between meetings
• Poorly run meetings

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Coalition Challenges

• Forgetting reminders when sending out meeting
  notices, follow-up with a phone call before
  meeting to remind people
• Forgetting newsletter, minutes, or regular
  updates
• Domination by one member or organization
• Wasting peoples time

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Coalition Challenges

• Being too demanding
• Impatience
• Confusion state plans clearly and concisely
• Lecturing

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What makes a meeting succeed?

• Unsuccessful
• Late start/late end
• Unclear agenda
• Poor handling of new members
• Unchecked negative attitudes

• Successful
• Start and end on time
• Clear agenda distributed in advance
• Inform new members of what to expect, make
  introductions
• Expectations

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What makes a meeting succeed?
Successful
Unsuccessful

• Uncomfortable environment
• Not accessible location
• One-way communication
• All discussion-no decisions
• No minutes
• No refreshments

• Good room set up
• Make it easy for participants to attend
• All opinions shared
• Good facilitator
• Good/timely communication
• Refreshments!

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Coalition Membership Checklist(Group Exercise)

• Leverage potential partners in achieving your
  mission although the goals of your collaborators
  may be different, as long as you achieve the
• desired outcome, you all win, but stay true to
  your mission!

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How do You Engage Members?

• Invite and develop relations
• Allow members to define their role
  (self-interest assessments)
• Make it interesting
• Tap into member strengths

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How do You Help Make Meetings Succeed and Retain
Membership?

• Start and end on time.
• Clear agenda distributed in advance.
• Inform members of what to expect, make
  introductions of new comers.
• Identify meeting goals and next steps.

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How do You Help Make Meetings Succeed?

• Good room set up.
• Make it easy for participants to attend.
• All opinions shared.
• Good facilitator.
• Good/timely communication.
• Refreshments!

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Who will Coordinate the Coalition?

• Role of the local coordinator.

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Review

• Have a strategy.
• Use for policy change and support of enforcement
  efforts.
• Know what you are trying to accomplish.
• Win real improvements in peoples lives.

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Remember

• Environmental (Not just educational!!!)
• Realistic
• Specific to the problem
• Sellable to the public
• Opportunities for wide involvement

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Q A