Guest Speakers: Olga Kikou, ‘End the Cage Age’ initiative, Meike Hartwig, Change.org

Moderator: Petko Georgiev, ProMedia

Language: EN

If you missed the webinar it, check the video recording (available in English)to learn about the challenges of campaigning for a European Citizens’ Initiative online.

Olga Kikou, Head of EU Office, Compassion in World Farming. Olga leads the EU activities of Compassion in World Farming, an international organisation with offices and representations in nine European countries, the US, China and South Africa, dedicated to improving farm animal welfare, ending industrial animal agriculture and achieving sustainable food and farming. Olga is also a substitute representative of the Citizens’ Committee for the End the Cage Age initiative.

Meike Hartwig, Senior Campaigner, Change.org. Meike is a campaigner for the world's biggest online petition platform change.org. Before joining change.org she worked for a federal state ministry in Germany. Her academic background is political science, gender studies and peace and conflict studies. She is most interested in democracy, feminism, sustainability and the social dimension of digitalization. At change.org she supports petition starters to successfully campaign.

Webinar Agenda

1. Introduction by Petko Georgiev [Minute 0 to 5]

2. General information about the European Citizens’ Initiative by Petko Georgiev [Minute 5 to 15]

3. Intervention by Olga Kikou on her experience of running a European Citizens’ Initiative campaign [Minute 15 to 28]

4. Intervention by Meike Hartwig on running an online campaign in times of a pandemic [Minute 28 to 47]

5. Q&A between participants and the speakers [Minute 47 to 61]

In this webinar, you will find answers to the following questions:

- How organisers of a European citizens’ initiative can set their targets and plan their campaign?

- How organisers of a European citizens’ initiative can engage with their constituency and handle campaign coordination?

- How do campaigns work in “normal” times and to adjust to the COVID-19 situation?

The key takeaways from this webinar are:

- A great coalition of different organisations is very important and very helpful. The more people are on board, the more coordination is needed. And coordination takes time. It is important to strike the right balance.

- Localisation of a campaign is crucial. Local partners have to feel that it is their own campaign.

- To get policy makers or media on board, organisers always have to offer them something. Organisers should not be confrontational with decision makers but open in a dialogue