Building Aliances
In order to have a greater impact on the social perception of animals, we focus on social groups rather than individuals.
Our main outcomes
We work with key influencers
Individuals make decisions based on their assumptions about the beliefs of their benchmark group. In order to have a greater impact on the social perception of animals, we focus on social groups rather than individuals. We create targeted campaigns that are aimed at attracting influential individuals from different social groups to change their attitudes within the groups they represent. Current examples of such campaigns are our collaboration with the sports community to promote plant-based nutrition, with local communities struggling against the building of industrial farms and with popular chefs promoting plant-based meals and better animal welfare.
Strengthening the Movement
We improve and increase the skills and expertise of individuals and organisations involved in animal advocacy. We invest in other organisations.
We invest in other organizations
We will not win the fight against animal suffering alone. By investing in, strengthening and involving other organisations we increase the potential for innovation and success. We offer other organizations our investigation materials, web templates and other resources that can make their work easier and more efficient. We are currently working on creating a central repository with valuable materials we want to share with others. We have also started to work on a project to encourage people interested in setting up new organisations so we can offer training and our support.
We organize conferences
Our experience shows that conferences play a very important role in the progress of the animal protection movement. They provide an opportunity to exchange ideas, increase the level of knowledge of participants and above all, they inspire participants, which is an extremely important but often underestimated factor. Conferences are an opportunity to meet people from different organizations and backgrounds, potentially resulting in new ideas and solutions. Additionally, conferences of a more academic nature have the potential to raise the profile of the issues discussed and inspire further research.
Capacity Building
We are an organisation based on effective processes and we invest in the development of both employees and volunteers to create future leaders.
We are an organization based on effective processes
An important part of our identity is preserving the freedom of individual country organizations, employees and volunteers in achieving their goals and missions. We recognize that growth and development often lead to less innovation and more bureaucracy. We put a lot of effort into counteracting this, allowing us to have the impact of a large international organization and the maneuverability and innovation of a grassroots group.
Creating future leaders
Our ambition is to create an organization that will be able to solve important problems not only now but also in the future, while still having a positive impact on the overall level of competence in the animal protection movement. To achieve this, we invest in the development of both employees and volunteers. We focus on growth and learning opportunities and we allow as much freedom as possible in the way we perform our tasks and in the projects that the employee or volunteer carries out. We feel that we cannot create a leader-ful movement if we operate in a structure in which only a few people make decisions. We want our employees and volunteers to take on high levels of responsibility in our organization, as well as future organizations and companies that are changing the food market.
We develop local activist groups
We do not believe that serious social change can happen without creating a social movement, so we invest heavily in this. Thanks to our large network of activists the impact of each job we create in the organization is multiplied. Local groups ensure we are able to react faster to events and we are better embedded in local communities. Volunteers actively participate not only in the implementation of the plans, but also in their creation. This approach results in very high involvement of volunteers and attracts highly qualified people to the organization. We also invest in our volunteers - we organize a large number of internal training sessions which are accessible to all.
Influencing Industry
We support plant-based innovations and create strategic alliances with the food industry to implement better policies and promote meat alternatives.
We influence the market
We are campaigning both to improve the welfare of farmed animals and to increase the quantity and quality of alternatives to animal products. We put pressure on companies through both high-profile public campaigns and dialogue with partners. We make it easier for new companies to offer more plant-based options by linking them to interested audiences. We create opportunities for business cooperation with the aim of developing the market for plant alternatives.
We cooperate with the academic community
We try to inspire research related to both innovation in alternatives to animal products and in social sciences that can improve the efficiency of the animal movement. We also use expert knowledge as a tool of persuasion - in many circumstances, scientific expertise will have greater power of persuasion than materials written by activist organizations.
Influencing Public Opinion
We run strategic grassroots and online outreach in combination with releasing investigations and documentaries, resulting in increased media coverage.
We reach consumers by creating communities and interest groups
Changing the supply of products on the food market also requires reaching new consumers and increasing the pool of potential consumers. Communication with a group gives a greater chance of change in their social norms. Additionally, group support gives people less sense of alienation and makes it easier to continue new behaviours (e.g. giving up eating meat). We also work with interest groups, such as people experimenting with plant-based diets and innovative companies who will both be interested in increasing the number of alternatives on the market.
Working with the media
The media has a strong influence on changing social standards by influencing public opinion. There are indications that the way in which information is provided is more important than the content of the information and that public content has a greater impact on changing attitudes than content provided to individuals (e.g. in the form of leaflets). Many of our actions are designed from the very beginning to get media coverage, resulting in a gradual change in social norms and momentum to achieve further success. We place great emphasis on ensuring the media is talking about the evidence of trends related to both the increase in empathy towards animals and the increase of interest in alternatives to animal products.
Policy Change
We influence policy by working with legislators, in addition to improving the enforcement of existing laws to secure legal milestones to protect animals.
We influence political change
One of our goals is to make animal issues part of the political debate, potentially mobilizing voters with different views on many other topics. We aim to build multi-party agreements to improve animal welfare and encourage political parties to create programmes that help reduce animal suffering, as well as outlawing some of the worst abuses.
We are experts in animal welfare and alternatives to animal products
We advise companies on their animal welfare policies and how to market these to the public. We produce reports and rankings and commission independent studies that illustrate animal welfare issues, society's expectations and market trends. We are active participants in and initiators of industry events. We also position ourselves as an expert in the field of clean meat to influence the debate on this issue and to avoid a GMO-style backlash.
We engage in constructive dialogue with the legal profession
Lawyers play a key role in all stages of law making, application and enforcement. A large number of active politicians, especially MPs and senators, have a legal education and almost all parliamentarians benefit from the assistance of lawyers in their parliamentary work. It is therefore crucial for lawyers to be aware of the importance of the problems relating to industrial animal farming. That is why we encourage close relations with the legal profession. We organize conferences on the legal protection of animals, we train police officers in applying animal protection laws and we cooperate with scientific circles on animal rights at universities.