Campaign Labs at Two Months: Global Teams Building Power to Win

8 teams, 8 coaches, 8 countries, 49 leaders organizing for the win! 

By Masha Burina

Two months ago, on June 21, organizers, trainers, and coaches from across five continents came together for the launch of LCN’s newest leadership development program: Campaign Labs—a global program pairing grassroots campaign teams with experienced organizing coaches to build the power they need to win real change. 

Campaign Labs teams are:

• Grounding their work in clear theories of change (with strategies that disrupt the power imbalance needed to win)
• Developing committed movement structures (that build community power through distributed leadership and effective teams)
• Executing tactics that build our capacity and agency to act (through strategic public actions)

Leaders committed to more than 400 one-on-one conversations with community members—listening, learning, and nurturing people-centered leadership by inviting their communities to take ownership of these campaigns. Each team is supported by a dedicated Leading Change coach, offering both strategic guidance and care-centered accountability.

Over the past weeks, participants have been strategizing, organizing, and taking action in contexts where the stakes could not be higher.

Why does this matter now? 

From authoritarians consolidating power to ecological breakdown, today’s polycrisis calls for more than isolated campaigns—it requires an interconnected ecosystem of skilled organizers and coaches. Campaign Labs is designed to meet today’s rising challenges, weaving together learning, action, and mutual support with concrete milestones toward lasting global impact. 

Organizing on the frontlines

Campaign Labs teams are confronting entrenched power and systemic oppression, often at great personal risk:

• Uganda: Initiative for a Green Planet delivered a peaceful petition against the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) that led to a team member’s arrest; they continue to strategize in building community power against the destructive impacts of the project.
• Assam, India: After 52 Indigenous families, allying with the Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Committee, reclaimed their ancestral land, officials destroyed their homes in the rain. The community stood firm and has vowed to expose government violations, pursue accountability, and mobilize wider support.
• Ghana: The International Justice Mission’s work in Ghana is led by a team of survivors of child trafficking called the Liberty Movement who are reshaping local culture, organizing faith and community leaders to end trafficking.
• Pakistan: The Center for Social Innovation in Developing Countries (CSIDC) is organizing leaders in the Sindh region to break the silences imposed by patriarchy with patience and persistence, challenging traditional notions of leadership. They are building a campaign for energy justice, recognizing that it’s central to education, healthcare, agriculture, and economic empowerment.
• Serbia: Young people have filled the streets organizing through plenums for months, demanding accountability, carrying hope for a better future. A team led by some of these youth is building local campaigns that help communities realize their own power to create change.
• Germany: The migrant-led coalition “Citizenship Suits Us All” (Bündnis Pass(t) uns allen) secured major citizenship reforms that came into force last year, and is now working to build a meaningful voting constituency among the nearly one-quarter of people in Germany with migration backgrounds.
• Nigeria: Frontline communities are resisting a petrochemical giant and building solidarity against “divide and conquer” tactics led by the Green Leaf Advocacy and Empowerment Center and friends in Rivers State of the Delta region.
• Tanzania: As part of a coalition with the Organization for Community Engagement, organizers are resisting land grabs and the EACOP pipeline by connecting farmers and Indigenous leaders. 

What’s next

In the weeks and months ahead, Campaign Labs teams will continue sharpening strategy and strengthening team formations. Some are preparing for major public actions this fall; others are sustaining ongoing campaigns that refuse to back down.

One thing is certain: the work remains urgent, and the momentum spurred by our leaders and coaches continues to grow. 

Inspired to launch your own campaign? Get in touch! We’ll help you build the power you need to win.