CONNECTING

FOR CHANGE

THE PROBLEM

These are challenging times; our rights and freedoms are at risk. Human rights and gender justice movements should be more effective than ever. However, despite the best of intentions, for a multitude of reasons, they are often unable to incorporate strategic approaches, work together, and embrace exploration and innovation.

As a result, our community does not reach its full potential and is not as effective in activating support for the progressive agenda, including engaging the moveable middle —lukewarm supporters and opposers, and bystanders— and neutralizing anti-rights efforts, all needed conditions to create the change we want to see.

THE DREAM

We envision a world where advocates for human rights and gender justice perform like the best jazz band, playing excellent music without a director or sheet music and inspiring diverse audiences to follow our beat by working in harmonic, strategic, and responsive ways.

OUR CONTRIBUTION

To be strategic means understanding which audiences you need to achieve your goals, having clarity on what you require from each, and being able to persuade them —likely by validating their values and using the messages and messengers that are convincing to them.

Bridges is a hub for strategic progressive initiatives dedicated to exploring innovative tactics to engage diverse audiences, foster strategic thinking, and encourage alignment across movements, geographies, and disciplines.

Whether your target audiences are judges, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, policymakers, community leaders, or opinion leaders, you will benefit from the expanded toolbox and the lessons you will learn from our incubated initiatives.

THE INITIATIVES

BRIDGES is beginning to work with three initiatives using innovative strategies to advance the progressive agenda while creating incentives to promote alignment across movements and disciplines.

THE TEAM

MONICA ROA

Fluid, flexible, and multi-disciplinary partnerships will work under the leadership of Mónica Roa. Mónica, a Colombian lawyer based in Spain, has over 20 years of experience in successfully contributing to social change efforts at the intersection of law, politics, and communications. She has vast experience in using strategic thinking for social change, designing strategic litigation, working with the judiciary, defending women’s rights, promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights, and promoting exchanges in the global south. She brings to this endeavor her leadership, vision, desire to innovate, and capacity to work across movements, strategies, and regions.