Our approach to movement strategy
1. The Complexity of Social Change: No Simple Solutions
Social issues, including animal exploitation and systemic oppression, exist within complex, interconnected systems.
Unlike complicated problems (which can be solved with technical expertise), complex systems require adaptive, evolving solutions.
Linear, top-down strategies fail in these environments because cause and effect are not predictable—social change is nonlinear and emergent.
✅ Implication for Project Phoenix
The movement must embrace adaptability, avoiding rigid strategies and instead using flexible, network-driven approaches.
Change will not happen through a single intervention but through many interconnected efforts influencing culture, policy, and activism.
2. No One Organisation Can Make the Change Needed
Wicked problems (like animal exploitation) are too vast for any one group to solve alone—change requires coordinated, collective action.
Traditional top-down, hierarchical organisations cannot create large-scale transformation on their own.
Impact networks allow for diverse actors (grassroots groups, NGOs, researchers, policy advocates) to align their efforts, creating synergistic impact.
✅ Implication for Project Phoenix
Project Phoenix functions as a network facilitator, to ensure that grassroots activists, NGOs, and other actors are working in concert rather than in silos.
Instead of duplicating efforts, the networks we are cultivating should amplify and align existing initiatives, ensuring resources, knowledge, and strategies flow effectively.
3. The Role of Experimentation, Learning, and Scaling Up Successes
Complex systems require experimentation—since outcomes are uncertain, movements must test different strategies, learn from them, and refine their approach.
Failure is part of the process—movements must create a learning culture that encourages rapid feedback loops and adaptation.
Successful strategies should be identified, scaled, and replicated, ensuring proven models expand across the network.
✅ Implication for Project Phoenix
We encourage local groups to experiment with different campaigning, organising, and direct action tactics.
We establish a feedback system where groups document and share what works, allowing the movement to iterate and improve.
We help scale successful models (e.g., if a local campaign against greyhound racing is effective, we help to replicate it across multiple regions).
4. Emergent Strategy: Adapting to Uncertainty and Change
Emergent strategy means movements adjust in real-time rather than following a fixed, pre-determined plan.
Instead of command-and-control leadership and centralised decision making, impact networks foster distributed leadership, collective intelligence and shared decision-making
Movements that survive and thrive are those that sense, adapt, and respond to new challenges and opportunities.
✅ Implication for Project Phoenix
The networks we are facilitating must remain agile, shifting focus based on emerging opportunities (e.g., new legislation, public outrage over animal cruelty).
Rather than rigid top-down campaigns and strategies, local groups have autonomy to experiment within a shared movement vision.
Decentralised leadership ensures resilience—if one approach fails, the movement adapts and tries again.
Summary
To help build a movement that is dynamic, resilient, and ultimately capable of transforming the system of animal exploitation we:
Recognise that change happens within complex systems—solutions must be multi-layered and adaptive.
Act as a movement facilitator, not a command center—aligning grassroots and NGOs rather than controlling them.
Encourage constant experimentation and learning—ensuring campaigns evolve based on real-world results.
Scale successful models and let go of failing ones—so that resources and energy flow to the most impactful initiatives.
Embrace emergent strategy—staying flexible, responsive, and resilient in the face of change.
