Across civil society, unions and charities, there is a growing recognition that lasting change does not come from campaigns alone, but from who is shaping them, how they are shared, and the relationships that sit behind them. Increasingly, organisations are looking to centre the voices of people with direct experience of the issues they are seeking to change – not as case studies or assets, but as partners, advocates and experts in their own right.
That ambition was the starting point for our recent conversation with Karina Graham, Women’s Involvement Lead at Pause, on What’s next for advocacy communications? Drawing on both Karina’s professional expertise and own lived experience of the issues Pause works on, the discussion explored what meaningful involvement looks like in practice, where organisations get it wrong, and what it takes to do it well and sustainably.
What emerged was not a checklist, but a set of principles that together point towards a more ethical, effective and human approach to advocacy.
Creating a supportive environment starts long before the message
If advocacy is about people sharing their expertise and experience, the conditions around that sharing matter just as much as the output. As Karina emphasised, involvement does not begin when someone is invited into a room, onto a panel, or in front of a camera. It begins with relationship-building.
Supportive environments are built through trust, clear expectations and choice. That means being honest about what is being asked of someone, what their role will be, and where the boundaries are. It also means recognising that not everyone wants, or is ready, to engage in the same way. Meaningful involvement creates multiple routes in, not a single model of participation.
From extraction to equity: building real relationships
Advocacy communications have a long history of extractive practices: bringing people in to illustrate a point, validate a campaign, or add emotional weight, without giving them any control over how their contribution is used.
A recurring theme in the webinar was the importance of building equitable relationships. That means shifting the question from “What can this person give us?” to “What will they gain from being involved?”
At Pause, this shows up in deliberate investment in skills-building, confidence, and progression – from advisory groups, to ambassadors, to governance roles. Equity is reflected not just in who speaks, but in how power, decision-making and opportunity are shared over time.
Acknowledging fears, biases and power dynamics
Advocacy spaces are rarely neutral. People arrive carrying fears, assumptions, and often significant power imbalances, on all sides of the conversation.
For those sharing expertise rooted in personal experience, fears might centre on being judged, misrepresented, or reduced to a single aspect of their life. For organisations, fears often show up as anxiety about saying the wrong thing, losing control of the message, or being exposed to disagreement or backlash.
The webinar made clear that ignoring these dynamics does not make them disappear. Effective advocacy involves naming them, preparing for them, and creating space for honest conversations about risk, language, representation and consent. Simply asking – rather than assuming – how someone wants to be identified or involved can fundamentally change the tone of a collaboration.
Finding and articulating the common ground
One of the most powerful moments in the discussion was Karina’s reframing of what people are being invited to share. Too often, advocacy asks people to recount trauma, rather than articulate what needs to change.
At Pause, the focus is not on reliving experiences, but on identifying shared priorities: what support is missing, where systems fail, and what practical reforms would make a difference. By grounding advocacy in common goals rather than personal narratives alone, organisations can align lived expertise with policy ambitions without co-opting individual experiences.
This also means doing the work to make advocacy accessible. Translating policy language, demystifying jargon, and co-shaping messages allows more people to engage meaningfully without diluting their expertise.
Informed involvement is responsible involvement
Visibility comes with risk. The conversation highlighted the importance of ensuring that people are supported to engage in advocacy in a way that is informed, safe and genuinely voluntary.
In practice, this means ongoing consent, clear conversations about public exposure, and flexibility in how involvement happens. For some, written contributions, audio formats or creative approaches may be more appropriate than public speaking or visual media. Informed involvement respects that advocacy is not one-size-fits-all.
Framing and sustaining involvement over time
Perhaps the clearest message from the webinar was that involvement cannot be transactional or short-term. Advocacy done well requires time, infrastructure and resource. It demands wraparound support before, during and after participation, and a commitment to long-term relationships rather than one-off moments.
This has implications for how organisations plan campaigns, allocate budgets and measure success. Sustained involvement is not just more ethical; it also leads to stronger, more credible advocacy that resonates far beyond a single message or moment.
Embracing the messiness
Advocacy is not neat. People will disagree. Power dynamics will surface. Conversations will occasionally feel awkward or uncomfortable.
Rather than viewing this as a failure, Karina argued that messiness is a sign that real, human perspectives are in the room. Organisations that are serious about involving people with lived expertise must be prepared to let go of polish and control, and to trust the process they have invested in.
If an organisation is worried about what someone might say, that is often a signal that the relationship-building work has not gone far enough.
What’s next?
The webinar concluded with a reminder that advocacy communications are only one part of a much wider ecosystem. Meaningful involvement reaches into governance, fundraising, service design and organisational culture. When done well, it does not just change policy or narratives – it changes lives.
Willingness from organisations to invest in people, share power, and build the conditions for expertise to flourish is where the future of advocacy communications lies. Not because it is easy or tidy, but because it is what leads to authentic, durable change.
If you missed the webinar, you can watch it back here. We also encourage you to explore Pause’s website to learn more about their work and the practical ways they are embedding meaningful involvement and lived expertise into policy, practice and advocacy.