Clara’s TTT experience
Clara Fraser, one of our Turning the Tide 2024 alumni, shared her memories and key takeaways from the course last year.
“Envision your favourite coastal location...”
The vast expanse of silver-grey water extending as far as the eye can see, only a subtle line distinguishing sea from sky. A crashing of waves, like the breathing of some great being, each break dissolving in a roll of white. The sand hoppers peppering the pale golden grains, making the sand look alive. I pictured sanderlings running with the waves, herons fishing on the rocks and gulls floating serenely in the rolling tumble of the ocean.
“...Return to this whenever you feel overwhelmed or hopeless, use it as your motivation. Connection to the ocean is the very first and most important step in marine advocacy”
I understood this to be one of the fundamental pillars of any advocacy journey, an inspiration that flows from the coast and provides an energy and life to everything you do. Turning the Tide (TTT) is a course (predominantly online) that helps young people enter the world of advocacy. This course used a sense of effervescent optimism as the life-force behind every module.
The first module was an introduction to government officials, policy and legislation, a crash course in all things Holyrood. From this groundwork the future modules built on how to target the root of issues while finding the most influential recipients for your campaign. Module 2 stood out in my mind as it explored methods of discovering and treating the core of a problem. This was illustrated using the problem tree - the roots of the tree encompass government policy and public opinion, they can support the growth of a healthy society but also corrupt the foliage, such as government focus on economics over sustainability.
The problem tree template
The subsequent modules focused on tackling such problems using a diversity of tactics and ideas. Module 3 was on consultations - sounds complex but was easily explained by Catherine Gemmell of the Marine Conservation Society. Module 4 really helped me to understand the importance of preparation and teamwork with James Mackenzie acting as a politician to test our (very hastily prepared) proposals.
The programme culminated with module 5 and 6, which focused on understanding our targets and advocacy tactics (respectively). I found the metaphor used by Phil Taylor from the Open Seas Trust very interesting. This introduced Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, presenting political motivation as a pyramid: the widest base occupied by their greatest concern (getting elected), the tip being their “self-fulfilment need”. He carefully illustrated how any successful advocate must fully understand the priorities of their target politician. Module 6 crowned the course with a talk from Catrina Randall from Young Friends of the Earth Scotland on successful advocacy campaigns.
Catrina explored the different roles within successful campaigns
A fundamental part of Turning the Tide was the mentoring sessions; my mentor was Sophie. The discussion centred around the modules we had completed but also, as with all of TTT, our aspirations for the future. Our discussion was empowering as Sophie (and I am sure the other mentors as well) truly believes in the power of young people to positively impact our future. I found the sessions abounding with interest and possibilities. I am particularly interested in plant conservation, and Sophie introduced to me many opportunities surrounding volunteering in sea grass restoration and also a chance to submit writing for an advocacy publication.
I really enjoyed recapping these modules; this was such an amazing course, and I am still learning from it in the ongoing webinar sessions.
As I move on to university I am looking forward to getting involved in any advocacy or volunteering I can, and will continue to connect with Turning the Tide through the Young Persons’ Policy Group.
