Project summary

We want to empower the animal advocacy movement in the Global South, by bringing people together, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and ideas, and spreading the norms of effective advocacy.

Sinergia Animal is run by people who live and work in the Global South. We operate in eight countries - in all of them, the effective animal advocacy movement is still very small, but the prevalence of factory farming is growing fast.

We will use your generous donations to:

1. Host movement building events in Colombia, Brazil, and Thailand.

2. Use these events to gather activists, influencers and local organisations for a collaborative and educational programme.

Turn these events into dozens of corporate commitments for animals.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

Goals:

1. Create opportunities for animal protection organizations, activists and influencers  to connect and collaborate.

2. Foster the principles of effective advocacy in the nascent animal advocacy movements in these countries.  

3. Ultimately, get things done for animals, in countries where factory farming remains an extremely neglected cause area. 

How we will achieve them:

Our target audience

We’re looking to reach people in Colombia, Thailand and Brazil who are involved in farmed animal advocacy, or should be.

That includes:

• Animal protection organizations

• Volunteers

• Animal lovers who think factory farming is bad, but haven’t heard of EAA before

• Vegan influencers

• Restaurants and businesses with a focus on sustainability

Getting people to attend the events

1. We have an extended network of volunteers, partner organizations and influencers. These are relationships that have been built up over years. We will leverage these relationships to get people excited for the event.

2. We will cover travel costs for attendees, allowing people from underrepresented communities and regions to take part. 

3. When we ran an event like this in the past, many of our attendees found us through our social media. 

The program

1. We will use group discussions as a tool to teach people about and get them excited about the principles of effective animal advocacy.

2. The program will also feature organizational presentations, so attendees come away with a greater sense of how they can work together in the future.

3. Networking opportunities will be offered throughout the event, so potential future animal advocates can identify job and volunteer opportunities that could get them more involved in the movement. 

4. In a past event, we also taught participants the basics of meditation. Resilience is crucial to success in animal advocacy. 

Future collaboration

1. After the event in Chiang Mai, we established a working group, which meets quarterly to discuss opportunities for collaboration. We’ll do the same after each of these events. 

2. The networking opportunities alone will make this event valuable. We hope to help more people than ever find their place in animal advocacy, through job opportunities, volunteering, etc. 

3. Sinergia Animal is in constant contact with other local organizations. These connections help us to secure corporate commitments affecting millions of animals every year.  

TL;DR

In three Global South countries, we will bring people who love animals together, and promote the kinds of values and principles that will make the local EAA movements strong.

How will this funding be used?

The funding will be used for the following purposes:

• Event logistics: Cover costs related to venue rental, catering, and accommodation for participants. 4,500 USD

• Travel expenses: Support travel expenses for key speakers and participants. 6,000 USD

• Program execution: Fund activities such as mindfulness training, street actions, and site visits. - 9,000 USD

• Promotional materials: Develop and distribute materials that promote the regrant program and Sinergia Animal’s mission. 1,500 USD

• Administrative costs: Manage costs associated with organizing and facilitating the event, including staffing and coordination efforts. - 2,400 USD

Surplus for other costs: 600 USD

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

We are Sinergia Animal

Animal Charity Evaluators has recommended us six years in a row. Last year alone, we achieved 48 corporate commitments for animals. We did this in eight countries of the Global South, where animal farming is a huge issue, but an extremely neglected cause area. 

We operate entirely in the Global South, and we are run by people who live in the Global South. 

The team for this project

Carolina Galvani, Executive Director

Carolina has worked in farmed animal advocacy for more than ten years, as an investigator, journalist and leader. 

Caroline Oliveira, Development Director

Caroline leads the team that will deliver this project. She has 10 years of project management experience and manages Sinergia Animal’s movement building program.

Our community and development managers in Brazil, Colombia and Thailand

They coordinate dozens of volunteers to take action for animals every week. Our coordinator in Thailand, ​​Siriyada Chongchuwanich, managed our previous movement building event in Chiang Mai. She will share her knowledge and expertise with our other staff members. 

Track record

Successful events 

In 2024 we held a similar event in Chiang Mai (Thailand) for 22 animal advocates from 6 different organizations, along with social media influencers and other animal activists.

Positive feedback

Our event in Chiang Mai received the following positive feedback:

• 100% satisfaction with the group discussions and presentations by Sinergia Animal

• 100% overall satisfaction with the event

Results for animals

• The Chiang Mai event led to the creation of a Thailand Working Group For Farmed Animals, which now meets every quarter to discuss opportunities for collaboration.

• Through the event, we connected with two new potential partner organizations for Sinergia Animal.

• We use these collaborations to produce real, tangible results. Sinergia Animal achieved 48 commitments for animals in 2023 alone. A lot of those were only possible due to our partnerships with local organizations; the good cop bad cop routine depends on having more than one cop.  

Mistakes and areas for improvement

Since the Chiang Mai event was basically a pilot for this programme, we learnt lessons from it that we will apply to future events. 

• Our registration process could have been simpler. We're sure we lost some sign ups that way.

• Some participants didn’t understand the purpose of our event. This time, we’ll share a thorough form with applicants so we can check their level of alignment with our cause and EA principles, so we can adjust our programming accordingly and no one feels out of their depth.

• We could have done more to make our Chiang Mai event accessible for everyone. This time, we’ll bring the organizing team together to the venue 2 days prior to the event for better organization of the space and identification of potential needs for additional resources and last-minute demands.

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

Causes

• Low participation or lack of interest from our target audiences. This is a real risk. We have extensive networks in each of the target countries, but overall, the movement is small. Our staff who are based in the target countries report that it’s hard to get people to attend in-person events. 

• Poor communication about the values and purpose of the event. Again, we’re operating in countries where the animal advocacy and EA movements are very small. Events of this type are rare or non-existent. It may be difficult to bring people of vastly different levels of experience and engagement up to speed. 

Outcomes

• If we can’t get enough people to attend, we’ll miss a lot of opportunities to collaborate with each other in the future. 

• If the event goes poorly, it could negatively impact our reputation in the country. 

Some good news

• Travel and accommodation costs are low in Thailand and Colombia (and also quite low in Brazil). If these events fail, the running costs are much smaller than those incurred by equivalent events in the Global North. 

• As an organization, we have a supportive and open culture. So if we make mistakes, we will identify and learn from them - quickly. 

• As mentioned above, we’ve run events like this before - to great success. The people who will be organizing these events are well versed in the challenges they may face.

What other funding are you or your project getting?

• Donations and sponsorships: We are actively pursuing donations and sponsorships from individual donors who are aligned with our mission.

Grants: We are applying for grants from foundations and government agencies that support animal protection and advocacy initiatives.