Mobilizing the Middle: Building Grassroots Advocacy Power for Global Health

The United Nations Foundation (UNF) leads two signature global health campaigns: Shot@Life, which champions vaccine access for children around the world, and United to Beat Malaria, focused on malaria prevention and treatment. Despite broad bipartisan support historically, global health programs face new challenges as U.S. political climates shift and public sentiment toward international engagement becomes more fractured. The Capstone team was tasked with performing an analysis and projection of public sentiments towards public health to inform UNF’s messaging framework and strengthen their advocate base. The team conducted a literature review of internal and external sources, reviewed each campaign’s current Congressional targets, performed a SWOT analysis of UNF’s annual advocacy summit on the Hill, and conducted interviews with campaign advocates and partner advocacy organizations. Final recommendations outlined steps to refine relationships with coalition partners, strengthen UNF’s in-district advocacy efforts, and increase the efficacy of their bipartisan lobbying.