When a Webinar Becomes a Movement

Some sessions give you answers. This one gave me better questions.

I joined IAPB’s Advocacy to Action: Creating a Shared Vision for Eye Health webinar expecting to learn about tools and frameworks. I left with something much deeper, a clearer sense of why I advocate, how I mobilise, and who I do it for. The session didn’t just outline strategy. It created a space. A space where leaders across the globe gathered not just to speak, but to listen and discuss. It reminded me that real change doesn’t begin with funding or infrastructure. It begins with clarity of purpose and shared ownership.

What truly stuck with me was the “first nut” video Anna shared,  a lone dancer moving wildly in a field until one person joins him, then another, and another. It was a perfect metaphor. The dancer isn’t the hero. The first follower is. Because it’s not the idea alone that creates a movement, it’s belief. That moment reframed so much for me. As someone working at the intersection of community, policy, and system design, I found myself asking better questions: Who gets to lead? Who owns the solution? What vision are we inviting others to believe in?

These aren’t abstract. They’re the very questions that shaped the Vision Friend Sakib Gore Sustainability model, from its origins in rural India to its replication in Ethiopia now. However, this webinar reminded me: we must continue to ask. It helped me rethink how I structure advocacy narratives, how I frame our upcoming case studies, and how we measure mobilisation, not by attendance, but by shared ownership. And perhaps most importantly, it reminded me of who I am as I carry out this work.

A woman I met years ago at a camp once told me, “I thought I would live my life in darkness.” Her voice echoed in my mind throughout this session. Because when we talk about mobilization, we’re really talking about honoring people like her with dignity, access, and agency. This webinar series doesn’t hand out blueprints. It hands you the raw material and invites you to build with it. It’s up to each of us to take what resonates and transform it into action where it matters most. These insights are not just inspiring, they’re replicable. And urgently needed in places where passion outpaces infrastructure.

So, to anyone wondering whether to join the next sessions: don’t wait for the perfect moment. Movements don’t start when everything is ready. They start when someone dares to go first, and someone else believes they might be onto something. What would it take for you to become the first follower or the next nut?

Register for the Advocacy to Action webinar series here and experience the conversations, insights, and real-world strategies for yourself.