Embargoed! is a volunteer-run human rights group, founded in the UK in 2004, that campaigns to end the international embargoes placed on Turkish Cypriots since 1964. It is independent of political parties and argues for lifting the isolation, not for any particular settlement. The website has to do a lot of work for a small team: explain a complicated history to newcomers, keep supporters informed about events, and turn readers into members and donors.
The challenge
The Cyprus problem is easy to get wrong and hard to explain in a sentence. The site needed to be bold enough to stop people scrolling, accurate enough to stand up to scrutiny, and simple enough for volunteers to update without calling a developer. It also had to run on a charity budget: no expensive licences, no page builder slowing everything down.
What we built
- A custom WordPress theme with a strong campaign identity: oversized typography, the struck-through “Embargoed!” wordmark and the orange motif used across the site.
- A homepage that leads with the message, then key facts with sources, the latest event and a clear route into the organisation’s story.
- “Learn more” pages that set out the history and the impact of the embargoes on trade, flights, post and communications, sport, culture and education.
- News, an events calendar for demonstrations, seminars and commemorations, and a resources library with documents, podcasts and documentaries.
- Membership and donation journeys, committee profiles, partner organisations and an FAQ.
- A consent-first cookie banner (analytics only after opt-in) and a privacy and cookie policy.
How it is put together
Everything editable lives in WordPress: volunteers add news, events and resources from the dashboard, and the templates take care of layout, dates and listings. The front end is hand-built, so pages stay light on mobile data and fast on older phones, which matters for an audience that is often reading on the move or abroad.
If you run a campaign, charity or membership organisation and need a site that explains a cause clearly and is easy for volunteers to keep up to date, talk to us or see our web development service.
