Making Change Happen: Taking Leadership in Advocacy

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Making Change HappenTaking Leadership in
Advocacy

• Rick Lines
• Canada
• Riga, Latvia April 2003

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• Those who profess to favour freedom, yet
  depreciate agitation, are people who want crops
  without ploughing up the ground.
• They want rain without thunder and lightening.
  They want the ocean without the awful roar of its
  many waters.
•  
• Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)
• Former slave, African-American Abolitionist
  Leader

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Definitions of Advocacy

• Advocacy is pursuit of influencing outcomes -
  including public policy and resource allocation
  decisions within political, economic, and social
  systems and institutions - that directly affect
  people's livesIt seeks to highlight critical
  issues that have been ignored and submerged, to
  influence public attitudes, and to enact and
  implement laws and public policies so that a
  vision of "what should be" in a just, decent
  society become a reality. Human rights -
  political, economic, and social - is an
  overreaching framework for these visions.
• David Cohen
• The Advocacy Institute, USA

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Definitions of Advocacy

• Advocacy means representing peoples rights and
  helping people to make choices and get services
  to which they are entitled. People are entitled
  to receive services which takes account of their
  sex, ethnicity, culture, religion, age,
  impairment, housing status, mental health and
  whether they are lesbian or gay.
• Central and Eastern European Harm Reduction
  Network

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What is Advocacy?

• Advocacy is the process of working to make
  positive change happen.
• Advocacy can take many different forms.
• Advocacy can take place in many different
  contexts and environments.
• Advocacy is based upon a fundamental respect for
  human rights.
• Advocacy may be confrontational, but in most
  cases is not.

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Why Advocacy?

• Law, public policy, and allocation of resources
  have significant effects on the political and
  social environment in which we work.
• Fundamental human rights are often overlooked or
  seen as secondary concerns in these
  decision-making processes.
• Positively affecting the creation or
  implementation of laws, public policies, or
  resource allocations can have significant
  beneficial outcomes for our constituencies.

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Who can be an Advocate?

• Anyone can be an advocate.
• Everyone has the ability to work to implement
  change.
• Everyone has ideas, energy, or experience to
  contribute to the process of creating change.
• Everyone has the responsibility to work to
  promote human rights.

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Where to Intervene?The Policy Cycle
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Effective Advocacy Requires Effective
Communication

• Communicate the specific nature and detail of the
  issue.
• Communicate a specific solution or response to
  address this issue.
• Communicate the urgency of the issue.
• Communicate the potential consequences of failing
  to act.
• Communicate with other stakeholders about the
  issue and your response.

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Steps in Advocacy

• The What?
• The Who?
• The How?
• Taking Action

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Assessing the SituationThe What

• Identify the problem/issue.
• Collect necessary documentation and research.
• Identify the specific change you want to
  accomplish.

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Targeting your InterventionThe Who

• Who has the power to implement the change(s)
  necessary?

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Choosing Your ToolsThe How

• What are my options for influencing the person(s)
  with the ability to implement change?
• What type(s) of action will be most effective?
• What type(s) of action are available to me?

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Taking ActionThe 3 Cs of Advocacy

• CONVERSION
• Letters
• Formal meetings/Briefings
• Information provision
• Private influence
• COMMOTION
• Media work
• Campaigns/Mobilizing other stakeholders
• Protests/Demonstrations
• Use of opposition politicians
• COERCION
• Legal remedies

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Basic Strategic Guidelines for Advocacy

• Familiarize yourself with policy.
• Clarify your objective.
• Relate your means to your ends.
• Have a Plan B (and Plan C).
• Use calculated escalation of pressure.
• Increase your leverage.
• Follow through.
• Analyze your outcomes.
• Dont despair.

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Sources

• Rick Lines. Pros Cons A Guide to Creating
  Successful Community-Based HIV/AIDS Programs for
  Prisoners (PASAN, Toronto 2002).
• Dr. Gerald Thomas. JHSC Policy Analysis
  Enhancement Project Participant Handbook, Version
  1 (John Howard Society of Canada, Kingston
  December 5, 2001).

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Making Change Happen Taking Leadership in
Advocacy

• Rick Lines
• ricklines_at_yahoo.com

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