Key advocacy approaches

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Key approaches of Advocacy
N. Assifi UNFPA/CST, Bangkok
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Key advocacy approaches

• Involving leaders
• Building partnership
• Mobilizing the community groups
• Capacity building
• Working with mass media

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Involving leaders
Leaders refer to those who are extremely
influential in facilitating changes in national
issues of population and reproductive health.
Law makers Those who make laws Policy makers
Those who make policies Decision makers Those
who implement policies
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How to reach leaders
Formal settings.Meetings, seminars, conferences,
etc. Informal settings...Public gatherings,
festivals, sport events, at home,
etc. Directly.. Meetings, letter, media,
etc IndirectlyThrough their colleagues,
friends, spouse, etc.



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Building Partnerships
Coexistence
Communication
Partnerships are formed by groups of individuals
that join together aiming to accomplish a common
purpose.
Cooperation
Coordination
Collaboration
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Working in partnership
Advantages

• Enlarges the of support
• Provides safety for advocacy efforts
• Magnifies existing resources
• Increase financial and programmatic resources
• Enhances the credibility and influence of
  advocacy efforts
• Help develop new leadership
• Assists in individual and organizational
  networking

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Working in partnership
Disadvantages

• Distracts from other work
• May require to compromise your position
• Views of larger organization may influence the
  view of others
• Individual members may not get credit for their
  work
• If partnership breaks down it may harm all
  members advocacy efforts

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Building effective partnership
Key questions to ask yourself before approaching
potential partners

• Who should constitute the partnership?
• Who should lead the partnership?
• How will resources be accounted for?
• How big should be the partnership?
• Should it be limited to the national level or
  other levels should be involved as well?

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Mobilizing community groups
Purpose

• To draw attention of the leaders to key
  population and RH issues and to encourage them to
  take action
• Provide feed back on community needs and feelings
• Help planners to collect data, testimonials and
  other information in support of a given issue
• Disseminate information among public and create
  public support for a given issue

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How to organize and mobilizecommunity groups?

• Involving community leaders, influential and
  religious leaders
• Identifying key existing community groups
• Identifying existing community channels for
  information dissemination
• Organizing the group (identify group members,
  group leader, terms of reference)
• Mobilizing the group through village meetings,
  group discussions, folk and traditional media,
  live entertainment etc.

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Capacity Building
Capacity building approach is used to

• Leadership development
• Expanding network of advocates
• Maintaining high level of knowledge and skills
• Keeping up with new trends and new challenges

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Requirements for an advocate
Academic Background and skills

• Academic background and experience in
  communication
• Work experience in population, health, RH, FP
  etc.
• Experience in group organization/mobilization
• Ability/skills in public speaking and group
  facilitation
• Ability/skills in speech writing, writing
  articles etc.
• Experience in working with media (media
  relations)
• Orientation on research, capability to translate
  research-based information to advocacy messages

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Requirements for an advocate
Personal Qualities

• Articulate, good listener, good communicator
• Interested to work with people at different
  levels
• Willingness to be trained and open for further
  professional growth
• Committed to the programme

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Reasons for Dealing with Media
Working with mass media

• Enhance visibility of your programme and/or
  organization (name recognition)
• Inform the decision makers and the public about
  your activities
• Stimulate discussion on issues you are promoting

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Dealing with Media (contd)

• Generate public support for your activities and
  organization
• Increase fundraising (sponsorship) or membership
  or supporters to your cause

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Promote a Good Media Coverage

• Invest in building media contacts (Roster)
• Keep up with media trends, techniques and
  technologies
• Facilitate journalists access to relevant
  information and data
• Treat journalists and other media professionals
  with respect.

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Promote Good media
5. Be guided by the Five Fs of media relations
Fast, Factual, Frank, Fair and Friendly 6.
Establish a channel of regular communication with
media gatekeepers 7. Thank and reward deserving
journalists and other media professionals through
awards and other motivators. 8. Develop a media
strategy
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Develop a Media Strategy
Two Critical Elements

• Your message
• Briefly tell journalists what your organization
  stands for and does Central message
• Ensure everyone in your organization shares the
  same message Consistency

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Media Strategy (contd)

• Audience and appropriate media
• Identify the information needs of target audience
• Identify media they use and trust
• Determine for what purpose you want to reach
  them
• To stimulate discussion
• To inform them on new issues
• To educate them on values
• To help them form opinions
• Choose your media accordingly based on above

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Media Strategy (contd)
Audience and appropriate media

• Printed media
• Tends to be an elite medium
• Radio
• Tends to be a medium for a very broad audience
• Remains in places where TV has arrived
• Television
• Tends to be a medium for entertainment

• Appropriate to reach influential people,
  politicians policy makers
• Appropriate for information dissemination, e.g.
  news, interviews
• Entertainment function but useful for information
  dissemination