Advocacy and Campaigning

1
Advocacy and Campaigning

• OECD Informal Experts Workshop
• Bonn, 19-20 March 2007
• Steve Tibbett

2
Defining advocacy

• Advocacy is about change. It is strategic. It is
  planned. It should have clear objectives.
• Confusion about advocacy comes from the root of
  the word to advocate, which means speak on
  someone elses behalf. (Many people associate
  advocacy with the legal definition an
  advocate)
• Changes in advocacy theory and practice new
  thinking in development ActionAid
• Often in contemporary advocacy, organisations and
  campaigners facilitate people to speak for
  themselves agency of the poor
• Campaigning is a subset of advocacy

3
Defining advocacy in relation to communication

• Communications is a more specific, learned
  discipline?
• Advocacy is quite a new discipline, in many ways
  still finding its feet.
• Communication should be strategic but it can
  often be reactive
• Advocacy must (almost) always be strategic
  (overused)
• Communications may be about the status quo,
  preserving something. Advocacy is about change.
• Communications can support Advocacy objectives
• Advocacy (mostly) shouldnt support
  communications objectives

4
Defining (advocacy) campaigning

• Changing policies and practices
• Part of a political strategy for achieving
  change
• Sustained
• Plan of tactical action within a strategic
  framework
• Situated in the public sphere
• Emerging discipline
• An art not a science

5
Good campaigns Why

• Debt focussed objectives and broad constituency
• Make Poverty History political clout and clever
  use of communications
• Friends of the Earth strategic and tactical
• Stop Smoking in Public Places building behind
  the scenes public support
• Corporate lobbying clever influencing

6
Good campaigns are learning campaigns!

• Positives that Make Poverty History learned from
  jubilee 2000
• Importance of the international sphere
• The use of the media
• The use of a broad constituency
• Broad range of tactics
• Some Negatives
• No secretariat or spokesperson
• Political difficulties
• Distance from government

7
Key challenges in (measuring) campaigns and
advocacy

• What indicators to use? Companies Bill
• Qualitative vs. quantative how many MPs signed
  the motion
• Outcomes vs. outputs how many people took action
• Paucity of information secrecy Western Sahara
• Time lag changes may be in the future
• There may be many actors which is prime?
• Internal opposition
• Funding-led challenges

8
Why evaluate your advocacy?

• Lessons need to be synthesized captured
• Its a good discipline, keeps you to your
  objectives
• It is a mechanism of accountability important
  for governments
• Next time it is easier to justify the expense

9
Top tips for evaluation of advocacy

• Have few, clear objectives
• Dont try and evaluate lots of things at once
  be clear about what you are measuring
• Try and depoliticise your evaluation process
  get wide agreement at the beginning
• Measure something after a decent amount of time
• Have qualitative indicators of success
  sometimes difficult to work out
• Indicators are the key area of debate in advocacy
  and campaigning no one has really worked out
  how to do them properly.
• Indicators should be qualitative, mostly.
  Quantitative indicator of success usually skew
  your activity away from your objectives ie x
  amount of people signed up, y amount of people
  communicated with, instead of policy z changed.

10
Top tips - continued

• You can have additional indicators for progress
  but need to be careful they are not elevated to
  the status of objectives.
• Opinion polling is under-used for analysing
  changes in public attitudes in the development
  sector but needs to be sophisticated ie dont
  need everyone to agree needs to look at key
  sectors
• Need to keep room for flexibility and innovation.
  Communication and advocacy is more art than
  science!
• Evaluation should be appropriate for the type of
  organisation/team. They should not be
  off-the-shelf but bespoke.
• Do not ignore the results of your evaluation!
  Evaluation can easily become politicised and then
  are often ignored. It is important that you find
  ways to integrate and synthesise the findings.
  You will need to meet to discuss and agree which
  ones you accept. You dont have to accept them
  all.

11
Points for discussion

• Should objectives not be set if they are
  unverifiable/measurable i.e. not entirely SMART?
• What is the appropriate use of governments
  advocacy work?
• If you are evaluating using other governments
  departments/politicians how much can you trust
  their answers?