Niaz Ahmed

What is common in these pictures? How does it relate to your advocacy

initiatives? Lets talk about successful and

unsuccessful advocacy initiatives

Example: The immediate problemThe children are not going to

school

Ask why? They keep falling illPossible response: provide medicinesAsk why?They drink bad waterPossible response: dig a well

Ask why?The well is too far from the schoolPossible response: put in a pipe

Ask why?The local government said it would dig a new well last year but it hasn’tPossible response: dig a well or lobby local government

Ask why?The government has not released the funds that

are supposed to have been set asidePossible response: dig a well/put in a pipe or

lobby central government

Ask why?The bilateral donors haven’t released the

pledged aid fundsPossible response: dig a well/put in a pipe or

lobby bilateral donors

Many causes and solutions may apply to your problem, so it is up to you to find the ones that seem most important and that your organization has the capacity to work with. The "But why?" analysis by itself doesn't lead automatically to the area you should choose for your work but it does highlight the different causes of the problem and the different paths you may take to solve it.

Advocacy FOR those affected (e.g. beneficiaries, users)

Advocacy WITH those affected

Advocacy BY those affected

Visible Power- Observable Decision Making –such as formal rules, structures, authorities, institutions and procedures of decision making

Hidden/Informal Power- Setting the Political Agenda – powerful elites and vested interests maintain their influence by controlling who gets to the decision making table and what gets on the public agenda behind the scenes.

Invisible Power - Shaping Public Consciousness and meaning – operates in the arena of culture, ideas, values, beliefs – can be used to prevent people from questioning or envisioning change, or addressing injustices.

(Adapted from John Gaventa, IDS, Sussex University)

Step 1 - assess feasibility of change – by identifying obstacles and opportunities for change

Step 2 - identify primary decision makers Step 3 - identify and prioritise influencers Step 4 - choose advocacy tools to

influence your targets

Helps us to: Identify our allies & opponents Prioritise who we should target to achieve

maximum influence Determine the influencing strategy for

each priority audience

1. How much do they agree or disagree with us?

2. How important do they think the issue is?3. How much influence do they have over the

issue?

KEY INFLUENCERS (5%)

HIGHLY INFORMED VOTERS (15%)

THE REST (79%)

KEY DECISION MAKERS (1%)

1. Select the issue that’s right for you

2. Compile strong and compelling evidence; ensuring that there is a high quality research and policy analysis at the root of all advocacy effort

3. Understand targets and audiences and track what’s going on – power, policy and politics

4. Be clear about what you are trying to achieve; identify objectives

5. Use a range of complementary tactics according to the situation

6. participation, accountability, legitimacy - involve beneficiaries

7. maximising joint working opportunities with allies / considering how to minimise the influence of opponents

8. Communicate well and persistently by being agile in the short-term and consistent in the long-term

9. Stay with the issue through to resolution, including having viable exit strategies

10. Promote an advocacy, change-oriented, learning culture

1. Aims (how will beneficiaries be affected)2. Objectives (specific changes to be made)3. Key influencing strategies & audiences4. Proposition (core message)5. Action plans for each strategy/audience6. Resources, budgets & timetable 7. Risks & Assumptions8. Monitoring & Evaluation plan

Understand Problem & Identify solution

Learning•Monitoring (ongoing) and evaluation feed into future advocacy

Research & Analysis:•Collect evidence• Analyse external &Internal environments

Strategic Plan:•Goal•Objectives•Activities•M&E

Timetabled Action•Activities (outputs) lead to specific outcomes

Understand Problem & Identify solution

Learning•Monitoring (ongoing) and evaluation feed into future advocacy

Research & Analysis:•Collect evidence• Analyse external &Internal environments

Strategic Plan:•Goal•Objectives•Activities•M&E

Timetabled Action•Activities (outputs) lead to specific outcomes

- PEST Analysis- SWOT Analysis-10 principles-Risk Analysis

Strategic Planning ToolsStakeholder Analysis & Forcefield chartsInfluence Trees/Power MappingExplore theories of change

Strategy development-Political-Media-Capacity-Alliances/Networksand systems for coherence

Campaign Management and Intelligence SystemsM&E Grids/ToolsCapacity to adapt!

Analysis Advocacy strategy

Description

The problem Advocacy Aim The ultimate, long term, aim of the advocacy initiative i.e. the

desired impact on people’s lives

Example: To improve poor people’s health by increasing

access to medicines

Solutions Advocacy Objectives The short to medium term changes in policies, institutions or target

groups – or your desired outcomes - that contribute to the

achievement of your campaign aim.

Example: To increase the budget for primary health care

centres by 10%; to introduce a generic drugs policy by 2011

Power/Change Analysis

Advocacy Activities (or advocacy tools)

What you will do to achieve your advocacy objectives and

aim.

Example: Research into the issue; lobbying decision-

makers; running a public campaign; organising a seminar, etc.

Outputs What will be produced and happen as a result of activities:

Example - 2 briefing papers – published and distributed; 7

meetings with decision makers; 1 high-level round-table and 2

public meetings; seminar attended by 70 people