Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 1 of

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 1 of 27 LEARNING OBJECTIVES Understand the concept of advocacy. Identify the main steps of the advocacy process. Recognize a realistic advocacy goal. Identify different techniques and skills required to influence different audiences. Understand the criteria to evaluate an advocacy effort.

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 2 of 27 INTRODUCTION There are many factors that influence the decisions of policy makers. This presentation will explore these factors and ways to use an understanding of these factors to create desired change in policy outcomes. The focus will be on how to achieve specific goals, educating or advising policy makers with no particular outcome in mind.

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 3 of 27 WHAT ADVOCACY IS There is no one definition of advocacy. Some have described it as: • Actions to change the policies, programmes, or actions of an institution or individual within an institution. • Strategies and activities to persuade a decision-maker to do whatever it is you would like them to do.

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 4 of 27 WHAT ADVOCACY IS To be effective, advocacy must have these characteristics: There is a clear goal. The advocates have identified exactly who can deliver that goal. There is a sound strategy and specific set of activities that will persuade the decision-maker(s). The right people with the right skills and contacts are involved. The resources match the real level of effort that is necessary to achieve the goal.

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 5 of 27 WHAT ADVOCACY IS Advocacy vs Communication • goal of communication -> to effectively convey your message or information; • goal of advocacy -> to create specific action or change. Audience reactions to effective advocacy and communication: Effective Communication • Your message has been heard clearly. • People have a better understanding of the topic. • Your audience understood your message. Effective Advocacy • Your message will be acted upon. • People know exactly what to do next with the information. • Your audience understood and was inspired to take action as a result of your message.

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 6 of 27 THE ADVOCACY PROCESS Advocacy processes generally include these fundamental steps:

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 7 of 27 THE ADVOCACY PROCESS Let’s consider the following hypothetical example of a food security advocacy challenge. . . Example: The Landia story LANDIA The country of Landia has experienced food insecurity in the past, but has never had a full-blown famine. The government has always been able to ask for, receive and distribute food aid in advance of famine conditions taking hold. A recent military coup has destabilized the government and the normal ministry officials dealing with agriculture and food production have fled the country. It is unclear whom the decision-makers are and what the current process is to get a decision. Non-governmental organizations, both locally based and international, are noticing the warning signs of an impending famine. The goal is to get the government of Landia to make a request to international agencies and others for immediate food aid.

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 8 of 27 THE ADVOCACY PROCESS Let’s look at the steps followed by the advocates of the Landia story: Planning for success Getting the issue on the agenda Selecting a viable solution Building political will Getting the issue on the agenda again Building political will to act Success

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 9 of 27 SETTING REALISTIC ADVOCACY GOALS Advocacy efforts often succeed or fail based on how realistic (or not) the goal is. What is realistic for advocacy depends on many factors, such as: • The level of understanding the decision-makers already have about the issue at hand. • How much they already care about it. • How much popular support there is to act on the issue. • How much benefit the decision-makers will get for addressing the issue. • What will happen to the decision-makers if they do not address the issue. • How much you can do to increase the benefits and/or costs for the decision-makers. • What resources you have to bring to the advocacy effort.

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 10 of 27 SETTING REALISTIC ADVOCACY GOALS Let’s consider a hypothetical example from Food Security: Example: Maizeland’s National Food Security Policy The government of Maizeland has started to work with the FAO of the UN to develop a coordinated national policy to create long-term food security for its people. It is a country that has been a net exporter of maize, but needs to increase exports even more to get additional foreign currency to make debt payments. The country also imports milk products, which are the population’s main source of protein. The Agriculture Ministry staff have a high degree of understanding, caring, and desire to develop an ambitious policy with the assistance of the FAO. However, the Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Trade and Commerce, and Minister of Finance, who are the ultimate decision-makers, do not share the same degree of understanding, care or desire.

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 11 of 27 SETTING REALISTIC ADVOCACY GOALS What is realistic for Maizeland? The following are three hypothetical advocacy goals: Option A: Target the Ministers Get the Ministers of Agriculture, Trade and Commerce, and Finance to agree that developing a national food security policy is an important priority for this government and establish a commission to develop that policy. Option B: Target the Parliament Work with an MP that is a former Minister of Agriculture to get the parliament to pressure the government to develop a proactive food security policy. Option C: Target the Prime Minister Use FAO’s model national food security policy, which is based on the best practices in the field, and take it straight to the Prime Minister to get her support and action.

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 12 of 27 INFLUENCING YOUR AUDIENCE There is no set combination of strategies that will create policy change. MEDIA The best advocates mix and match tactics to achieve the best results in the shortest period of time. These are some common advocacy techniques for a variety of audiences. OPINION LEADERS GENERAL PUBLIC DIRECT INFLUENCERS DECISION MAKERS

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 13 of 27 INFLUENCING YOUR AUDIENCE Going directly to the person who can make the decision is the fastest way to create desired change. The following steps should be applied to persuade decision-makers to act: Craft the message Select the messengers Hone the “ask” Follow up DECISION MAKERS

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 14 of 27 INFLUENCING YOUR AUDIENCE Direct influencers are people close to the decision-maker, such as advisers, staff, or even family members. DIRECT INFLUENCERS Influencing them involves the same four steps required to persuade decision-makers.

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 15 of 27 INFLUENCING YOUR AUDIENCE If a decision-maker is attuned to public opinion, advocates will often activate the general public to deliver the message to that decision-maker. Delivery can take many forms: Polls Lobby-days Letters/emails/calls GENERAL PUBLIC

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 16 of 27 INFLUENCING YOUR AUDIENCE Opinion-leaders are individuals that others look to for guidance on a topic. The decision-maker may or may not personally know the opinionleader or other target audience. OPINIONLEADERS Advocates commonly tap opinion-leaders to: • • • sign on to letters to decision-makers; make media appearances; “ghost” author reports or articles; provide quotes or testimonials; or attend meetings or public events.

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 17 of 27 INFLUENCING YOUR AUDIENCE Media advocacy can be extremely timeconsuming and expensive. Advocates should only do media advocacy when it is necessary to create political will. MEDIA Pros and cons of media advocacy PROS • Can reach large numbers of decisionmakers at once or Can be targeted to reach a single decision-maker • Can reach multiple audiences at once • Can be highly persuasive to decisionmakers • Raising visibility can assist in raising funds for advocacy CONS • Impact of the story or coverage can be short-lived • Can be very expensive and time consuming • Does not lend itself to issues that are chronic in nature • Cannot control the message that comes out in the press

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 18 of 27 INFLUENCING YOUR AUDIENCE Techniques to reach the media include: Press releases Press conferences Press briefings “Pitching” stories Opinion-editorials Letters to the editor

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 19 of 27 THE TEAM What are the skill sets needed to conduct effective advocacy? What kind of team should be assembled for an advocacy campaign? Advocacy teams should have people who: • Know the decision-making process intimately. • Know the topic and the policy process in order to develop viable solutions. • Understand and/or know the target decision-makers. • Can manage the overall strategy or campaign. • Understand can work with the media. • Are technical specialists in the topic.

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 20 of 27 EVALUATING THE ADVOCACY EFFORT It is imperative to constantly monitor and adapt your advocacy to ensure success. The key is to measure progress towards the goal, not the number of activities conducted to reach the goal. The focus of advocacy should be to reach the goal with as little effort as possible, zeroing in on the activities that most directly create political will for action.

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 21 of 27 EVALUATING THE ADVOCACY EFFORT Examples of things to measure and not measure: Do Measure • Actual policy changes that represent positive movement toward your goal. • Amount of discussion about your issue and proposed solution in policy-making circles, the media, etc. (e. g. number of press articles in a given period). • Number of statements made by target decision-makers expressing support for your goal (both formally and informally). Do Not Measure • How non-decision-making audiences evaluate coalition meetings, briefings, events, etc. • Number of meetings held with decision-makers.

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 22 of 27 EVALUATING THE ADVOCACY EFFORT If progress is not being made based on things you should be measuring, you should change your strategy. Advocates should keep plans very flexible, both in terms of timing and activities. The nature of advocacy is that works is sometimes unpredictable. The two most important words of advice to advocates: If it is not working, stop doing it. Keep your eyes on the prize, let your goals guide you, not your activity plans.

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 23 of 27 EVALUATING THE ADVOCACY EFFORT Let’s consider the Maizeland case study to evaluate their advocacy effort… • How was this advocacy effort successful? • How did the coalition misread their success? • What should they have measured that they did not? • What opportunities did they miss? • What should they do next? Let’s compare your answers with the Analysis of “Success” developed by an expert…

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 24 of 27 EVALUATING THE ADVOCACY EFFORT Analysis of “Success” for the Food Security Coalition What they thought was successful, but was not: • Getting government ministers to meet with MPs and donor officials • Media coverage • Meeting with 35 MPs What they thought was successful, and it was: • Getting key ministers to agree to come to a meeting with the group

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 25 of 27 EVALUATING THE ADVOCACY EFFORT Finally, how can we define “success”? (where you started) (what was the minimum) (what you got) (what you wanted) Good advocacy will land somewhere between the acceptable and the perfect. Evaluation should identify what policy change is acceptable, not acceptable and ideal. Evaluate your efforts fairly. Anything achieved beyond the minimum is a success that can be built upon towards the ultimate goal.

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 26 of 27 SUMMARY The goal of advocacy is to create specific action or change by influencing the decisions of policy makers. Even if the advocacy process is highly dynamic and fluid, it generally includes some fundamental steps, such as planning, getting the problem on the agenda, providing decision makers with a feasible solution, creating a political will and evaluating the effort. Advocacy efforts often succeed or fail based on how realistic (or not) the goal is. The best advocates mix and match different tactics to achieve the best results in the shortest period of time. The first and most important audience is the decision-makers. The next layer of targets are those who influence the decision-makers most. Constant evaluation and alteration are what separates successful advocates from the rest. It is imperative to constantly monitor and adapt your advocacy to ensure success.

Collaboration and Advocacy techniques Advocacy Screen 27 of 27 IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE. . . RESOURCES • An Introduction to Advocacy: A Training Guide by Ritu Sharma (www. aed. org/Publications/upload/PNABZ 919. pdf) • New Weave of Power, People & Politics: The Action Guide for Advocacy and Citizen Participation by Lisa Vene. Klasen with Valerie Miller (http: //www. justassociates. org/Action. Guide. htm) • The Jossey-Bass Guide to Strategic Communications for Nonprofits by Kathy Bonk, Henry Griggs, and Emily Tynes (http: //www. ccmc. org/book. htm) • Advocacy for Social Justice: A Global Action and Reflection Guide by David Cohen, Rosa de la Vega, and Gabrielle Watson (http: //www. kpbooks. com) • The Communications Consortium Media Center (CCMC) (http: //www. ccmc. org/mediatools. htm) • The Advocacy Institute (www. advocacy. org)