ADVOCACY AS AN IMPERATIVE FOR CSOs

Advocacy is a deliberate process of influencing those who make policy decisions (key words – influencing, deliberate, policy makers, policy decisions). Advocacy is used to influence the choices and actions of those who make laws and regulations and those who distribute resources and make other decisions that affect the well-being of many people. It involves delivering messages that are intended to influence thoughts, perspectives and actions of leaders, politicians, policy makers, planners and others in authority.

 Advocacy is essentially about policy change in three areas;

1. Creating policies where non exist
2. Refining harmful or ineffective policies
3. Ensuring good policies and followed, implemented and enforced.

Key Elements of Advocacy?

Advocacy is all about changing attitudes, cultures, trends, traditions or bringing in new ways, new thinking and new styles of life. Advocacy therefore has much to do with influencing (through campaigning and lobbying) policy makers, communities, planners and politicians to respond to demands, needs and aspirations of ordinary people.  Advocacy largely depends on political environment, policy regime, socio-cultural context, capacity, expertise/skills and interests of actors, civic space and opportunities available.

Why Engage in Advocacy?

Advocacy Work  

1.  assists partners and local communities to have a deeper understanding of what policy analysis, networking and lobbying entail - help partners and local leaders develop strategic capacities and new competencies as analysts, reform advocates, animators, catalysts and change agents.
2. trains partners to develop tools and sharpen skills in social mobilization, political strategy and trend analysis.
3. equips partners with skills and capabilities in mobilizing voluntary energy to catalyze system and policy change, monitor policy formulation and implementation and engage effectively in networking and solidarity building.
4. influences policy change and get commitment to action from those in authority

Policy Advocacy

Policy is all about values, beliefs, perspectives, objectives, targets and underlying assumptions, which inform the framework for development facilitation. Besides these issues, in policy analysis one has to look for experiences from which a policy draws, context and situations surrounding the policy, institutions and structures, the problem to which the policy attempts to respond, proposed solutions and general weaknesses and strengths of the policy regime. As groups engage in policy work, they develop operational definitions that eventually lead to more comprehensive explanations and understanding of the advocacy process. Policy is a set of mandatory directions and or guidelines, which serve to regulate decisions mainly administrative and or managerial. These can be set at any level of an organization by person/people in a position of authority. It can also be seen as a plan or course of action or set of regulations adopted by government, business or any other institutions designed to influence and determine decisions or procedures. Policy agenda on the other hand revolves around priority issues you are or want to work on.

Policy influencing

Policy influencing is all about:

• Participating in policy planning
• Leveraging change through campaigns on an existing policy
• Helping in the interpretation of a policy
• Initiating a framework for a new policy
• Monitoring implementation of a policy
• Reviewing content, process, participation and structure of a policy
• Developing a shadow policy or come up with an alternative policy process.
• Transforming policy priorities and actions
• Engaging in policy dialogue
• Building coalitions, partnerships and networks around policy

Advocacy, however, is about:

1. Politics, social change, values, beliefs, consciousness, knowledge, perspectives, demands and identity
2. Influencing those in authority about problems which affect the people
3. Building strong identities, coalitions, networks and or democratic organizations and social movements, which hold those in power accountable.
4. Enhancing citizens’ capacities, skills and perceptions to influence direction or course of policy processes.

Against this backdrop, we can sum up advocacy to imply planned, targeted, focused, long term, organized, systematic, purposeful, and intentional process of influencing matters of public interest for some change, policy or process. It is a process of social transformation aimed at shaping the direction or course of public participation; public policies and programmes to benefit of citizens and safeguard the environment.

The bedrock for policy advocacy calls for the articulation of varied and flexible mechanisms through which citizens define and process broad range of interests, meet individual and group needs, make popular participation feasible. Towards this end, they usually facilitate/encourage the development of a dense mosaic of independent, politically conscious, but voluntary and people-driven organizations, which strengthen the direct participation of citizens in both local and national decision making processes. Such initiatives provide essential training grounds in democratic citizenship.

A good or successful advocacy work should lead to an institutionalized variety of mechanisms to ensure that:

• Policies are set with and through involvement of the public
• Implementation of policies is done with community participation and public oversight.
• Policy impact is assessed in public arena
• Structures which democratically represent community interests are established.
• Communities and citizens enabled and positioned to demand accountability.
• Change attitudes and create expectations.
• Build systems, identify clear goals, have a plan of action, build a strong case for change and a vibrant constituency.

Advocacy Training

The overarching goal of advocacy training is to build the advocacy capacity of participants and deepen their knowledge and skills in policy engagement, influencing and advocacy, and share best strategies and approaches for required policy influencing in all stages of policy processes.

Advocacy training

• Enhances participants’ knowledge of public policy networks and processes;
• Enhances participants’ ability to write and use evidence-based and targeted policy papers;
• Builds insight into the process of planning an effective policy advocacy campaign;
• Increases participants’ understanding of the policy environment and potential entry points; and
• Provides a platform for civil society actors to form advocacy networks and build alliances.