REQUIRED TECHNICAL CAPACITY FOR ADVOCACY

Technical Capacity for Advocacy

Effective technical capacity refers to the ability to implement all key organisational and programmatic functions in a comprehensive manner. At the centre of technical capacity are the skills, tools, equipment, technology, and other resources necessary to support and underpin the other essential capacities. Attributes associated with technical capacity include fundraising skills, technology and networks, facilities development and maintenance, materials information, marketing capability, legal knowledge, and evaluation aptitude. It is knowledge and skills themselves that comprise technical capacity.

The specific technical capacities important to advocacy organisations include:

1. Strategic Communication Skills: External communication capacity refers to the ability to develop a strategic communications plan and to effectively communicate a non-profit’s advocacy goals to a variety of audiences, tailoring the messages so that they will resonate with any given audience. Critical aspects of communication capacity for advocacy work include strategy development, media outreach, and message development.
2. Policy Issues and Processes: This is the technical capacity that comes to mind for most people when considering advocacy work. There are several different aspects of this capacity

• Policy change process knowledge: Understanding the nuances of the policy system and how it works.
• Substantive issue expertise: Having a thorough grasp of the content of any given advocacy issue.
• Political knowledge and skills : Comprehending the use of power and power distribution, and having the knowledge and experience to effectively navigate through a wide variety of political situations.
• Specific advocacy strategy skills: Possessing the various skills for effective advocacy, such as litigation, lobbying and grassroots mobilization. While the actual advocacy skills necessary depend on the strategies being employed, two specific skills are widely necessary: Policy analysis and research skills and mobilization skills.
• Policy analysis and research skills : Having the ability to create, analyze, or interpret policy proposals or other data and information.
• Mobilization skills: Having the knowledge and skills to engage internal and external stakeholders in an advocacy issue .

 Interpersonal Skills

 This skill set refers to the ability to interact effectively with others, even those with radically different perspectives. There are two aspects of interpersonal skills:

• People skills : The basics of so-called people skills come down to understanding what motivates others and using that knowledge to persuade them to act in the desired way. Often it involves being able to describe benefits so that they outweigh the cost of behaviour change, or decreasing the cost of the desired behavioural change.
• Self-reflection proficiency: The ability to recognize one’s own strengths and shortcomings makes for a more effective advocate. The philosopher’s advice “know thyself” is more than moral guidance: Being able to conduct an “ego check” and to enlist others to assist or lead when advisable  is indispensable in the make-up of a good advocate

 Finance and Fundraising Proficiency

 The knowledge and skill to solicit funds from a variety of sources for a non-profit advocacy group is obviously important. An area of fundraising that appears to be particularly useful for advocacy organisations is the ability to raise general support funding, which may include general support grants from private foundations, membership dues, and unrestricted individual donations. This allows the organization to adapt rapidly to changing environments. Specific tools like logic models and value propositions can be very effective at helping to make the case to donors toward this end. Likewise, financial management skills are essential, such as the ability to assess both the cost of doing advocacy work in general as well as the financial implications of specific advocacy work or proposals, and the ability to record and track advocacy expenditures for reporting purposes.

Legal Knowledge

Knowledge and understanding of the legal parameters within which an advocacy organisation can operate ,  the limits as well as what may be “pushing the outside of the envelope”is also part of technical capacity.

Facilities and Equipment

 Last, but not least, sufficient working space, adequate office technology (computers, network servers, phones), and a congenial working environment underpin strong and successful advocacy groups. It is hard, for example, to build a grassroots arm without good list-maintenance software and adequate hardware. Likewise, the ability to share information within and without the organization depends on satisfactory and reliable network interconnections. These resources, which are all-too-often taken for granted, can also set the right tone for an advocacy organization by fostering an image of professionalism, stability, and energy.