PLANNING FOR ADVOCACY

THE ART OF PLANNING FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

A poorly planned advocacy effort can do more harm than good. It can negatively impact the communities you aim to support and set back your cause. In this training you will learn how to plan your advocacy campaign so you can avoid the pitfalls and utilize the right tactics to create positive social change.

Advocacy is a key component of relief, development and humanitarian work. And it can also be our core approach when we want to:

• Address unmet needs in the target community
• Reverse or correct a situation
• Prevent the loss of a valued asset or program
• Change public opinion

In this course, we are going to learn a step-by-step process for how to plan for advocacy – setting realistic (and challenging) goals and objectives, using the right tactics for our group and issue, utilizing our unique strengths, mobilizing our allies and planning to counteract opposition.

Advocacy is about education. A lot of advocacy is around gathering information and having the right facts. We want to wake up the inner sense of justice among the wider population and decision-makers, to bring about an improvement in the environment, an improvement in our rights situation, or an improvement in people’s lives.

Advocacy is also about power. We have our own power – our membership, our credibility, our skills – but going it alone is always risky. We need allies. So how do we identify who is out there and who can be our ally and supporter? And what is the best way to engage with them if we decide to do that?

We will also meet opposition – people and organizations who are invested in things not changing. How do we identify who is our against us and anticipate their tactics?

Advocacy is also a peaceful approach that has justice at its core. We don’t escalate unnecessarily by moving too quickly to direct action before other, less aggressive tactics have been exhausted. Advocacy assumes the best in others – that if they have the right information, they will make the right decisions.

WHAT THIS COURSE COVERS

FUNDAMENTALS OF ADVOCACY

• What is Advocacy? And how is advocacy different from service?
• Assessing whether it’s the right time for advocacy for your group / issue
• Survival Skills for Advocates – useful guidelines for a successful advocacy effort

ADVOCACY RESEARCH AND OBJECTIVES

• Preparing for Advocacy
• Advocacy Research – Getting the Facts Right
• Setting Advocacy Goals and Objectives

ADVOCACY TACTICS

• Advocacy Tactics – Advocacy Research, Encouraging and Educating, Media Advocacy and Direct Action
• Aligning your Tactics to your Group and Issue

UNDERSTANDING POWER, ALLIES & OPPOSITION

• Understanding your Power Base
• Identifying and Engaging with Allies
• Planning for Opposition
• Building a Wider Understanding about your Advocacy Effort

ADVOCACY PLANNING

• Planning your Advocacy Campaign

You can see all the sessions (and preview the first two sessions) at the course page.

HOW THIS COURSE WORKS

This is a self-study training so you can work at your own pace. As soon as you sign up you will have access to:

• 3.5 hours of presentations over 17 step-by-step sessions (downloadable, subtitled video, accessible on all devices)
• Ready-to-print handouts for practical exercises supporting you in developing your own advocacy action plan
• A 75-page PDF companion guide to the course
• Tests to check and reinforce your learning
• A certificate of completion

This is a practical course. You will often be asked to pause and work through reflections and exercises. This is to support you in developing your own advocacy campaign as you progress through the modules.

You can explore the early modules here:

VIDEO LESSON: COURSE INTRODUCTION (07.39)

VIDEO LESSON: WHAT IS ADVOCACY? (08.06)

If you have any questions about whether this course is right for you, feel free to email us.

YOUR INSTRUCTOR

Neil Kendrick is from the UK and has been training development practitioners for more than 25 years on Professional Writing, Reporting Skills, Proposal Writing, Results-Based Management and Monitoring & Evaluation. He has trained relief, development and humanitarian professionals in over 20 countries throughout Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas