Integrating ICT Policy in Advocacy Work

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Integrating ICT Policy in Advocacy Work

• Definition of Terms
• Advocacy in a civil society or NGO
  context it generally refers to redressing
  unequal power relationships and implies moving
  beyond the politics of protest to the politics
  of engagement. (Burch Leon, 2000)

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• Advocacy is a process of influencing
  people to generate a policy change that can
  take place at government and
  institutions, and at all levels at which
  policy is made (i.e., local, regional,
  provincial, national, religious, and
  international) (2001UNIFEM Strategic
  Communications Workshop, Kathmandu)

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• Advocacy is speaking up, drawing a
  communitys attention to an important issue,
  and directing decision makers toward a
  solution. Advocacy is working with other people
  and organisations to make a difference. (CEPDA,
  1995)

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• Advocacy involves attempts to
  influence the political climate, public
  perceptions, policy decisions and
  funding determinations (Advocates for
  Youth, 1995)

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• Advocacy simply means supporting a cause and
  trying to get others to support it (Advocates
  for Youth, 1995)

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• Advocacy is the act or process of
  supporting a cause or issue (IPPF, 1995)

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• Advocacy is result oriented. It is end
  oriented. (Akhila Shivadas)

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• Advocacy is the last step of behavior
  change, when people are so convinced that
  they want others to share their
  satisfaction. Advocacy is the principle of
  communicating with other people to their support
  for an issue and influence their behavior in a
  specified way The best advocates are
  committed volunteers who can share their
  experiences (JHU/CCP, Advances in Family
  Health Communication, 1995)

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• Strategic Communications is a means to share
  information packaged in different
  ways and convened using media and
  messages customised for specific target
  audiences, which brings about a specific change

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• It is an entire language of expression,
  including actions, words, etc. Every
  choice that you make, every intervention, and
  interventions in combination can be part of
  strategic communications. (Akhila Shivadas)

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• Electronic networking is a widely
  used term that refers to networking or
  communicating through the use of
  computers and various information
  communication tools. These tools allow people
  to interact at different times and from
  different places, for example through
  e-mail, list-serves, electronic forums,
  electronic study circles. They also
  provide a means for people to carry on
  an electronic "conversation" -- at the same time,
  but from different locations like chat
  rooms.

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5 Steps in Implementing An Advocacy Strategy

• Step One Identify and clarify the issues
• The issue or cause to be advocated for should
  be clearly and concisely formulated. The
  change being sought should be clearly and
  concisely formulated. The change being
  sought should be feasible, its beneficiaries
  should be clearly identified, and its
  beneficial impact should be easy to observe
  and measure.

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• Step Two Establish program goals and
  Advocacy objectives
• Goals should be clearly spelt out. Identify clear
  aims and smart objectives that are specific,
  measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound.
  Goals that are too ambitious are
  dispiriting and disempowering
  because you never really getting anywhere.

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• Step Three Identify and categorise the
  audiences
• Advocacy strategy development involves selection
  of audiences, messages and the techniques and
  tactics for conveying those messages.
  Audiences for an advocacy program
  may be divided into the following four
  categories a)Beneficiariesb)P
  artners c) Adversaries
  and d) Decision Makers.

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• Beneficiaries are those individuals or
  groups who stand to benefit directly from a
  positive outcome of the Advocacy
  intervention. Unfortunately, many
  Advocacy programs tend to ignore
  beneficiaries as an audience to be
  addressed.

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• Partners or allies include all individuals,
  groups and organisations who hold a
  similar view or position on the issue or
  cause and who are sufficiently convinced and
  committed to join in a coalition to fight
  for the cause. Because partnership and
  coalition building are critical in
  Advocacy, it is important to identify the
  partners and the specific contribution each
  partner can bring to the Advocacy effort.

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• Adversaries are those individuals and groups
  that hold a view or position different
  from, or opposed to, the issue or cause being
  advocated for. A pragmatic and
  useful way to view an adversary in an
  Advocacy program is not as a foe to be
  contested and vanquished, but
  rather as someone who happens to hold
  different convictions and beliefs on a specific
  issue.

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• Decision Makers are those individuals or
  groups with power or authority to take action
  to bring about the changes being sought.
  Decision makers may operate at different
  levels. They may be cabinet ministers or other
  senior politicians with the authority to
  demand changes in their departments
  senior civil servants or legislators who can
  introduce and process new policies through the
  normal administrative and legislative
  procedures school administrators who set
  of interpret standards for admitting boys
  and girls into schools.

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• Step Four Implement the Strategy
• Implementing an Advocacy strategy has two
  important components
• 1) developing an action plan,
• 2) establishing an institutional mechanism for
  coordinating activities. An action
  plan that details specific activities to
  be undertaken, the time frame for each activity
  and those partners responsible for
  carrying out each specific activity is a useful
  tool for managing the advocacy process. Since
  an advocacy program is a joint enterprise
  compromising an individuals and organisations of
  like mind it is important to identify
  upfront who the partners are and what role
  each is willing and able to play.

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• Step Five Institute Research, Monitoring and
  Evaluation
• Research, monitoring and evaluation are
  critical to the development and implementation of
  an advocacy program. The first three steps of
  strategy development, namely identifying
  issues, determining goals and objectives, and
  selecting audiences, messages and processes all
  need to be founded on sound formative
  research. A variety of quantitative and
  qualitative research methodologies may be
  employed to gather such information.

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Some lessons in electronic womens
networking

• 1. Changing patterns of networking
  Electronic networking tools such as
  mailing lists, online working spaces and
  internet based communication enables more
  collaborative processes and broader
  participation of women in various
  levels of decision-making in
  organisations and networks.

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• 2. Collaborative and multifaceted models for
  women's networking
• Sustainable models are multi-faceted
  combines information facilitation,
  training and capacity building, policy
  advocacy and research. These networks utilise
  collaborative approaches and networks
  that bring together the strengths
  and expertise of various organisations
  

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• 3. The technical is political
• Solutions to enable organisations and
  individuals to share information and
  resources is both a technical and policy
  challenge.