Integrating ICT Policy in
Advocacy Work
 Definition of Terms
 Advocacy in a civil society or NGO
c
ontext it generally refers to redressing u
nequal power relationships and implies m
oving beyond the politics of protest to th
e politics of engagement. (Burch & Le
on, 2000)
 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)
 Advocacy is speaking up, drawing a
community’s 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)
 Advocacy
involves
attempts
to
influence the political climate, public
perceptions,
policy
decisions
and
funding determinations…
(Advocates
for Youth, 1995)
 Advocacy simply means supporting a
cause and trying to get others to support
it (Advocates for Youth, 1995)
 Advocacy is the act or process of
supporting a cause or issue (IPPF, 1995)
 Advocacy is result oriented. It is end
oriented. (Akhila Shivadas)
 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)
 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
 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)
 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.
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.
 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.
 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)Beneficiaries;b)Partners;
c) Adversaries; and d) Decision Makers.
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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.
Some lessons in electronic women’s
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.
 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
 3. The technical is political
 Solutions to enable organisations and
individuals to share information and
resources is both a technical and policy
challenge.