MY OFFER
Approach
My approach and range of services
I offer a range of services to build the capacity of an organisation to engage in strategic and sustained advocacy. My approach is to increase advocacy understanding, skills and confidence of teams, empowering them to lead and contribute to their organisation's advocacy efforts.
As well as building the capacity of teams through in-country workshops, meetings, and coaching, I can provide ongoing coaching and mentoring remotely as you implement your strategies.
Leadership for advocacy
Leadership for advocacy
I support organisations to develop an overall framework for how they will engage in advocacy, including a road-map for moving from where they are now, to where they want to be in 3 to 5 years.
I guide teams on ways to organise advocacy across their organisation including: leadership for advocacy, roles and responsibilities of different teams, and mechanisms for inter-office coordination. This ensures strong collaboration between staff members across the organisation and strong leadership to pave the way forward.
Advocacy agenda
Advocacy agenda
I assist teams to determine the advocacy priorities for their organisation, and to establish decision making criteria for selecting priorities.
I can steer teams through a decision-making process to agree the priorities, and to ensure buy-in across the organisation.
Advocacy workshops
Workshops to build capacity and to develop advocacy strategies
I provide training to build the advocacy capacity of different teams and to develop their understanding of what advocacy is, and what it involves.
I deliver workshops for teams to explore each of their advocacy priorities, to generate ideas, and to secure collective agreement on the best way to advocate for the specific child rights issue. The workshops take the team through a step by step process to agree on the advocacy objectives, target audiences, key messages, advocacy tactics, and monitoring and evaluation framework.
Advocacy strategies
Preparing advocacy strategies
I support teams to develop comprehensive advocacy strategies for their advocacy priorities including:
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A specific theory about how the change process is expected to occur and what will help to move toward a policy “win”;
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SMART advocacy goals
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Audience mapping: Understanding who they are, how much they care about the issue, and how you want them to change.
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Advocacy avenues and tactics: Partnerships, electoral advocacy, judicial advocacy, legislative advocacy, public advocacy
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Persuasive messaging: What to say to whom at what stage of the procedure
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Channels for messaging: Print, broadcast and social media – including media relations
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Developing communications content: Crafting and delivering communication that influences key audiences.
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Timing: Identifying critical influencing moments. Breaking down the strategy into an actionable work plan.
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Monitoring and evaluating results: How to be results oriented and measure changes in your audiences.
Partnerships for advocacy
Partnerships for advocacy
I assist organisations to create collaborative partnerships and to plan how to develop relationships with new and existing stakeholders so that these can be mobilised for the advocacy agenda when their help is needed. Example partners include: Parliamentarians, faith-based organisations, adolescents and youth, media, the private sector, political and public champions, and civil society organisations.
Monitoring & evaluation
Monitoring and evaluating advocacy
I advise teams on methods for monitoring and evaluating advocacy efforts to help to ensure that advocacy is as effective as possible. Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) planning should occur at the start of the advocacy effort, ideally while the strategy is being developed or soon after, so that monitoring and evaluation can be used for mid-course correction, organisational learning and measuring impact.