Zastupanje u deset koraka

Ten Steps in Advocacy

17 September 2012, Aleksandra Radetić

Do you want to fight for the rights of those whose voices are not heard and who are pushed to the margins of society? Do you believe you have the power to change the world around you? Do you think that social justice can be attained? Your answer is yes, but you don't know where to begin? Read this short text and move to action!

What is advocacy? In short, it is all the activities that can help achieve goals – it applies to public policy, distribution of resources, decision making in political, economic or social systems and institutions. Through this process each of us can lead to societal changes, to achieve fair and democratic power balance and in this way bring about systemic equality and justice and bring positive change to the quality of life in the community.

How to address advocacy efforts? Always address them to a person, never an institution! Find out which institution is responsible for your problem or advocacy topic. Find the person who has the power to make some steps. Take into account the enemies – who could sabotage you in your efforts, what are their strengths and weaknesses, what are the risks of opposing them?

Which tactics to apply? Your activities need to be in line with the political moment and take into account the environment. Be flexible and creative. You can organise workshops or conferences, media events, public debates, protests, negotiations, lobbying, reports and similar.

Never forget: you are fighting for someone's rights, against discrimination. Because rights are not earned, they are owned. When you have information, you have the power. Power is not distributed evenly because those outside the system do not have information. You are giving the voice to people who need a chance to say things in their own way, to turn to someone who will really listen and who can do something for them.

Inclusion does not only mean to invite people to sit down together. Give sincere welcome and show interest in a person's attitudes, regardless of their status or title.

Ten simple advocacy steps:

  1. Define the topic, that is, the problem or issue: what are the causes to the problem? What legal solutions exist? Are there “loopholes” in regulations?
  2. Set the goal and tasks. Try to make the tasks specific, measurable, realistic, time-limited, achievable.
  3. Recognise the target audience: turn primary attention to decision makers. Do not neglect all those who can influence decision makers.
  4. Develop a convincing message, tailored to the target audience’s interests: the message should be short, precise and clear. Let it be simple and easy to remember. Adjust the language to the target group. Pay attention to the place and time of delivering the message.
  5. Choose adequate channels of communication: meetings, letters, brochures, posters, petitions, street performances, exhibitions, protests, debates, press releases and media...
  6. Find allies – they can be groups or individuals.
  7. Raise resources, and not only money, but knowledge, skills, volunteers, equipment, space, materials.
  8. Apply strategy with an adequate action plan that would clearly define the tasks of all allies.
  9. Collect data and analyse them – this is a long-term process, with continuous review of all the above steps.
  10. Monitor and evaluate success: have there been obstacles, did you and how did you overcome them? Should the task be modified? Should compromise be made on some issue?

Advocacy examples within European Partnership with Municipalities Programme – EU PROGRES:

  1. Serbian Gender Equality Law provides for establishment of a working body in each local self-government to deal with gender equality related issues. EU PROGRES, in cooperation with NGO DamaD, supported training for municipal gender equality focal points, which included advocacy workshops. At the end of the project, all 12 municipalities that went through the training established local gender equality mechanisms. Owing to advocacy processes, Novi Pazar, Sjenica, Tutin, Raška, Ivanjica and Priboj for the first time in their budgets included the line that is allocated to gender equality.
  2. All EU PROGRES activities rely on good governance principles: accountability, transparency, effectiveness, efficiency, participation and non-discrimination. These principles are also key in the advocacy process. Good governance campaign, communicating with municipal officials, NGO representatives, high-school students, has already seen the first results: good governance is visible to the public and mayors speak of the importance of respecting good governance principles; employees in citizens assistance centres in Novi Pazar, Bujanovac, Raška and Kuršumlija wear name-tags; in Ivanjica, municipal website is sounded, so that blind persons can access the news; and finally, recommendations from public debates held during the campaign will be the foundation for the advocacy efforts of EU PROGRES.
  3. With EU PROGRES support in Novi Pazar, Prokuplje, Žitorađa and Preševo, Citizens’ Advisory Services were established, where the most vulnerable groups of population can receive legal aid and information about how to access their rights to personal documents, education, health care and social protection. Data collection about citizens’ needs provides valuable information to advocate for changes in service provision in local self-governments.

Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world...would do this, it would change the earth. William Faulkner

Aleksandra Radetić
EU PROGRES Communication Advisor and PhD student in Culture
and Media with the Faculty of Political Science in Belgrade

The attitudes outlined in this article represent personal beliefs of the author and do not necessarily reflect viewpoints of the European Partnership with Municipalities Programme, or the European Union, the Government of Switzerland and the Government of Serbia.

Please be informed that the European Partnership with Municipalities Programme – EU PROGRES was completed on 31 March 2014. If you would like to learn about the activities and results of the European PROGRES, which is a continuation of development support of the European Union and Government of Switzerland to the South East and South West Serbia, please visit www.europeanprogres.org