Urbanus Kioko OSI EE Partners workshop March 09 Thanks to the International Budget Project for the use of their slides and to Brett Davidson for sharing his Media Notes & Ideas

Advocacy Action Action component of the advocacy strategy covers:  communication & media,  outreach & mobilisation,  lobbying & negotiation  organisation & leadership

Strategies and tactics for advocacy The strategies and tactics for advocacy include:  Coalition building,  media work,  public education,  grassroot organising,  members mobilising,  legislative advocacy/litigation

Advocacy action #1 Lobbying: the process of trying to directly influence decision-makers, such as politicians, civil servants, or corporate chief executives Public campaigning: activities to engage the public, and to mobilise visible support for your position

Advocacy Action #2 Media work: raising public awareness of your issues, with a view to changing public attitudes and behaviour, and encouraging support for your other advocacy actions Capacity building: increasing the knowledge of those affected by a particular issue, and increasing their skills and developing their structures to enable them to carry out their own advocacy

Essential Relations #1 Alliances are short term relationships among members that are focused to meet a specific objective. They are limited in time and goal and tend to be less demanding on members

Essential Relations #2 Coalitions are a long term relationships amongst autonomous or semi autonomous members formally organised/structured having official roles/staff to achieve specific objectives

Essential Relations #3 Networks are loose, flexible associations of people and groups brought together by a common concern or interest to share information and ideas

Country Team work  Coalitions:  Generate a list of advantages and disadvantage of working in a coalition  Suggest solutions to the challenges  Identify a scenario related to your project that might be best addressed through a coalition

Some Challenges of Coalitions Difficult to form and sustain Difficult managing differences Unrealistic expectations from the members Getting members to fulfil their responsiblities

Tips for establishing a successful coalition  Be clear about the advocacy issue  Develop membership criteria  Resolve what the coalition will do and not do  Select a steering committee  Assess progress periodically  Develop code of conduct

Using the Media Effectively Why work with the media? Media plays a key role in today’s society, No advocacy or communications campaign can hope to succeed without media exposure. With any campaign, there are usually three possible objectives To inform/ educate To change attitudes/beliefs To change behaviour Note: above objectives are progressively more difficult to achieve. It is easier to inform and educate, than to change attitudes and beliefs.

Types of media Newspapers (national, regional, community/ neighbourhood, daily vs weekly ‘serious’ vs tabloid Magazines: from beauty to celebrity to sport to news and current affairs weekly vs monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly local vs regional vs international Radio (public service vs commercial and community), national vs regional, local and international various language services Overseas broadcasters (BBC, RFI, Radio Netherlands, etc)

Techniques for getting media attention Make press calls understand the key role-players (Editors, Sub-editors, News editors, journalists/Reporters, Specialist reporters, Producers (radio and TV) The news cycle: understand the news or content cycle of the media you interact with, Distribute press releases Hold press conferences when called for Stage events Participate in talk shows Write letters to the editor Contribute Op-Ed articles Provide background information and briefings Be a good source Come up with interesting news angles for regular events or calendar dates

Guidelines for press conferences (PC0 PCs should be held rarely. Journalists are busy, will not attend a press conference unless the matter is especially important or dramatic. PCs for only complex issues that you need to provide detailed explanations Press conferences- hold close to most media organisations’ offices as possible, Press kits should be prepared before-hand and handed out to reporters. Should contain hard copies of all statements or speeches to be made at the press conference, Two or three speakers highly recommended

Guidelines for Interviews Understand the purpose of the interview. If the interview was requested by a journalist, when and where it will appear, the length (size of story, number of words, time in minutes), when and where the interview will be held, and t he name of the interviewer. For television and radio: Know whether the interview will appear live, or be pre- recorded (and probably edited before-hand). Language should be kept clear and simple. Steer away from excessively complex arguments, and too many facts and figure It is important never to become irritated or aggressive

Exercise Eliminating jargon: First, the group should identify the common jargon words that you all use regularly in the course of your work (some examples are: facilitation, empowerment, capacity building, grassroots… etc). Now, work in pairs. Each person should take turns, explaining his or her job, as if talking to someone at a cocktail party. But you’re not allowed to use any of the identified jargon words. The person not talking should ‘beep’ the other person, every time a jargon word is used. It’s a great exercise in learning how to explain yourself in simple, everyday language. Writing a press release: Write a press release relating to your issue or campaign. Creating a sound-bite: Write a 30-second sound bite summing up the key point of your advocacy campaign.

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