Policy Advocacy Training: Effective Strategies & Tactics Guide

This presentation provides a comprehensive overview of policy advocacy training, emphasizing key strategies and tactics. It covers essential elements such as coalition building, highlighting the importance of broad representation and the power grid method for identifying supportive groups. The presentation also explores media communication tools, including TV, radio, social media, and the internet, for disseminating advocacy messages to the public and policymakers. Furthermore, it discusses the use of technology, like social media and mobile apps, to raise awareness, educate the public, and mobilize support for advocacy initiatives. The training underscores the need for understanding the power of policy advocates, developing a strategic framework, building relationships, and maintaining ongoing communication to ensure effective advocacy campaigns. Desklib offers additional resources, including past papers and solved assignments, to further support students in their understanding of policy advocacy.

HUMAN SERVICES Student Name:

POLICY ADVOCACY
Policy Advocacy:
Policy advocacy is the set of actions that direct to established goal
and is set before by planning of needs that are to be put in a plan.
•Advocacy is set before planning and even before planning an
understanding of needs is made to frame this
•It is action steps or strategies or approaches to possible goals or
issues

CONTD…
Policy advocacy is action strategies or tactics that can be utilised for community initiatives coupled with other
elements and are not direct services and mostly do not include confrontation or disagreements (Margolis & Ersoylu
2015)
Some example can better explain what advocacy is:
• Joining of community group that assists underprivileged in constructing their homes is not advocacy as it is service
• However when a person organizes and initiates actions to get a portion of apartments in a new location assigned for
low income group housing is an action of advocacy

CONTD..
Another example is:
• A person spends his weekend assisting sorting goods at recycling center and this is not advocacy rather it is service
• Moreover when the person leads a drive together with others to get a city to protect a recycling center that is going
to be closed down or helps in searching some new site is an action of advocacy.
Advocacy generally includes gathering people from different bodies like government, schools, business etc to
improve an unfair or harmful condition that is affecting community or its people. The different social conditions can
be addressed and resolved through persuasion by forcing bodies like government, corporates etc to modify
situations under pressure or through political or legislative actions.

WHAT MAKES FOR
EFFECTIVE POLICY
ADVOCACY
The rightness of the cause
The power of the policy advocates (i.e., more of them is much
better than less)
The thoroughness with which policy advocates researched the
issues, the opposition, and the climate of opinion about the issue in
the community
Their skill in using the advocacy tools available (including the
media)
The selection of effective strategies and tactics

CONTD..
For making policy advocacy work effectively it should be kept free
from confrontation or conflicts and should be made appealing to
gather attention of more people included in different bodies such as
government, business etc to set and run the advocacy program in
the community. Advocacy needs to be made appealing to masses
so that major resources can be included in policy advocacy
program so that it is taken as serious matter and drives support of
public for a cause and makes people drive efforts for support.

DOES POLICY ADVOCACY
INVOLVE CONFRONTATIONS
Policy advocacy can involve confrontations at start but should not
include conflicts. For effective advocacy the policy advocates
should be more firm on confrontations that are essential and should
be careful on planning of approaches and tactics to make the issue
drive more clarity to emphasize clear choice of actions.

ADVOCACY TRAINING NEEDS
• Understanding the power of policy advocates like NGO
•Developing structure and framework for advocacy to aim vision and
mission to public fro better effectiveness of strategic approach and
tactics
•Needs developing relationship or coalitions
•Requires maintaining ongoing communication to gather support

STRATEGIES

ADVOCACY CYCLE

POLICY ADVOCACY DIAGRAM

CONTD..
Advocacy is initiated to support gathering of policy advocates for a
cause such as fundraising, hiring people for community programs
to drive the advocacy initiative to ensure its effectiveness.
Advocacy needs support of strong strategies to make it working
effectively. The advocacy demonstrations needs planning with
direct experience or preliminary research to attain goals and should
be carried out with enough capacity of policy advocates in support
for campaign who have active enthusiasm and energy to drive
advocacy to reach its goals with a long haul.