1. Policy Advocacy for Rural Advisory Services
Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS)
Part of the New Extensionist Learning Kit

2. Introduction to policy advocacy
Study unit 1
Introduction to policy advocacy

3. Overview Study unit 1 is about:
Presenting advocacy in the broad sense and in context of RAS
Providing examples of advocacy
Describing the basic elements of advocacy strategies

4. What is a policy?
Policies are principles which guide decision making and assist in achieving specific goals
Policies define government attitude towards important issues such as:
Gender rights
Climate change
Sustainable development
Education

5. What is advocacy
Advocacy is the process of influencing policies to ensure that communities:
have their rights protected
are involved in the decision making processes
are able to voice concerns on issues important to them

6. Policy and advocacy
The importance of public policy

7. Approaches to policy advocacy
Advising
Providing expert opinion on important issues
Media campaigning
Reaching the largest audience possible in order to raise awareness of a specific message or issue
Lobbying
Influencing the actions of government by persuading policymakers directly or seeking assistance from private companies

8. Approaches to policy advocacy
Activism
Using public opinion in to influence the decisions of policymakers; normally seen as rallies/protest movements
Information, education, communication (IEC)
Similar to media campaigning but with a focus on developing community knowledge and skills to raise awareness
Behavioral change communication
Changing what is considered normal behavior to decrease the occurrence or severity of problems. Mostly used in conjunction with media campaigning and IEC

9. What is social and behaviour change communication

10. Advocacy and RAS Focused on:
Providing a voice within global policy dialogues
Improving investment in RAS
Supporting the development of evidence based policies
Strengthening the capacity of actors and forums

11. The policy development process
Study unit 2
The policy development process

12. Overview Study unit 2 is about:
Understanding how policies are developed, analysed and implemented
Shareholder mapping
Identifying opportunities and barriers
Finding fundraising sources

13. Defining the RAS policy environment
Understand the situation
What problems are people facing?
Identifying policy issues
Researching the problem
Identifying key actors and institutions
Building relationships
Analysing the policy environment
Looking at the above points in order to select the best approaches for the target audience and problem

14. Policymaking Process

15. The Policy Making Process
A look at the policy making process

16. Stakeholder mapping Stakeholders
Individuals with an interest in or effected by a project or problem
Stakeholders have different levels of influence
Influence is dependent on the type of relationships and connections between stakeholders

17. Stakeholder mapping
Identifying key stakeholders using stakeholder mapping

18. Identifying opportunities and barriers
A barrier is an obstacle that prevents people or things from progressing forward. It can refer to:
Social
Financial
Cultural
and institutional barriers.

19. Common barriers
Examples of common barriers seen in the policy making process
Lack of awareness and understanding
Lack of resources
Poorly defined benefits
Lack of tools and methods
Lack of skills and expertise
Time constraints

20. Policy entrepreneurship styles
Overcoming barriers through policy process engagement
Storytellers
Able to take complex policy issues and communicate in a simple manner the key objectives and challenges to the audience.
Networkers
Able to influence policy by building relationships with and creating connections between stakeholders

21. Policy entrepreneurship styles
Overcoming barriers through policy process engagement
Engineers
Able to demonstrate the practical real world impact of policy change on the audience
Fixers
Able to use their understanding of the current political and social situation to select the best strategy for implementing policies

22. Fundraising
Several fundraising ideas aimed at non profit organisations.

23. Mobilising for action: The policy advocacy strategy
Study unit 3
Mobilising for action: The policy advocacy strategy

24. Overview Study unit 3 is about:
Using evidence based approaches to identify and solve policy problems
Identifying, understanding and communicating with policy audiences
Defining advocacy goals and objectives
Developing clear advocacy messages
Policy champions

25. Identification of policy issues and solutions
Evidence Gathering
Before beginning any project make sure that you know all the facts
This is done through gathering all available data on the topic
The benefits of good evidence are:
Improved problem identification
Better understanding of the causes
Improved solution identification
Better solution implementation
The ability to predict and account for future changes

26. Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored
-Aldous Huxley

27. Evidence based policy making
Example of how science and evidence are used to improve food systems

28. Good evidence gathering
Good evidence is:
Accurate: are the same findings verified by multiple independent sources
Objective: are statements within documents themselves backed by evidence
Credibility: is the source of the information know for their accurate and objective work
Relevance: is the information relevant to the problem you are dealing with

29. Understanding your audience
Audience for advocacy
Stakeholders who are able to influence the policy making process

30. Types of audiences
Primary audience
Secondary audience
Groups directly involved in the policy making process
E.g. Government officials, corporations
Groups able to influence primary audience members through political influence or pressure from public opinion
E.g. Religious and community leaders

31. Defining advocacy goals and objectives
SMART goals
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time-bound

32. Goals and objectives
Identifying the difference

33. Developing advocacy messages
A message is influenced by:
The content:
Is the message easily understood by the target audience?
To prevent confusion is only the necessary information included?
Timing:
Is the attention of the target audience currently distracted by other matters?
The audience:
Is the message relevant to the target audience?
Are they able to see the benefit of the project?

34. Developing advocacy messages
A message is influenced by:
The goal of the message:
Does the message clearly indicate the goals and objectives of the project
Does the message motivate the audience said goals and objectives
The messenger:
Is the message sent through means that best reaches the target audience?
Is the messenger able to convey the aspects of advocacy message development discussed

35. Advocacy, BCC and IEC
Advocacy is the process of influencing policies, which includes:
Informing public opinion on important issues
And suggesting and gaining support for strategies to resolve issues
These strategies are often implement through:
Behaviour Change Communication (BCC)
And Information, Education and Communication (IEC)

36. Advocacy strategies Aimed at: Aimed at: IEC BCC
developing communication strategies to promote positive behaviours appropriate to the advocacy goals and objectives
Aimed at:
developing communication strategies to promote positive behaviours appropriate to the advocacy goals and objectives
Create a support environment to maintain these behaviours

37. Policy champions Individuals: Celebrity endorsement
With good social and communication skills
Familiarity with policy issues and implementation
Self motivated
Connections to or popular with the audience in question
Celebrity endorsement
Able to use there popularity and pre-existing audiences to spread awareness of issues and influence primary and secondary audiences

38. Example of IEC implementation
The video demonstrates the use of IEC and celebrity advocacy champions in achieving Anaemia Eradication Policies

39. Policy advocacy engagement platforms and tools
Study unit 4
Policy advocacy engagement platforms and tools

40. Overview Study unit 3 is about:
Using policy appropriate tools to create policy dialogues
Understanding the role of media in influencing policy advocacy
Measuring the success of policy initiatives by setting clear goals

41. Purpose of policy dialogues
Facilitating dialogues between stakeholders
Including opposition groups in discussions
Resolving disagreements through evidence based approaches
Using dialogue judgments to develop and implement policy strategies
The process of bringing stakeholders from different groups together to resolve conflicts, address issues and formulate plans aimed at identifying and implementing policy objectives and goals

42. Facilitating a policy dialogue
A look at the importance policy dialogues

43. Using media for policy advocacy
Social Media
Easiest way of communicating with large audiences
Builds connections between audiences
Examples: Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc

44. Using media for policy advocacy
Op/Ed
Opposite editorial page
Located next to the editorial page in newspapers
Opinion pieces aimed at promoting discussions amongst readers and sharing views
Webinars
Web based seminars simulating classroom environments
Allows for discussions between experts and participants

45. Measuring Project Success
A look at key factors in determining project success

46. Acknowledgements
This module was made possible through the support of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The contents of this module are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of GIZ or their government. All work by Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services is licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 Unported License.