CMD 3223-1 WEEK 9
ADVOCACY TECHNIQUES AND METHODS
1. Letter Writing:
- This may range from public letters, open letters, leaflets, flyers, letter to the editor, print bulletins
and letters to create a mood e.g Dennis Galava’s “open letter to the president”.
2. Education:
- Capacity building workshops, consumer meetings, speaker and lecture series (for specialist
professionals), speeches, and newspapers.
- Capacity building workshops are a good way to bring together different groups; workshops
also highlight community needs. When hundreds of people attend a workshop on legal rights,
for instance, the community at large will realize that legal rights are an issue to be reckoned
with.
3. Legal Advocacy:
- Law has been an indispensable strategy of every social change movement.
- Legal advocacy includes law suits, legal memoranda, legal rights booklets e.g. Kenya Law
Reforms booklet for citizens’ perusal, legal representation in fair hearings and other
negotiations (trade unions, employee representation) and legal advice.
4. Communications:
- Besides newsletters and town barazas, organizers must use a variety of communication
networks and media e.g. slide shows, movies, documentaries (Rafiki, Lost in time), press
conferences, television debates, radio shows, exposes (Dr. Mugo’s scandal, SGR scandal),
phone campaigns, advertisements, public announcements, press releases and posters.
- Communication can be an effective technique for any advocacy effort (“served while hot”). In
order to change policies and practices, one must first change attitudes. Communications help to
educate the community.
5. Symbolic Acts:
- Symbolic acts are an effective way to give a policy, practice, or issue the exposure it deserves.
The refusal of an award/appointment, for example, can focus attention on the event and the
issue. Because it appears shocking or unusual, the symbolic act is talked about long after the
action has occurred.
- On the flipside, however, the symbolic act must be chosen with utmost caution.
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CMD 3223-1 WEEK 9
6. Negotiation:
- In every type of advocacy organizing effort there will be times when confrontation is not
necessary e.g. when negotiating for fair hearing , meetings with bureaucracies, individual
negotiations, and contract bargaining can achieve the same concessions.
- Negotiation should always be a first step in a series of actions, if only to find out where the
policy makers stand.
7. Demonstrations:
- Demonstration depicts community presence. This technique is convenient for civil rights
movements and other human rights struggles.
- Demonstrations ranges from marches, vigils, sit-ins, phone-ins, overloading administrative
systems, jam-ins, sing-ins, leafleting, and picketing.
- Demonstrations serve as an easy, successful, short-term action that often has the added effect
of creating a sense of group purpose and accomplishment.
- Well organized demonstration yields positive outcome since people often do not expect
traditionally powerless groups to make demands.
- While demonstration can be a successful technique, it often results to violent outcome whether
law enforcers use excessive force on the demonstrators.
8. Boycotts:
- Boycotts (strikes, noncooperation, slow compliance, stalling, refusal to pay for services, and
work-ins) are a familiar organizing tactic used by some groups. However, a boycott may
victimize the aggrieved persons by keeping them out of needed services.
- Despite this concern a brief boycott can serve a lobbying purpose. While lobbying has often
been regarded as the key strategy for change, legislative or policy change must always be
accompanied by change at the local day-to-day level where people actually live their lives.
9. Fact Finding Forums (Public Participation Forums):
- These include, team meetings, community polls, experts panel discussions, and television
question and answer programs.
- Any citizen can give testimony (usually five to ten minutes worth) before legislative panels,
town councils, and county legislatures.
- If these formats do not adequately meet the advocate's objectives, however, alternative forums
may be arranged.
10. Demystifying Advocacy Profession:
- This is where Professionals can empower their allies, consumers of services, by translating
research findings, diagnosing terms, testing procedures, and all other elements of education and
service into layman’s language.
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- Too often, scientific jargon becomes a method for professionals to intimidate and control
consumers rather than to assist communication and development.
- For professionals seeking a role in advocacy, demystifying the profession may be a most
valuable contribution.
INTERNAL ADVOCACY
An internal advocate is one who is supported by (including paid by) the system which he/she is trying
to change. It is the contention of the internal advocate that the system needs reform and renewal and
this can be accomplished most successfully from inside the system.
Internal advocacy is committed to the identification of individuals whose rights and needs are not
being met by the system in which the advocate is employed. Thus, the advocate's work involves
attempting to change the system to be more responsive to the individual's need.
Internal advocacy requires a strategic approach, balancing personal influence, political navigation, and
effective communication to make a lasting impact.
Strengths Weaknesses
1. Influence and Persuasion: Advocates can influence Internal Bias or Limited Perspective:
decision-makers by presenting compelling arguments, Being embedded within the organization may lead to
data, and solutions that align with the organization's biases or limited perspectives, as advocates might become
goals and values. too closely aligned with the status quo or internal politics.
2. Building Consensus: Internal advocates have the Resistance to Change: Employees or stakeholders
advantage of building relationships and trust within the may be resistant to change, making internal advocacy
organization, which can lead to greater collaboration challenging, especially if the proposed changes are
and consensus-building. perceived as disruptive.
3. Access to Resources and Information: Being within Political Dynamics: Navigating organizational politics
the organization allows advocates to gather detailed can hinder advocacy efforts, as personal agendas, power
insights and use internal resources (data, expertise, struggles, or competing interests can derail support for the
networks) to strengthen their arguments. cause.
4. Alignment with Organizational Goals: Advocates Burnout: Advocating for a cause within an
can tailor their messaging to fit the organization's organization can be emotionally draining, especially if the
vision, mission, and strategic objectives, making it advocate faces constant opposition or a lack of support.
more likely that the idea will gain traction.
Lack of Authority: If the advocate doesn’t hold a high
5. Increased Buy-in and Support: Having an advocate position of power or influence within the organization,
internally can create a sense of ownership among they might struggle to gain the necessary support from
colleagues, resulting in more dedicated support for decision-makers or peers.
initiatives or changes.
Limited Scope or Reach: The effectiveness of internal
6. Ability to Address Concerns Proactively: Internal advocacy can be limited to certain teams, departments, or
advocates can address resistance or concerns directly groups within the organization, making it difficult to
and quickly, helping to resolve issues before they expand support across the entire organization.
become larger obstacles.
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Over-Commitment: Advocates might become overly
invested in one initiative or cause, neglecting other
important organizational priorities, which can affect the
overall balance of work.
EXTERNAL ADVOCACY
External advocates are supported by non-system resources and are not accountable to persons within
the system. External advocates tend to be viewed as adversaries of the system. They tend to view the
system and all of its parts as contributing to the problems and failures to meet individual clients' needs.
If a particular insensitive system is encountered, the external advocate may favor dismantling the
entire system or may resort to extreme measures in order to implement change (i.e., threat of court
intervention, exposure through media, pressure
External advocacy offers the potential for wide-reaching influence and mobilization, especially when
using media, public campaigns, and building external coalitions. However, the challenges of public
resistance, resource demands, and the unpredictable nature of external reactions can hinder success.
Strengths Weaknesses
1. Wider Reach and Influence: 1. Limited Control Over the Message:
External advocacy allows advocates to engage with a Once an advocacy campaign is launched externally, the
broader audience beyond the organization, including advocate has limited control over how the message is
external stakeholders, media, and the public, which received, interpreted, or shared by the public, media, or other
can amplify the impact of the cause. external parties.
2. Challenges in Mobilizing Support:
2. Public Awareness and Support:
External audiences can be difficult to engage, and it can be
By advocating externally, the cause or issue can gain
hard to convince people who are not directly impacted by the
visibility and support from outside organizations,
cause or issue to take action or support the cause.
community groups, or the media, which can lead to
more resources, attention, and action. 3. Potential Backlash:
3. External Pressure on Decision-Makers: External advocacy can sometimes provoke opposition or
Advocacy directed at external stakeholders like negative reactions, especially if the cause challenges
government agencies, regulatory bodies, or corporate established norms, powerful stakeholders, or political
leaders can exert pressure to enact policy changes or interests. This can lead to reputational damage or increased
decisions that align with the advocate's goals. resistance.
4. Building Partnerships and Alliances: 4. Resource-Intensive:
External advocacy can foster partnerships with like- External advocacy often requires significant resources,
minded organizations, community leaders, or including funding for campaigns, lobbying, media outreach,
influencers. These alliances can be instrumental in and organizing. These costs can be high and might require
building credibility and collective support. long-term commitment to sustain the effort.
5. Misalignment with Public Opinion:
5. Objective Perspective: Advocates may encounter difficulties if their cause is not in
Advocates from outside an organization can often line with public sentiment or if the cause is perceived as too
present a more impartial perspective, which can be controversial. This could hinder the success of their efforts or
effective in rallying public opinion or shifting lead to diminishing returns.
policies in favor of their cause.
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6. Legal or Regulatory Risks:
6. Media Attention and Public Campaigns: External advocacy can involve navigating complex legal
Engaging the media or utilizing social media frameworks, such as lobbying regulations, public policy laws,
platforms can create viral attention for the advocacy or defamation risks. Violating these laws could harm the cause
cause, bringing it to the forefront of public discourse and lead to legal consequences.
and influencing decision-makers.
7. Difficulty in Measuring Impact:
It may be challenging to measure the direct impact of external
advocacy efforts, especially when trying to track long-term
changes in policy, public opinion, or stakeholder behavior.
The results may not always be immediately apparent.
8. Competing Priorities:
External stakeholders may have competing interests or
priorities, which can make it difficult for an advocacy effort
to break through. Advocacy efforts may also be
overshadowed by more urgent or popular causes.
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