My Communities

Understanding the political temperature is key for advocacy

Political context is not only important but the way to become effectiveness of the advocacy approach and ensure the change that we need to tacle. May be defining problem must include context analysis so then can more easily to understand the way and strategy for the advocacy

It is always important to analyze the context and the root causes of the problems to which we want to provide solutions in order to minimize the risks for our organization and our employees.

Of course it´s important to understand the political context, must of our countries have a semi-opened systems, actually right now in Mexico we have a left's govertment with popularism method of doing thinks with a lack of transparency and high level of corruption

GENIAL COURSE

genial the module

This is true. It is important to understand how a particular government works, how they view a particular issue, the law before embarking on your advocacy.

A great question. As we see in the many great posts here in this discussion If we are about making a difference in our actions and advocating for others to change we need to understand political context for many reasons. Seems to me at the heart of this is seeking as context allows to improve relationships / connections. We can miss the real problem through the eyes of those we seek to serve - or we can miss the perspective of those we seek to persuade to help us solve the problem with our advocacy efforts. Either of these will dilute our effectiveness.

We do not need to pretend all will become great friends in making change - but if we better understand and connect (with respect) we may better work to ensure impact towards solving the problem with less tension, frustration, road blocks etc. Of course the BIG assumption is that we can find common ground (around the problem and around some common guiding values). In many change efforts this proves a very large challenge - as an example corruption within authority bodies and NGOs can create a gap of understanding that makes progress an uphill push. But in seeking to improve a connection within our context we can adapt (in the interest of change not scoring points) for better outcomes.

Understanding the political context is often vital - since the power to block or advance solutions for a problem very often rests within a political context. If our efforts simply create some friction and pushback we can spend large amounts of energy but may not move towards solutions and can become stuck in a form of trench warfare. Keeping our focus on the problem we seek to solve within a healthy context - including politics improves our chances of making a difference.

Advocacy can be effective tool for social change. However, its success might depend on whether the problem being addressed is not interest based. People are less likely to change behaviour if doing so might cost them certain privileges

It is good to know the 3 types of Advocacies. This going to help in a long way to help my Organization to know our targeted group and perhaps considering that my Organization is operating in a terrain that is Semi Open we could just change our coups of operation and get involve with different Advocacy to keep our members safe.

I would put Australia in the restrictive column, to be honest. There are political and civil ramifications for people who speak out against government over-reach, welfare nets are used to dehumanise recipients, health care has been supplanted by non-trained administrators and for profit companies through the NDIS, immigrants and asylum seekers are regularly targeted by authorities, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations have been and continue to be targeted or ignored by not just the government but the community at large. Operating as though new ideas are welcome and that agencies want to help has lead to disastrous outcomes.

Advocacy has been one the key evolution of social science and human behavurious. as well, in political context the advocacy had huge consequence for some political evolution leaders. it is something that few people get away with it in precise way. working under some restricted political environment has huge consequences if you don't have a carefully set out advocacy strategy. advocacy is needed yet it is one of the dangerious things you could possibly do if you are not careful with the kind of approach you use.

I want to understand what tools should we use to understand the problem from people who are actually facing it. Should we develop questionnaires or conduct interviews or open a forum on social media? How do we do it? As the societal context keep evolving all the time, how do we make sure that we are referring to the right literature, if the tool we are adopting is researching the publicly available information.

It is important to understand your context so that you can calculate the risks that you have

There is no doubt that understanding the political environment is so important for the success of an advocacy approach.

There is no doubt that understanding the political environment is so important for the success of an advocacy approach. However, some government regimes require,recognizes and can recommend any amount of input for from the nonprofit organization by providing the necessary resources and space for the project implementing agencies.

Political environment for an advocator must determine which theory and strategy to use in advocating for a problem to be solved , for example rajesh noted that most advocacy is effective during an election or as soon as there is a new administration because it gives leeway for both the advocator and the target group of people who are supposed to change policy evaluate on the failures or success of the previous or current administration .

I agree with you, you must understand the context you are working with and provide solution that suits the environment.
The advocacy method that produce good result in open context can lead to imprisonment or frustration in restrictive context.
We should identify the problem and approach it with consideration given to the context

A proper understanding of the context is a critical requirement to determine if advocacy is the answer. Advocacy can be a wasted effort or wrong approach if there are no constitutional or legal support and if it does not address public need. Some advocacy are not cheap and can be a long journey, So its important for NGOs to have a prioritize agenda and collaborate with key stakeholders in whatever context advocacy must be applied.

Well detailed

This is very true but depending on the context , if the context is restrictive or semi open being inclusive may also be a problem especially gathering the people without the authority of the existing powers

During the last decade, the world has witnessed a remarkable impact in terms of closing civic spaces to people and civil society organizations, with
Further restrictions on freedoms, such as freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of assembly, protest, peaceful assembly, and freedom of assembly and association
For civil associations and organizations, especially those working in the field of defending human rights. There are many methods of restriction. It is what is
It is based on legislation stipulated by state systems, some of which are undeclared, such as those related to the practices of relevant institutions, such as
. Oversight bodies and bodies concerned with granting licenses to publish, establish associations, or secure peaceful assemblies, including those related to
The awareness of the masses and their culture and the extent to which they are affected by the nationalist discourse adopted by some regimes, as well as by what is broadcast by the media or
What educational curricula in those countries adopt, and how all this and others affect the workspace for societal change.

It's important to know the type of government policies put in place in your region and how they can either help or mar your advocacy

countries that have fully open political environment are lucky.

I believe that it's important to think about the political side of advocacy because you now know how to approach the situation/issues.

I completely agree because in order to solve a problem that is affecting a SOCIETY we need to solve the main issue that is causing the problem.

Understanding the political environment of the country in which an advocate wants to work in will definitely help them proper structure their plan and be sure to get the right attention of those that they will need help from in order to bring about change. I believe also understanding the political environment helps you better position yourself well as an advocate who have people's lives and heart and are willing to bring to change that will not be harmful to anyone.

True, so that in the end you do not step on anyone's toes trying to bring change.

A critical element of any successful advocacy initiative is a comprehensive understanding of the political environment that exist for influencing the policy process and the risks associated with them.

this is really educative,i can relate to some of the things that are happening in my country and its going to be help when i pursue my masters in social work.

This environment will help to unlock the potentials that exist in such a context

The three political contexts explained above are well understood- Open, Semi-open and Restrictive. It is unfortunate that we live in a world where (at least in the African continent) the most prevalent sort of political context is the Semi-Open one. In a lot of places, the political context is downright Restrictive. I do not think that there is anywhere in Africa where the Open political context is being run. However, the tide is gradually changing. Young people are getting interested in and more involved in politics. They are beginning to vie for elective positions which were once the domain of the older generation of our fathers. They are beginning to use their voices and time to boldly speak up and even peacefully demonstrate against the issues and problems with the current regime in their various countries and states. Social media has been a very helpful tool in driving this positive change. Eventually, there would be a shift in the political clime and young people would start being elected into political positions. The prevalence of social media would ensure that a lot of openness is demanded and achieved in the coming political systems. I see a situation where there would be shift from Semi-Open to Open political systems and from Restrictive to Semi-Open, and eventually, to the Open political context in the coming years.

It is very clear that for advocacy to take place effectively no matter the problem that an organization is trying to solve, then understanding what political context has in place is equally important. This will safe the organization conflicts with the government. Otherwise, they will do better with full understanding of the context in place.

I was be very pleased to read the most of discussions

Hi everyone, I chose that I'm working in a semi-open context,, but it's crucial to note that Benin government in these past 06 years, have impemented profound changes that make advocacy work relatively easier.

It is interesting to note that there are quite a number of factors that should come into play before developing an advocacy strategy. Identifying a problem and it's solutions may not be the only steps in developing a rich advocacy plan. It is prudent that the implications of this problem and the solutions to the organization are well thought out before signing off an advocacy idea for execution.

very important

It's important to focus on advocate for the community, because too much people don't know how to step up

I think there is no straightforward answer to this. It is so because, given the dynamics for real-life problems and advocacy campaigns, consistency may not be the outright solution.

Dexterity in the problem solving can trump consistency in the overall advocacy message.

This is great news! May you share some examples in what ways they have made this easier, so we all could learn more! ✌

Yes its important because its much easier to get to understand a particular problem only if you get to know the root cause of that particular problem from the context of the person who has gone faced that problem. If you get the views from the insider it will be easy to come up with a solution for that particular problem other than trying to get the cause from an outsider.

We should understand the local or national political environment for getting success of an advocacy we are initiating because political environment plays a vital role for advocacy. It is obvious that same approach can be taken for another context.

I completely agree

Sometimes even being directly face to face with a problem doesn't give us the answer what to do

It is indeed important to understand the problem and it's causes as this is the only way meaningful solutions which are effective and lasting can be found and implemented.

I think ethics and morals are tangible factors to determine if advocacy can work or not.

I think it is important not to confuse advocacy with lobbying; In the country where I live (Brazil) lobbying can be interpreted as an act of corruption. And the political context is very sensitive with the Party that is in power (in Brazil the elections are direct for President, Governors, Senators, Deputies and Mayors). The fact is that solutions are sometimes obtained via counterparts with politicians that can be dealt with through advocacy (by the ruling party) or lobbying (by the opposition parties). Very complicated! How to solve this?

The "lived experience" is the most important piece of being able to have an understanding as to what the next step would be in find a solution to the problem.

I learned some things to consider in choosing advocacy. In our country, red tagging for those who speak in what they advocate for is waiting from the government. I also observed that, here, is difficult to advocate. Many misinformation and disinformation propaganda are spread. Advocating in specific area is so challenging.

Political context sometimes disturb Advocacy. There was a time by a near by village to where I'm living because of political influence and selfishness of people that are living in that village they end up losing a very good developmental project...

Yes I agree with u because not just NGO's but everyone engaging the government needs to know the context in which he/she is working

I agree as media or advocacy freedom is important in governance.

If advocacy is actually the answer, then what's the question? A very good understanding of the problem places one on a good path to set out an advocacy strategy and how to execute the set out strategies.

Gaining a grasp on the problems that real people are having is paramount. I now realize that I need to inquire of people who suffer from real problems with anti-secularism. I need to better understand what we are up against, so that I can formulate an action plan for my nonprofit as I launch it.

I live in an open political environment; however, my work will center in other places which are not all as open as this one. I plan to help people worldwide, focusing on places where people are not free in order to help free them. Therefore, I will be going up against tough governmental opposition.
Wish me luck!

Government control or influence on activity of NGO is very recurrent especially in Africa, we see the problems grow everyday, want to solve them but most governments are hostile to NGO

i most countries some countries seem to give ground for openness when in actual sense not true. When one person shows their side that an example in my home country Uganda you are summoned and tortured illegally and unprofessionally

Knowing the political context is the very first step to success, it will help you know the right strategies to use for effective advocacy.

In most countries the Political atmoshpere does not make it easy for Advocacy to take place as more often than not the process itself unravel the government incompetencies

Advocacy in the political context is an important contribution to effective and responsive government by making vital information available to public officials who cannot possibly know the full impact of every law and regulation that comes before them. When participating in political advocacy, people voice their opinions through emails, letters, calls, and social media posts to their elected officials. it actually enables citizens or community members have their views and wishes genuinely considered when decisions are being made about their lives.

I agree that involving people who are victims is important in understanding the root cause of the problem which then lays a good foundation for determining the advocacy strategy and the message to pass out to the change makers.

I loved how this was broken down for me! learning who those key stakeholders are not kicking down the door! but figuring out and investigating why are things so hushed and how can I overlook that, and or by pass that to get what I need! really made me look at things differently and try to come up with a plan of approach for how I come to stakeholder etc.

I agree that involving people who are victims is important in understanding the root cause of the problem which then lays a good foundation for determining the advocacy strategy and the message to pass out to the change makers.

It is important to contextualize advocacy approaches and that requires analyzing the root causes of the problem which is political instability and very closed environment to work for your advocacy.

excellent

I agree that involving people who are victims is important in understanding the root cause of the problem which then lays a good foundation for determining the advocacy strategy and the message to pass out to the change makers.

The political environment in Colombia is somewhat limited, because there are complex structures, due to the mismanagement of resources and corruption, on the other hand, the procedures that must be carried out for the development of a project with the national planning department they are previously notified to the call and some groups and entities create front companies or organizations and false titles to comply with the requirements and take the money that goes to the projects, which makes this whole process much more rigorous and discouraging for other charities who do the best they can to get projects on track.

excellent

Advocacy need to be strong and focused and balancing when things are good be part of it but if not do it

it is of utmost important to have a very good understanding of the context before arriving at the right strategy or tactics to use in solving any peculiar problem. understanding the context will make you devise the right tactics for the problem, also understanding the political environment, cultural beliefs, history and also religion will go a long way in determining the success of that advocacy.

It's important to look around your community and see how people are doing, ways of the local community people.

It is very important to analyse the political context to find out opportunities and threats that might affect the advocacy work. It will involve getting to know the targets' political position with regards to the problems that the organisation is trying to solve, who support the approach being used, reflect the feasible and potentially effective aproaches, stakeholders who might be involved for synergies, and significantly threats/risks that might be entailed as consequences of the planned advocacy work

Indeed political environment is very vital and do detect the approach to be adapted. In my country, advocay comes with high risk of been attacked by those in place of authority either through police or thugs. And so even radio stations and Television channels are restricted from saying things the exact way they are because these people can wake up with a naughty excuse and shutdown the media house. Many advocates and activities are being tried with falsified cases of crime just to rubbish their reputation before the public.

I believe we should also examine the quality of advocacy and not just the quantity. It is important to gather outside perspectives from the individuals that the problem is facing.

I believe it is extremely important to pay attention to context when advocating. For example in the restricted environment, an organization might have to think about the repercussions of aggressive action. Like it was discussed in the lecture organizations have to take care of their people.If the approach does not fit context, it will be difficult to accomplish goals

Exactly semi open context has become a common approach to most national in a Democratic human right era even where most are indirectly operating a restricted context. That's where the NGOs work remains a check balance tool.

Understanding the political environment in which we wish to implement any advocacy work, aids in identifying the political constraints and understanding the law and governing structure of the environment. Thereby enabling us to fine tune our advocacy strategy within those constraints

Understanding the context of your problem is important when defining how you will solve it. It's unadvisable to adopt a solution from elsewhere since political climates vary from place to place.

Everything is great. The course is amazing.

Everything is wonderful! The course justifies the hopes!

It can be frustrating advocating for new policies yet the ones that have been passed are not yet being observed. A major problem with a semi-open context is that it becomes a hot and cold relationship between Civil societies and the government. It gets to a point where you think you can express yourselves, advocate on various issues until you're slapped by restrictions you didn't even know existed.

Yes, it's like a game

Its critical to understand the context it will determine the success and failure of your advocacy.

We have to analyze both internal and external environment we work in

The contextualization of your advocacy approach most definitely will affect the outcomes of your work. And the first step in analyzing your approach is to identify the problem. For example, when I worked at the American Cancer Society and we were working to fundraise for cancer research, the most powerful tool that we had in our approach was children. Now, I can look back and I feel like it was almost a sycophantic relationship. We were definitely using those kids. However, it was an effective means to raise money. The root of this issue was "how can we get donors to relate?" Kids, everyone has been a kid, is a kid, or has a kid. There is a personal connection. On the flip side, the ACS very rarely (if ever) did fundraisers to help with lung cancer. Why is that? Simple: Many people felt like people with lung cancer brought in "on themselves" because many of them were smokers. It is harder to advocate for someone that does something to themselves. I personally, can understand both sides of this argument.

if advocacy is the answer, what's the question?

There's always a Problem that needs Advocacy as a drive in order to arrive at a desired result.

The Political Context were we work in therefore determines & affect how we should approach our advocacy. We must firstly understand the causes of our Problems before we decide on the activities to delve into in order to arrive at an outcome which leads to possible impact.

if advocacy is the answer, what's the question?

There's always a Problem that needs Advocacy as a drive in order to arrive at a desired result.

The Political Context were we work in therefore determines & affect how we should approach our advocacy. We must firstly understand the causes of our Problems before we decide on the activities to delve into in order to arrive at an outcome which leads to possible impact.

I REALLY LEARNED A LOT TO THIS MODULE

A good intention is great but that does not help if you do not have a strategy. It is important to identify what issue/problem you want to solve, why you want to solve it, what could be the root causes of this problem, what beliefs need to change if this problem is to be solved and last but not least under what political context you are operating. This will help you come up with a great strategy to tackle the problem in question.

Yes, advocacy strictly goes with political reality in that particular country. In a repressive governance system where state is very closed for advocacy of any kind, but expects NGOs to focus on service delivery, the mission of NGOs in such context will seriously suffers. While planning for advocacy NGOs need to research and understand the political context of the country that they are operating in in a way enlightening the leadership and staffs if the environment is open, semi open and closed, which then helps development programs to be more relevant and effective. Thanks.

I will be checking out that book, for sure.

Unfortunately, even in some representative governments, people and ideas go unheard and things go unchanged.

Thankx to be part of class

In advocacy, it’s important to note the aim and objective of action.. The question should be’ Why am I doing this and how can I achieve it?… When we put all of this into consideration it motivate and fuel the zeal to make it happen.

In the time wherein we're today,politics is crown the most important. Plato a philosopher once said,“when we don't take interest in the politics of our state, then the less educated will govern us”. Advocacy can be sent as a powerful tool that can change beliefs and behavior.
In relation to both politics and advocacy in our present world,it will be difficult to politicize without advocating...
The system of government in a state can influence how the politics is advocated to the Masses.
Democracy has become order of the day I most countries,which was define by Abraham Lincoln as“Government of the people,for the people and by the people". In otherwords; people must be voted to fill in a seat. Advocacy comes to play in the form of campaigning and canvassing for support where candidate and campaigners try to influence the people's thought and convincing them to why the should support a particular candidate.

It is important to consider the political context when you do advocacy. For example, in some countries, there may be restrictions even what to advocate and what you say legally. In some context, even, you may not be allowed to operate as an NGO unless you follow the hidden political and cultural rules of that particular country. Of course, I am not talking about an open advocacy.

There has been an exponential growth of restrictiveness for several advocacy programs especially in most developing countries. Critical evaluations and analysis must be put in place in the definition of problems for any advocacy program.

I strongly support your submission. Its important for the people within to analyse their organization set goals and objectives and relate it to what they want to advocate for rather than being influenced by the outsiders.

The political context of a country is very critical and important in the Advocacy world. Some countries especially in Africa they have got cultural norms and values that they cant allow to be messed up around with. So my advise to anyone taking up Advocacy to always examine the political context of your countries and what they are interested in Advocating for

It's important to identify a need. What is affecting the people in the area . This will enable one to get good strategies and approaches on how to solve the need.
As an advocator, one can easily succeed in a restricted kind of area through getting critical ways and steps to solve a challenge and minding on how they approach matters.