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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.

Helps to put things in better perspective

Context and defining the problem is crucial. problem can never be solve without first being define.

knowing the cause root of a problem is paramount before seeking for a solution

Understanding the political environment is important to the success of Advocacy

Different advocacy methods should be utilized based on location and political context. A non-profit based in the States advocating for the long term protection, welfare, and intrinsic value of resources should use certain methods to a developed country’s audience and use different advocacy methods in developing countries in which the resources originate. You must consider individual opportunities and freedoms, cultural values and communication methods, as well as political context.

Advocacy in some cases can be very difficult especially in some semi-restrictive environments where you might look like you are supporting a certain political party.

Government policies and stand goes a long way or even stands as the major factor to how far advocacy programs of NGO's can go. Hopefully in the nearest future, we may have an open system but then, how will the actions of NGO's be checked?

Thank you for the insightful presentation.
It is true that the operations of an NGO is highly dependent on the political structure of the country.

Some countries that practices semi open context have come up with ways of stopping some NGos from even establishing itself talk less of advocating. They ensure they put in bottlenecks that will frustrate the NGos during registration of these NGos especially if they discovered that they will create great awareness amongst the citizens. At the end of the day, the NGos get frustrated, park theirs loads and move.

Yes, context is key!
For me, a big risk is for NGOs based in Western Europe with activities and colleagues in more closed environment. THey need to be aware of the local context of each country offices.

Hi my name is Christophe ONAMBELE from Cameroon; this important course will be useful for me and my current organization.

We have difficulty accessing policies

The importance of knowing the political context in advocacy work cannot be overemphasised. It doesn't matter the type of advocacy, you need a favourable political will and context to actualize your goals.

That's very true. Much as contextualization should be done focusing on the beneficiaries, also the political environment to solve problem

I agree with how people fail to say thing out when their problems are not solved, so its luck enough to come up with good strategies of helping this people

Political environment is really crucial but the point is the type of service to be offered, dialogue is very important cause all in all the main aim to improve peoples lives.

Semi open governments does hinder advocacy as well.

Context is essential in advocacy to determine the best approach for advocacy activities. For instance in semi-open contexts where the administration may be hostile to alternative proposals on how for instance equitable expenditures, a one-on-one approach may be suitable if risks associated with media approaches are grave to take.

Yes more over in countries where neglegence is at it's best along with corruption

What to advocate for, how to advocate have to begin by evaluating the environment that persons operate to guage the effectiveness of any strategy employed.In some instances the problems may be the same in different locations but how to approach solutions and pursue advocacy will be determined by the unique environment that an organization operates. The strategy of advocacy to achieve solutions will heavily rely on the openness or restrictive nature of the political environment since advocacy should never be employed in a way that leave the community worse off. Reprisals due to advocacy activities or tactics must not have been foreseen all along unless it is a last resort.

Context as discussed above is everything in advocacy. Knowing when to talk and when to listen. When to shout and when to be subtle. Fantastic

Often we can get so caught up in wanting to solve the problem that we get right to work and don't stop for a moment to define the problem in clear terms, like Module 1 discusses. This can lead to improperly allocated resources and energy. I will certainly be taking this back to my colleagues to discuss and help plan our efforts.

Its very important to first understand the type of political climate in the country where the organization is operating so that advocacy can be planned and this helps one to digest a problem in need of the advocacy strategy so that advocacy is planned and implemented

Indeed it is good to understand what is worth advocating for and understand the context.

Indeed the need to adequately understand the political environment of one's country can not be over emphasized as it helps immensely in giving out proficient and effective advocacy.
Having the right understanding of what the political environment is,gives a first hand experience of how and what an effective advocacy should be with a prepared mind of the challenges.

Inclusivity and understanding the problems encountered by someone experiencing that daily reality is critical to successful advocacy. Oftentimes, we think we know the full extent of the problem and by talking to persons, you realise that you have barely begun to scratch the surface. Also, persons don't like 'solutions' being imposed on them. It's therefore important to make your target group/beneficiary, a part of developing the solution(s).

That's where relationship-building and story-telling are useful. Helping governing authorities to see and know "persons" as opposed to nameless "people" by definition invites those authorities to have personal owenership in the advocacy.

It is like working in sales, the more creative you are the more you sell. It is not about the product or ways to sell it, it is about understanding your customers and how they feel.

It is like working in sales, the more creative you are the more you sell. It is not about the product or ways to sell it, it is about understanding your customers and how they feel.

It is like working in sales, the more creative you are the more you sell. It is not about the product or ways to sell it, it is about understanding your customers and how they feel.

Every advoacy effort should refelct the kind of political context it is to be implemented. Truth is, an advoacy is as strong, effective, and successful as the amount of cognizant its strategy gave the political context. when yoou understand the political contex, it will go a long way in helping you design a tailor-made strategy and keep in view the principle of self preservation in order to mitigate any risk that may arise.

Again, understanding the kind of issues an NGO is out to handle (Behaviour change, improving public service, governace challenges etc) is key, this will ripple through the advocacy as it will help in answering the 5 Ws and the H of the advoacy.

As project managers, we should determine all the political and social factors that would limit or strengthen the advocacy process at all levels. Otherwise, political factors may lead to fall the NGOs activities and make restricted rules.

The open context is of critical advantageous, such that the public interest are met with regards to the transparency in governance of their country, however semi open context help those practising advocacy to implement strategies which make them skilful and taticful like the self preservation strategy. Which makes them extra careful to deliver their advocacy.

Understanding and analysis of the political context is vital o the establishment of an effective advocacy strategies or programmes where it covers the policy environment, policy system and the organization and people involved.

I believe advocacy can be put in context to determine how hostile the political atmosphere will be. For instance in my part of the world, advocacy for something like menstrual hygiene will attract little to no political attention unlike advocacies for political reforms, constitutional reforms or economic indications.

The work of an NGO is strongly dependent upon the government- internally and externally. This must be clearly defined before proceeding with advocacy efforts.

I agree, with the statement. Is always important to contextualize advocacy approaches by analyzing the root cause of the problem. The process should involve people themselves who are affected, working together with the technocrats.
It should be advocacy with the people.

I agree, with the statement. Is always important to contextualize advocacy approaches by analyzing the root cause of the problem. The process should involve people themselves who are affected, working together with the technocrats.
It should be advocacy with the people.

I am Ballé Emmanuel

What about advocacy that is not so related with the government. For instance, teen advocacy.

Effective advocacy has been a challenge especially in restrictive and semi-open contexts because of the influence of the government laws and policies that set a barrier to how most NGOs operate.
The NGO world however needs to seek ways to achieve results in the best ways possible while maintaining minimal clashes with the governments in which they operate. The question is how...

In my line of work and those clients the company I represent are involved with need to maintain a high level of secrecy and all operations are classified. I am a Registered Foreign Agent through a division of the Department of Justice called FARA.
We engage in gathering sensitive information which is used to assess the conditions in countries throughout the Horn of Africa and for these reasons, all is conducted with high restrictions.

You are thinking right and it is true

Understanding, conceptualizing, and stating the problem clearly is indeed quite important. In my experience, the problem leads to the formation of a group or task force. This group/team will then work through some of the problems or barriers that interfere with solving the problem. The barriers that prevent the problem from being solved become their own problem, leading the group off-track. This is exactly why it is so important to keep the original problem in mind.

Sometimes we have broke solutions because the problem and the context are just misunderstood...

Persuading others can be a tough job, I always ask myself, " How do I get the attention of those I'm fighting for and with, to those who don't even know there's a fight. I understand the importance of being inclusive. But when it comes to gentrification, there's is no unity amongst homeowners and renters.
Gentrification is inclusive and does discriminate, it affects whole communities. Tenants' rents go up, and homeowners property taxes go up as well, leaving everyone eligible for displacement. I can't seem to bring these two groups together; two separate meetings have to be arranged.
It took me quite a few years to realize that politics are involved in everything and that all of our causes are about moral consciousness.

Currently facing this issue at my organization, we're still trying to figure out what measures to take to protect ourselves from any backlash we might face as a result of our advocacy.

Political context is massively important and also is something that can hinder NGO progress in the long term. I work with an organization in Tanzania in which one of the projects involves protecting girls from FGM. Although Tanzania officially banned the practice by law in 1998, a good few decades ago now, the political context in which it was once acceptable does not just change like that. The cultural norms/ expectations are reflected in the politics of a country and vice versa, yet cultural standards and expectations are a much more gradually changing concept than a simple change of law. NGOs in Tanzania, for example, are not fighting necessarily against the government of a country and therefore are not necessarily fighting in a closed system in which the government controls the parameters of what they can do, but in a way fighting against the people themselves. The government of Tanzania legally forbids FGM, but it is the rural tribes that still practice it as it is a cultural 'right of passage' that will not change because the law is changed. Therefore NGOs in this context are not really restricted in how they advocate for change but need to focus on persuasion and education of the very communities they are trying to help to try and change these cultural expectations that are considered 'right' within the culture but are harmful and dangerous to their members.