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It is crucial to consider what you are advocating for and whether the outcome is going to be beneficial to the target audience. Again, knowing the kind of environment you are working in is equally important to know which approach works better.
The strategies must also be tailor suit specifically for what problem you are solving because what worked for project A might not work for B.

It is important to contextualize the government in your country. This will help you to decide on the strategy/tactics to use in advocacy.

I agree with you. Understanding your political context and creating effective strategies to implement advocacy is one key and basic foundation to efficient advocacy

What a better way to commence this course. Importance of knowing your politcal environment cannot be over discussed. it detemines the system of engagement and the success therefore. Also, knowing the root of the problem will aslo help in determine the rule of engagement. Thanks for the great insights

Once you identify the root cuase then you can apply means to either eliminate the resistance or the objection, and by that allow the conversation.

It is good knowing the political environment that will help you to the risk involved if you will carry out the advocacy and how to mitigate it, it also help you to know your limit and delimitation

Sure identifying root cause is key, but contextualization gives you guidance

it was interesting to learn and hear the three approaches of political context: open, semi open and restrictive. I was feeling these 3 levels but I couldn't categorize it like this before.
Thank you,

Politicians hold power and power influences decisions on a number of issues that affect the common people. Understanding the political environment in which an NGO operates is very key to realization of project/ program outcomes and impact. Carefully choosing who hold the power and how to engage them should be given utmost consideration.

Thank you for this..in my country we have a restrictive political system unlike some countries who do have a semi open political system,it's restrictive in the sense that you choose to be open and be an advocate for despotism,and any other files you are either threatened or even assassinated,and most NGOs who still have the courage to speak do that with hidden identity

I agree, It is essential for an organization to consider and understand the approach of their advocacy depending on the political environment they are working in in order to mitigate and be able to adapt to the level of context they are in without compromising their goal.

For advocacy to be successful and also ensure safety of those working with you, its important to take into consideration and plan according to the political context of the environment you are working in. Different places may require you to switch up your advocacy strategy depending on its context, what worked today may not work a few days, weeks, months or years later.

Advocacy is one way of speaking for those whose voices can not be heard(being a voice to the voiceless), but the question is a you doing for the good of the public or just for personal interests, knowing the root cause for the problem before finding solutions matters a lot because it is the focal point and a guiding line. Stakeholders in Government, NGO's, Organizations should uphold their roles and ensure that transparency exists, principle of accountability applies because each one has to stand accountable for the offices, work entrusted with them.

For advocacy to achieve its objectives depending on the topic chosen, a suitable advocacy approach should be taken but best on the root cause of the problem because if the root cause of the problem is identified then one is able to outline all the possible solutions to the problem and it will help in writing the objectives of the advocacy work study.

The problems can be best identified and solved by involving the target audience. But the political context has a greater role in advocacy than we might admit.
This has been a major challenge in Community Development work.

Figuring out where you stand in regards to open, semi-open and restrictive context seems to me to be a key factor in success or failure. Although any advocacy work is likely to get push back, true and powerful opposition is something we must be prepared for.

thank you very much for this.

The issue of political context becomes more crucial to me having listening to our facilitators. It has made me see that political context can actually be the defining factor between success and failure of similar solutions proposed for people in various countries.

i will check out the material you talked about.

In the country where I was born and raised, it is increasingly difficult to determine whether Indonesia has a restrictive or semi-open political environment. This is due to the increasing number of regulations in the Electronic Information and Transactions Law which makes the space for freedom of expression increasingly narrow.

Contextualization is very important as it helps understand the situation and strategize on the best way to improve the quality of the situation.

totally agree. implementing measures that can make a political system open or at least semi-open, the rights and the level of progress and personal growth of each individual would be respected and taken into account, which after all is what is pursued with this type of programs.

The context in which a type of advocacy can be applicable cannot be overemphasized; especially if the political atmosphere is unfavorable to the supremacy of the rule of law and has no regard for the voice or opinion of the people of the land. it could result to serious fatalities. Advocacy of itself is a dicey subject and strategies should be considers within the pillars of policy makers, advocators and the stake holders who understands and also might have experienced the problem that is the core of the advocacy.

I agree with those who are saying there are very few or even no open contexts. There is a very large number of semi open contexts. Likely the majority of countries in the world function under a semi open framework as I understand it, while few fall under restrictive. The country I am working from falls closer to the restrictive side of the spectrum, while my home country falls closer to the open side of the spectrum, but both would be considered semi open.

To venture into act of advocacy, one must as a matter of importance identify the problem, what are the causes of the problem. It after doing this that one can frame a possible solution and fashion out the best way to implement the solution.

My take is that contextualized advocacy is important,because it enables organisations anaylize the root cause of the problem being dealt with and often times the problems are linked to poor governance, unfriendly and unequitable polices that
deprives development in all Government sectors.

It is necessary to go beyond identifying the political environment an NGO is operating in to understanding the reason why that state/country adopts/practices that type of governance. Then aligning the project's goals with that of the political system will lead to less resistance from the latter and better success for the initiative.

It is necessary to go beyond identifying the political environment an NGO is operating in to understanding the reason why that state/country adopts/practices that type of governance. Then aligning the project's goals with that of the political system will lead to less resistance from the latter and better success for the initiative.

It is disheartening that advocacy in so many parts of the world must be approached with such caution and fear of retaliation from political agencies under which they are governed given that advocacy is meant to encourage positive change and promote just and fair reformation of behaviors or policies where Basic human rights have been trampled upon. I am blessed to live in a country where laws have been implemented to protect the rights of citizens to speak out against corruption, discrimination, and all forms of injustice which might be inclined to change with advocacy properly applied. The concern of advocate safety in areas governed by tyranny albeit eradicates their effectiveness for change.

Given the three contexts, as stated, I agree majority are semi open especially here in Africa, and understanding this helps you strategize how to undertake advocacy in such an environment

That the political environment is important for advocacy is clear, restrctive, open or semi-open. You would then choose which it is and adjust accordingly. Are there situations where the politics is that bad that there's no advocacy at all? Probably not, one may simply choose in which areas to advocate, am I wrong here?

I agree with the statement because when you know well the root cause of the problem, you define well the strategies of advocacy.

I agree with the statement because when you know well the root cause of the problem, you define well the strategies of advocacy.

very interesting start! I analyze the work of non-governmental organizations in my country and those with whom I have worked very rarely think about the risks they may face when doing advocacy. And it is very important to initially plan a strategy and consider all the risks in order to take care of the people who are involved. and understanding the context, accepting realities, helps prepare for risks in a more meaningful way.

I've been facing such a problem which is already been discussed , in our Arab society we are having an international case about Palestine and actually it was the first reason that get me to take this course , and I can't even decide whether who's working on advocating this case is a NGO or a governmental institution , because who's really advocating are people through media and newspaper. still a hard thing to do cause there's not specific supporter but people's speeches .

This is a very important start for me. in my country right now ALL CSOs that are working on anything related to governance are being followed up. already 54 organizations have been suspended form operations. Some of the organizations' bank account have been frozen and these organizations listed as funding terrorism. All of us are in fear!
So this is a very good introduction form me.
With regard to the awesome ideas shared here i have this to say:

1. i have seen that when NGOs/CSOs gain some level of 'working with the government or government ministry/Department/Agency' they tend to think that they can not be attacked. But with what has happened here, this is a wrong mentality. and it shows that this analysis of the political context must be done all the time.
2. This point relates to one of the contributors here who said that the political environment is dynamic. Yes! it is. it is with regard to national level , sub national and community levels; with regard to regimes that come and go; with regard to geographic locations within the same countries.
   The conclusion then is start with this analysis, and maintain this analysis throughout the lifetime of the organization. Thank you.

Most nations have restrictive political context which they pride in in terms of cyber security, economics , social development and the likes, however, this act in itself is a limitation to any advocacy strategy

Most nations have restrictive political context which they pride in in terms of cyber security, economics , social development and the likes, however, this act in itself is a limitation to any advocacy strategy

We have started to work with the government just recently. We have our planned KRAs and we have to advocate very strongly what change we intend to bring. This module has cleared many basic concepts.

I agree it is important to identify the problem within its context. It would be difficult to solve a problem where the political environment is just but a hurdle. Problem solving involves the political stream too (Kingdon, 1984). Identifying the context will enable NGOs to identify and use a viable advocacy approach.

I would want to hope NGO are open but I don't believe that is the case when involved in politics. I have my different persectives on what we as NGO's should be sharing with the people especially if we want to use the people to adovacy for. If its about the people then I see no harm in being open.

It's import to note that context matters. Even for the same problem, context will influence what solutions are feasible.

While I agree with different contributors to the discussion, I respect the fact that we are all operating in different countries with varying contexts. That said, yes it is important for advocacy practitioners to learn and understand their respective environments. In as much as we understand the problem at hand that we would like to advocate for, is it extremely important to get a buy-in from the authorities in the jurisdiction of the problem we are trying to solve.

I work for UNICEF and the UN mandate is to help host governments to implement their development plans. Can you imagine how the UN in any country would achieve their agenda if they did not understand the various political climates in the countries they are serving?

Imagine the context of Afghanistan right now, as much as different organizations may not be ready to recognize the new leadership and they still need to deliver humanitarian assistance and response to the people of Afghanistan, they will need to engage with the new leadership and all the more reason to understand and their political manifesto and agenda in order for the different agencies to be able to effectively carry out their advocacy work.
Thank you,
Betty.

I agree. I think it's necessary to know root causes from the communities we are working with.

These days, it seems a lot of environments that are open are moving to being semi-open, and semi-open ones are drifting towards becoming restrictive.

It is sad that is the bare truth with many jurisdictions around the world, but mine is a rare one considering that about two months ago we experienced a turnaround from a semi open context, which was almost degenerating into a restrictive one, into an open one.

Having a clear understanding of the problem you are trying to solve as an organization is vital because it gives you an idea of the existing government policies in connection with your work as an NGO and how you can co-exist or implement your intervention.

Ahhh .... the devil is in the details

I agreed, however, I will add that it's very important to also study the kind of government environment we occupy for a proper and successful advocating. Knowing this will help one to know how to go about his or her advocating path.

Wow, I love what our instructors had just given to us, their message is very true.. However, I will also add that we also need to take note that sometimes, the political world can infiltrate the NGOs world.. bringing politics into the office environment, thereby leading to divisions.. Where there is divisions, there will be frictions and this will affect effective and smooth run of activities within the NGOs

Wow, I love what our instructors had just given to us, their message is very true.. However, I will also add that we also need to take note that sometimes, the political world can infiltrate the NGOs world.. bringing politics into the office environment, thereby leading to divisions.. Where there is divisions, there will be frictions and this will affect effective and smooth run of activities within the NGOs

I am looking forward to session 6 to learn more about the risks that I may be exposed to with my advocacy.

Yes, I think that's actually true. I think to also better advocate, maybe try getting into the people's shoes and have a feel of what they're going through and how to best help them. Because if you don't truly understand the need/problem your advocacy will be ineffective

we work in a very hostile political environment whereby all actions are interpreted politically. this environment sometimes holds us back. as for the advocacy we tried to work online before but the outcome was not satisfying because many people were not able to access the internet. how do we avoid that and become more effective with our advocacy?

Quite insightful. The political contexts aid a lot when making assumptions

My country's political climate is very very restrictive. One needs a water tight strategy to avoid rubbing the government the wrong way.

I agree with you that knowing the political environment and context is important. we have to try to know the political environment before we make an advocacy strategy, knowing the political context and environment of the area where we are going to work would affect our advocacy strategy and help us in reaching our goal.

i strongly agree with you

Understanding the political environment is important to have a successful advocacy and not to land into government trouble

to define the problem

In my opinion, it is essential that we always seek as a society an increasingly open and transparent political environment. I'm sure that advocacy work still makes more gains in an open environment, managing to "build more bridges" for our causes and for a population.

I am new at this advocacy thing. I just kind of got led into it by helping some friends out. From the very beginning I couldnt believe the rights he was just not given. I immediately stepped in and had to help. I learned very quickly how the operations were to work on their end, and I must say now by just starting this I have most definitely learned just how important it was to know the political aspect of this ordeal.

for me the socio-political environment in which we find ourselves strongly influences our advocacy strategy

I feel in terms of advocacy we hare regression faster then progressing. We should be seeing more open systems, but of late we are bypassing the semi open and seeing more and more closed systems. Making the advocacy sector even more difficult.

    Advocation is a much needed skill for all areas of political and ngo's, for the purpose of direct line of nominal support systems.

Often we only consider advocacy with political leaders - to bring about change at the political level, but there may be other levels of influence, for example religious leaders, traditional leaders etc, who might also have the power to make changes that we want to see.

A great beginning. Problems should be clearly outlined before mapping out strategy that will benefit the target audience.

this introductory module really remind us or organizations to define advocacy plan with clear problems to remain neutral, impartial, humanity and independent, to not aggravate the situation by using conflict and political sensitive approaches through uncovering the issues needs to solved and looking at the best ways to do it.

I strongly agree with you.

Absolutely,understanding the context is equally important to the understanding of the problem one intends to address.

In advocacy, validation of data through cross verification from two or more sources is critical. By combining multiple observers, theories, methods, and empirical materials, advocates can build a more robust and compelling case to decision-makers. It is of particular importance in advocacy to validate community-identified needs with empirical findings as well as the reverse. Too often, advocates tend to heavily rely on one over the other and their proposals for change can easily be discredited by decisionmakers.

Great lesson, and it's clear why it's the first module - the Political context of your landscape is probably the most crucial element of success - to have a strong understanding of the mechanic's of 'the way things work' means you're in a better position to manage risks.

If we don't know the problem we're trying to solve, it will be difficult to provide the correct advocacy solution.

In advocacy, the most important part is not just to advocate but to analysis the situation before taking part. It helps the advocate to gather the intelligence and develop a clear, unified solid solution

The NGOs has a big challenge in all kind of context, but most of in a restrictive context, where even the strategy are good the obstacles will be the problems.

For the semi-open context, its possible to push e try to use all strategy of advocacy without give reasons or space to governments to distort and try to sabotage the rights that are fight for or problem has been traying to be solved.

I agree with you

Understanding the political context of a particular location of work or country is really important. This knowledge will contribute a great deal in determining the advocacy strategy to come up with so as to avoid fatal consequences and achieve one's goal

Some problems are learned. Then you have some problems that you never knew you had. It all depends what you are taught as we age. What was taught a work envirinment. My problem is that some orginazation is a very restrictive on some issuse and then semi open on others. I work in the healthcare envirnoment where we deal with all health issuse.. ome i agree and some I dont.

Advocacy is important because it includes the voices of people who cannot always be heard.

A restrictive environment will hinder the activities and progress of not only NGOs, but also other organizations. This will in turn affect the results being sought by the NGOs and organizations.

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.