The ABC’s of Advocacy

The foundational e-course is based on an engaging, comprehensive advocacy training manual commissioned by DanChurchAid. The manual was written for an audience of Middle Eastern civic activists and has been translated to Persian by Tavaana.  This e-course will provide Iranians with the essential advocacy skills they need to pursue their social justice goals.  The course will open by examining the role of civil society in pressing for legal reform and social change in even the most repressive regimes.  Students will learn and discuss the nuts and bolts of building innovative, durable advocacy campaigns while learning to strategically identify and analyze problems and defining their solutions via advocacy.  As part of the planning process, advocates will learn to set objectives and indicators, analyze stakeholders, and identify their targets. They will learn about message development, scrutinizing their network and constituency’s strengths and weaknesses while gaining the skills to mobilize resources for their campaign. Lobbying, working with the media and building coalitions will be a focus. Students will also learn from social media-based advocacy intiatives and the basics of advocacy evaluation as a means to improve and grow their campaigns. The manual’s rich examples of advocacy campaigns in the region, together with Tavaana’s exclusive case studies on successful advocacy movements from around the world, will be used as practical sources of discussion and learning.  Students will be focused on their own advocacy issues/campaigns throughout the course, making critical assessments of their needs and priorities.