© 2010, World
Peace One
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Part
12: Total
Advocacy
The purpose of this part is not to turn you into a full-time
political activist. The goal is to familiarize you with information that will increase the success of your
advocacy. Even if you only put in two hours a month on advocacy,
you will do it more easily and more successfully if you study this part
of the course.
This page has six topics:
A Broader, More Powerful Understanding of Advocacy
In Part 6 of this course, you learned some easy ways to do advocacy.
The focus was on contacting your representatives. In that section,
advocacy was defined simply as "supporting a certain position
on an issue or bill" and "letting your representatives
know what you want them to do." In reality, advocacy is
much broader. Advocacy is any effort to influence anyone to take
action.
Mostly you are trying to influence the people who make
decisions. There are many different decision-makers who affect
your life. People who run corporations and businesses are
decision makers. You might write a letter asking them to be
more environmental. People in the executive branch of
government decide how to carry out the orders of the
legislature. So you can write them about how they implement
the new rules or laws. Your friends who vote are making a
decision, so you can use advocacy methods to influence them.
Also your neighbors make decisions about your community. (Do
they litter? Do they blast music?) -- So advocacy can be
thought of in very broad terms.
Key Principles of Advocacy
Know your place. It's not your responsibility to change
the whole world. It's your responsibility to speak your mind
on something that, first, you feel strongly about and, second, you
understand. You are often communicating with people who devote
their whole lives to politics. They may know a lot more than
you. They may be more powerful than you. So unless you have
great expertise or lots of power, it's important to be
respectful. Also, unless you care deeply about one issue, you
don't want to get caught up in politics.
Define the Stakeholders, the Decision-Makers and the Influencers.
Stakeholders are the people and organizations who are affected by an
issue or decision. Decision-makers have the authority to make
the decisions. Influencers can have a large impact on the
decision-makers. By defining who's who, you are much more
likely to choose the best goals and actions. If you think
about it, there are usually many kinds of stakeholders. Some
will probably be in favor of your cause, and some will oppose
it.
Be clear on the goals before you think about methods.
It's quite common for people to quickly move to action before they
thought about their goals. Think of poverty and hunger for
example. If your goal is to end hunger, you may decide that
government food stamps programs are enough. But doesn't your
goal really include helping people to help themselves? If you
define your goal carefully, you are likely to go in a much different
direction: for instance asking the government to create job
training, or to do things that aid the creation of new businesses,
or literacy and basic skills, etc.
Find out the relevant history. Find out what has been
tried before: What has been tried and has failed in your community,
so that you have this problem? What has worked well in other
places, that you can copy?
Speak in a way that will be heard. Be assertive without
being aggressive. You have to make your message clear and
compelling. You also
have to make sure that people will take you seriously.
Sometimes this means attaching consequences to inaction. For
instance, if you are writing a company about a defective product,
you might say that you will email fifty of your friends if you do
not get action.
Keep your promises. In the above example, if you say
you're going to ask 50 friends not to buy a defective product--or to
vote against someone in the next election, follow through and do
it. If possible, make sure that someone learns that you
followed through.
When possible, be creative or edgy. This helps you to
be heard by more people. If you can be entertaining or funny
without muddying your message or damaging your credibility, your
message will have a greater impact.
Try for solutions that yield mutual benefit. Try for
win-win situations. Often this takes some new perspective or
creativity. For example, there is the conflict between people
who want to cut down forests for paper and people who want to
preserve forests for the sake of the birds and other animals.
A win-win solution might be to cut down patches of forest and
immediately replant, so that the animals can more to the uncut
portions.
Treat people, even enemies, with respect. Most people
are not evil. People who disagree with your politics are
probably not evil. Respect means not attacking, but respect
also means that you seriously listen to and consider their point
of view. If your enemy actually is malevolent, it still
might be wise to treat them with respect: you don't want them to
retaliate.
Understand what structural change is. Imagine you are
in a boat that springs a leak. One way to stay afloat is to
keep bailing water. Another way is to plug the leak.
Bailing is not a structural change, but plugging the leak changes
the structure of the boat. Structural changes are usually more
permanent solutions, and so they are usually preferred. Programs that give people food are not structurally sound, but
programs that give people jobs and skills, usually change the
structure of the situation.
Understand that almost every action has multiple effects.
One of the most common and repeated mistakes that people make is to
forget that an action usually has multiple effects. The
legislation that you may think you want can have: positive or
negative effects on jobs (on businesses and workers)--and this can
affect the tax base; it can have positive or negative effects
on the environment; it can create a political precedent; it could
have a positive or negative impact on people's health and mental
health; it may make it harder for another problem to be paid for; it
can have a positive or negative effect on the career of the
politicians who support it; it can possibly be "paid" for
by a compromise that costs too much; it can have a small impact on
the culture, too. So in thinking about goals, you must
consider all the possible impacts.
At the same time, your advocacy usually costs someone time and
money: If you get deeply involved, it will cost you time and
money; it will add to the work load of the representatives. It
may affect your family relationships, and how people perceive
you. So, again, there are multiple impacts. Good
advocacy is when the positive impacts outweigh the negative impacts.
Be systematic. Plan. The first part of being
systematic is to ask yourself the seven questions below. The
questions will help you think systematically. And if you feel
inspired to do some major action, you can use the planning worksheet
at the end of this page.
Seven Questions to Always Ask Yourself Before You Take Action
1. Is this the best, most loving use of the time you set aside for
others?
2. Is this the most important issue to work on now?
3. Is the goal that's presented the best option? The goal is the
thing that I want the decision-maker to enact. (And, by the way,
is it realistic?)
4. Is this the right time to take action?
5. Have I chosen the best target for my communication? (For
instance, maybe it would be better to target an influencer of the
decision-maker rather than
the decision-maker, if you know the influencer well.)
6. Have I chosen the best method?
7. Is the message I want to communicate clear?
One more key principle:
Learn how to say "no" or "maybe" gracefully.
Often friends will come to you to ask you to advocate a certain
issue. It's good to help others with their causes, since
they then are more likely to help you with yours. But you
shouldn't say yes to someone just because they are your
friend. That's because people often choose ineffective
actions or even counterproductive actions. Instead of
telling them yes right away, it may be better to tell them that
you support their cause, but want to hear more about their methods
and strategies before you will commit time. Then you might
ask them some of the seven questions of this section, to
make sure that they are choosing an effective
approach.
To do this gracefully, you can't just say, "I support your
cause, but I want to find out if your methods are going to be
effective." That's too blunt. That way of saying
it implies that you don't think they will be effective. It's
better to sincerely empathize with them and their cause. To
say why you support their cause, or believe in it, in
detail. It helps to share your feelings, too. If the situation
makes you angry or sad, say so. Then ask them about their
methods, target, timing and so forth. If it makes sense,
fine. If not, suggest ways to make their plan stronger. If
the plan is wrong-headed or incomplete, you need to confront them,
pointing out what you feel is lacking. (This is advocacy
from you to them!) But end by commending them on their
commitment to action.
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Methods of Advocacy
In Part 6 only a few methods of advocacy were mentioned. In
reality, there are a great variety of methods. Below is a list of
methods. The methods have been grouped according to the likely
target, but in reality most methods can be used for any target.
For example, maybe it hasn't been done before, but you could organize a
boycott of a nonprofit or advocacy organization. (Peace
organizations have chained people to doors of military organizations or
businesses, but imagine the publicity of chaining someone to the doors
of a peace organization!) So, no matter who your target is, you
will want to look over the whole list.
For for where to find details on most of these methods, see the Advocacy
Section on the Knowledge Resources page.
Friends Emails or phone calls asking them to do some
advocacy.
Businesses
Letters to decision-makers, boycotts, shareholder resolutions,
create a web site about the business.
Media
Letters
to the editor, op-eds, emails
asking for a certain kind of coverage (such as ad analysis)
Other organizations Speakers bureau, a meeting to
present an issue
Advocacy groups Make a donation, get on their email alert list, suggest
improvements, volunteer, suggest coalitions
Citizens and the
public
Signs,
bumper stickers, slogans on T-shirts /
network to friends by email, PTTN chain reaction,
webTV (like YouTube)
Officials
Letters, emails, small contributions, vote, fill out
questionnaires, visits to the legislator or official, help on a
campaign, making a donation, forming a PAC to make large donations,
getting on the PAC committee of an organization you belong to (such as a
union or professional group.)
Other actions:
Petition /
Civil disobedience /
March / Hunger strike
/ Symbolic actions / Become a candidate
Cautions (Beware of...)
1. All advocacy
groups are not created equal. Some are well-organized and
effective, and others are dedicated to the wrong approach, or they are
merely taking actions to justify their salaries. Do your homework,
and don't sign on with an organization just because it was the first you
heard about. Also, don't form coalitions with just anybody.
2. Now that you have the tools to do advocacy, don't overuse
them. You lose your impact if you overdo things. You will
also annoy your friends if you keep asking them to do advocacy.
3. Short campaigns or one-time "make-a-splash" actions
that are unlikely to cause real change are often a waste of time.
4. Don't do things that damage your credibility. Misguided
actions,
actions that are based on wrong information or wrong assumptions will do
damage. Attacks and extremely violent, angry language will do
damage to your reputation, too. Certain compromises are
worthwhile, but don't support compromises that erode your power, or that
are unethical.
5. Some people will do anything to get their way. They may use
dirty tricks, and also twist things around. For instance, they may
quote something you said out of context, to try to discredit
you. It may be worthwhile to have witnesses to corroborate your
statements, or someone to videotape you, so that you have a record that
you can use in your defense.
6. Don't jump into action without thinking things
through. As mentioned, one action has multiple effects, and many
advocacy actions have backfired.
7. Beware of success that goes to your head. Power is
seductive, and you could be drawn into some effort that isn't really a
good use of time.
How to Plan Major Advocacy
There are four steps:
- Assess the situation
- Set a goal for change
- Create a plan for change
- Launch the plan /monitor action/ and evaluate
1. Assessment questions
What are all the major problems and issues?
Which one issue is ... most urgent / causing the most harm / has the
greatest power to affect other issues and change people's
lives?
(Now that things have been narrowed down to one issue...)
Who are the stakeholders?
Who are the decision-makers?
Who are the influencers?
What are the details of the issue? (How many people are
affected? What is the cost of the problem in dollars, lives lost,
sick days...?)
What is the history of the situation? Why did this become a
problem? (There may be many different explanations, some of them wrong
and some more likely to be close to the actual situation. It's
important to know all the most common interpretations of the source of
the problem.)
2. Goal setting questions
Who should be involved in creating a vision or brainstorming for a set
of goals? (Or a related question: Would it be better to get
a group of stakeholders to develop a goal together so that they can
motivate each other, or would it be better for one visionary to come up
with a goal and then try to sell others on his vision?)
List several possible visions. (More than one vision ought to be
imagined. If you recall the poverty example, there are many
possible visions: a capitalist vision where everyone is a
producer; a religious vision where the strong take care of the weak; a spiritual/psychological vision that
emphasizes ridding the world of inner poverty such as low
self-esteem or fear, etc.)
Choose the vision that's best. Best might be the one that most resonates
with people, or the one that benefits the most people; or the one that
harms the fewest people.
Based on the vision, create several possible goals. (Unlike a
vision, a goal has a specific timeframe and specific amounts. For
example, ending poverty is a vision, but having only 5% of Americans
below the poverty line by the year 2020 is a goal.) Brainstorm for
many goals.
Rank the goals according to different criteria, such as: Is the goal
feasible? Is the goal inspiring? Is the goal sellable?
Is the timeframe optimal? Is the goal one that will promote
long-term change or not?
Choose the goal that seems best.
(Now that you have chosen a goal, it's time to plan the steps and
actions that will result in achieving the goal.)
3. Planning steps
Brainstorming: What are possible actions and methods to achieve the
goal. (Some may involve advocacy and some might not. For the
rest of this worksheet we will assume the actions involve advocacy.)
For each possible action, define the target, message, people who would
likely do it, cost in time, money and resources, likelihood to provoke
countermeasures, adaptability in case a situation changes, and
likelihood of success in achieving the goal. (For
details on most of these methods, see the Advocacy
section on the Knowledge Resources page.)
Put the best actions together in a plan.
Insert checkpoints for monitoring and evaluation. Who will check
to make sure the plan is working? How often? What measures
will they use to know if the plan is on track? (for
instance: polls, number of letters sent, number of ads purchased,
etc.)
If the plan will take a long time to execute and involves volunteers,
insert activities to encourage and sustain the volunteers. For
example: a recognition party, progress-report emails, thank you
notes, etc.
Should a contingency plan be created? (If the goal is of
extreme importance, or if the plan has a fair likelihood of failure,
create one or more back-up plans. Do this by starting at the
beginning of this planning section.)
4. Launch the plan / monitor / and evaluate.
As you monitor the plan, decide if changes need to be made in the plan.
At the end, celebrate success, effort and lessons learned.
Begin the planning cycle again, with another assessment of current
issues and problems.
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