Advocacy in Peacebuilding

Who can register for this course?

The course is designed for peacebuilding practitioners who want to complement their practical conflict transformation and peacebuilding initiatives with strategic advocacy campaigns. This course is of particular relevance for participants who are currently engaged/are planning to engage in some form of advocacy work in the near future. The course is suited for people with as well as without prior experience in advocacy. It offers an introduction for newcomers to the field while also providing plenty of opportunities for people with prior experience in advocacy to build on existing knowledge, finetune skills, and learn new formats to reach out to a variety of audiences.

Depending on methods and topic of the training, we limit the number of available spaces to a manageable size (a maximum of 20 participants). Register early to reserve your place!

Content

The course offers a tested step-by-step process to develop strategic advocacy interventions in peacebuilding. In the initial step, participants will learn how to analyze the external context in which their advocacy work takes place, identify appropriate opportunities for increased influence, and reflect about their advocacy mandate. In a second step, we will develop clarity about the nature of the advocacy campaign and formulate clear and adequate advocacy goals. In a third step, we will develop an effective advocacy strategy, explore the strengths and weaknesses of certain formats, and develop creative campaign materials for key audiences. In step four, the participants will learn how to assess potential risks of a campaign and explore a variety of ways to monitor and evaluate advocacy interventions. The course is geared towards enabling participants to design, implement, and evaluate their own strategic and at the same time creative advocacy initiatives - and do so with confidence.

Objectives

By the end of the four week online course participants will…

• be able to clearly formulate a relevant, actionable, realistic, and achievable advocacy goal.
• be able to assess the respective policy processes, identify the main decision makers, and understand what influences their behavior.
• be able to develop a comprehensive advocacy strategy, chose the most appropriate approaches for the target audiences, and develop high quality campaign materials.
• be able to harvest the power of effective networking to increase bargaining power and influence.
• be able to risk-assess their advocacy campaign and develop appropriate risk mitigation strategies for their campaigns.
• be able to monitor progress, adapt strategies, and evaluate results.

Key Concepts

• Stakeholder analysis
• Strategy development for social change processes
• Market of opportunities to build a tool box for creative advocacy campaigns
• Risk analysis and risk mitigation
• Simple planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning frameworks

Methodology

The seminar will offer a balanced mix of input by the facilitator, individual reflections, group work and discussions, learning from real-life case studies combined with the sharing of experiences from among the group of participants. It will be delivered via a variety of web-based platforms; i.e. videoconferencing tool for the live sessions, ILIAS for hosting learning material and audio-visual material, Miro for group work and sharing/ comparative learning, and a PDF workbook to accompany the course. Self-organized study tandems/trios are highly encouraged throughout the duration of the course, especially when working on practical exercices.

In the course, participants use a variety of tools, including a digital learning platform, a video conferencing tool, and an online whiteboard. Participants should therefore have a good internet connection (1 Mbit down/upload or better). A headset is highly recommended.

Workload

Deliverables:

• Active engagement with the key readings and other teaching material provided, often needed in preparation for our four live sessions.
• Active participation throughout the course; i.e. in the plenary discussion, in break-out sessions, during assignments, and by bringing questions and interests actively into the process.
• Keeping of a course diary for personal reflection and to relate new insights to respective work environments.
• Active use of the course Miro board for sharing of own experiences, providing constructive feedback to others and their advocacy work, engaging in peer learning processes, and presenting new ideas/concepts in the making for upcoming advocacy initiatives.

After a successful participation, participants receive a certificate and become part of our alumni network.

Total expected weekly hours: 7 to 8 hours per week (4 hours live session, 3-4 hours self-paced learning)