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Community Health Volunteer's Training Manual - Population Council

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Advocacy for <strong>Health</strong><br />

As we saw earlier, advocacy is a set of actions targeted at decision-makers to support a<br />

specific issue. For example, members of the VHC may convince traditional leaders (chiefs,<br />

queens), assembly members, elders, health authorities, and political authorities to bring<br />

development to their community. Such development activities include building of houses,<br />

schools, pit latrines, bringing electricity to the community, paying fees for children to go<br />

or remain in school, or buying clothes and food for their families. In the long run, the VHC<br />

must help the community to stay healthy and think about development.<br />

As a VHC member you need to be able to convince community leaders about all the<br />

things that make the community healthy. This should be done over and over again to keep<br />

reminding people to promote health.<br />

Exercise 3.2.2: Advocacy Skills<br />

Objective<br />

To discuss effective advocacy skills<br />

Time: 20 Minutes<br />

Questions<br />

1. Why did you select it as an advocacy<br />

issue?<br />

2. Which decision-makers should be<br />

advocated to?<br />

3. What are the arguments that can/should be<br />

raised to your case?<br />

Topic 3 Advocacy for family planning<br />

Key advocacy issues in family planning<br />

Instructions to the Facilitator<br />

1. Guide participants to<br />

identity an advocacy issue<br />

in their community.<br />

2. Role-play how they will<br />

advocate this issue to one<br />

of these decision-makers.<br />

In this topic participants will get to know the advantages of family planning and the<br />

challenges to family planning promotion.<br />

Everyone likes to take control of their life. It is up to the individual to decide whether to<br />

have children, when to have them and how many to have. Anyone who is able to make these<br />

decisions and act accordingly is practising family planning. The VHC must be able to assist<br />

people (especially women) to practise family planning.<br />

The following exercise will help us know the key advocacy issues in family planning<br />

promotion.<br />

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