Advocacy in Action - International AIDS Society

ACTIVITY
2.1 Objective: By the end of this session
participants will be able to select an
appropriate advocacy issue or problem
Section 2.1 Step 1: Select the issue or problem you want to address
Introduction
• It is important to think carefully about an issue before planning advocacy work. Steps 1 and
2 help this process.
• It is necessary to consider the different issues that could be worked with, and to select ones
that are realistic and which will benefit from advocacy.
• It is important to define the selected problem or issue clearly.
• If possible, make sure that the people affected by the issue are involved in defining the
issue and planning the process from the beginning. They will have expert knowledge of the
situation, and will add strength and legitimacy to the advocacy work (see Handout 2,
‘Effective Representation (legitimacy)’ at the end of this section). For example, this
involvement can be facilitated through drama (see Advocacy in Action Card 6,
‘Communicating through drama’).
Note:
If participants choose an issue that directly affects a group of people not represented at the
workshop, it will of course be necessary to repeat the planning process after the workshop,
with the involvement of the people directly affected. Because of this, the emphasis of the
workshop should be on participants learning the advocacy planning process, rather than
developing a real plan of action.
Instructions
Timing: 1 hour 30 minutes
1 Explain the objective of this step, introduce the topic and the activity.
2 Working with the whole group, ask the participants the following question:
? How do we decide which issues to address for advocacy work?
3 Explain that within their groups they will need a timekeeper, writer and rapporteur
(presenter) for the activities within each step of the advocacy framework. Ask the groups to
document all their work to present to the whole group at a later stage.
4 Using the following guideline questions, ask each small group to brainstorm a number of
HIV/AIDS-related issues that could be addressed through advocacy at their assigned level
(assigned during the previous activity):
? What are you trying to achieve? What is your final aim or goal?
? What barriers or problems do you face in your work? Which barriers or problems could
be overcome by advocacy?
5 When the groups have made a list of possible issues, ask them to select the best one for
advocacy, using matrix ranking. They can rank issues using the following kind of criteria:
? To what extent can this issue be solved by advocacy?
? To what extent would a solution to this issue help people directly affected?
? Can people directly affected by the issue be involved in the advocacy work?
6 Circulate around the groups to ensure that they have all agreed on an appropriate issue to
address. Ask them to write the issue on flip-chart paper and display it on the wall. It is not
necessary for the groups to present their work at this stage.
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