Social Work with People Practicing Same-Sex ... - ILGA Europe

• Web conference.
The same as regular press-conference, but held via Internet in real time. Preliminary
announcement is extremely important for web-conferences, because it will allow us to
attract maximum number of users of particular online resource; also important are days
and time of conferences. The most effective are web-conferences, held on weekdays in
working hours.
• Interviews for mass media.
While implementing any advocacy campaign, it is necessary to decide on who will ensure
public coverage of the goals, objectives and the course of the campaign, speaking
on behalf of the of campaign implementer. As a rule, it is the head of organization,
which implements the advocacy campaign. Such individual should be trained in media
relations.
• Media club.
This is highly specific form of work with mass media, which consists in organization
of informal meetings of journalists and representatives of the target group. The
main mission of media club is to create comfortable and unofficial atmosphere for
communication at the interpersonal, human level.
For example, on November 11, 2008 the Heinrich Büll Foundation has organized the
media club in Kyiv democratic restaurant “Hayloft”. Participants were able to watch
the documentary “Paragraph 175” about the persecution of homosexuals by the Nazi
regime. Subsequent discussions contributed to the development of adequate perception
of homosexuality and homosexuals among the journalists.
• Social advertisement.
Any advertisement of non-commercial nature is considered social. Naturally, social
advertisement can be used as additional technology to pursue goals of advocacy. In
2005 NGO “Our World” placed advertisement board in Kyiv subway station “Vokzalna”.
The board had a short message “Are You Gay?! Information and Protection of Rights”, as
well as short contact information — website, postal address and telephones. Application
of this technology allowed “Our World” to develop communication with its potential
clients, particularly regarding human rights protection, closely related to advocacy.
• Collective events.
Collective event is one-time, single meeting of the group of people in one place.
Collective events can be official or entertaining. In terms of advocacy, we focus only on
official, working events.
Forms of working collective measures include: working meetings, sessions, workshops,
seminars, conferences, roundtables, forums, trainings, symposiums, etc.
Working collective events are intended to accumulate intellectual efforts of the group of
people in one direction or area. Resulting documents (decisions, resolutions, protocols,
statements, memorandums, collections of theses, certificates, etc.) should represent
formal outcome of any working collective event.
Working collective events are best suited to the planning of advocacy campaigns. Forum
of LGB organizations on strategic planning of prevention and advocacy work, organized
on December 8-9, 2007 in Kyiv by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine and
Information and Education Centre “Women's Network” is the perfect example of such
events.
Such collective events as trainings can focus on the improvement of advocacy skills of
staff and volunteers of advocacy campaigns.
• Mass public events.
In certain cases mass public events can serve as powerful reinforcing element of the
advocacy campaign, since they can demonstrate the urgency of the advocacy issue
for a certain number of people, that is, to personify the problem in broader terms
(as compared to the press-conference).. Mass public events will always be of greater
interest for the general public, as compared to office-based advocacy: public events
are visual. Moreover, they contribute to greater expression of emotions, and this serves
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