Shared Content
Restrictions on civic space include:
→Legislation restricting foreign funding
→Registration regulations
→Misuse of terrorism laws
→Travel bans, and
→Online harassment and smear campaigns
These are just a few of the tactics used to silence and intimidate CSOs and human rights defenders who seek to challenge the status quo. This guide is for them – activists, CSOs and social movements who want to explore tactics and strategies to push back against these restrictions in hostile contexts around the world.
If you can’t meet publicly because the government has imposed a prohibition on gatherings of more than five people, how do you engage in advocacy inside your country? Is it even possible? We want to help you find a way to say “yes” to this question!
Based on real experiences of Lifeline consortium partners and other CSOs, this guide aims to provide a “menu of options” of various tactics that can be used in a difficult or restrictive context. This guide provides inspiring case studies and concrete examples to demonstrate that advocacy is possible, and there are ways to do it without exposing yourself to a high degree of risk.
What this guide IS: a menu of options to encourage new ideas about conducting advocacy in difficult contexts.
What this guide IS NOT: a one-size-fits-all approach to advocacy that can be applied anywhere.
Advocacy efforts must be locally driven and politically savvy to be truly successful in the long term. Too often, advocacy campaigns fail to invest the required time and resources in understanding the political and economic interests that influences a particular issue or cause. And, local organizations often lack the resources to expend staff time and organizational funds to understand why the status quo persists and how to advocate for change.
This guidebook aims to support activists in developing and executing advocacy strategies that are tailored to the opportunities and constraints of their local context. While this guide presents key principles and frameworks that can guide advocacy campaigns, it also presents advocates with practical steps that can fit the resource constraints of typical grassroots organizations. Therefore, the authors hope that this guide will give practitioners who have limited experience with advocacy the confidence to lead politically smart, locally-led campaigns that achieve change for their communities.
This guidebook helps Pact field staff and core partners strengthen the
capacity of local partners engaged in advocacy efforts. It discusses a wide
variety of options for communities to advocate on their own behalf. It was
written for the advocate who is passionate about a particular cause or issue,
but lacks experience in planning, organizing, implementing, monitoring,
and evaluating advocacy or constructive engagement with government officials and other power-holders. This handbook will teach you, the advocate, the principles and techniques necessary to plan and implement a successful advocacy campaign. The goals of your campaign may be as specific as securing minor alterations to local regulations or as large as demanding an overhaul of a national law or international policy.
While this handbook is designed to be read in its entirety, readers can skip to particular sections or stages of the advocacy cycle that are most relevant to their work.
Many international and country-level projects are set up in programmatic siloes (e.g., health, trade, environment, finance, education), each having its own priorities, plans, targets, sources of funding, and measurements of success. And, donor-funded development assistance and corporate philanthropy traditionally fund sectoral programs. These realities greatly challenge our ability to synergize activities and generate well-coordinated results to influence people’s lives more holistically.
Advocacy efforts may be very targeted and may include specific processes to bring about change of a specific policy or law, but achieving lasting change often requires a more holistic and integrated approach. Pact’s hypothesis is that achieving results that most effectively and sustainably help people live better lives is only possible when advocates can persuade decision-makers in governments, businesses, the international community, civil society, and local groups that it is in their best interest to coordinate (or at least not block) efforts among a variety of sectors to solve the most challenging social issues.
Pact has been a leader in integrated development for decades. We combine contextually tailored interventions, such as governance, health, and livelihoods, to solve complex issues more effectively than can isolated sectoral programs. Pact believes that the essential building blocks to effective development are synergistic, mutually reinforcing, and catalytic. Strengthening local capacity, forging effective governance systems, and transforming markets enables people to earn a dignified living, be healthy, and benefit from their natural environment.
The “Nijali & Nilinde” project, implemented by the Kijana Hai Foundation, is dedicated to empowering disabled women and girls in rural and peri-urban regions of Unguja, Zanzibar. The project aims to address the significant
challenges faced by disabled women and girls in accessing and exercising their sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR). It recognizes that disabled women and girls are often marginalized and face multiple barriers, including stigma, discrimination, lack of awareness, and physical obstacles when seeking healthcare services related to their SRHR.
SRHR is a fundamental aspect of human rights, encompassing the right to make informed decisions about one’s body, sexual relationships, and reproduction. However, disabled women and girls are disproportionately denied these rights due to societal stereotypes, misconceptions, and a lack of understanding about their unique needs and desires.
It was a marvelous year for the success of the 2023 Tanzania Youth Conference, which was hosted in the Dodoma region. The TYF 2023 report was officially launched at the DOYODO Institute's Conference Hall on October 26, 2023. Mr. Daniel Lema, Chief of Party Freedom House Tanzania, led the launch, which was observed by the Dodoma sub-committee of preparations and development stakeholders. The report highlights the youth's accomplishments, challenges, and action recommendations.
This 2024 version of National Youth Development Policy is an instrument which addresses many issues related to the an ever-increasing adverse impacts of social- economic problems such as unemployment, poverty, HIV/AIDS and other diseases, environmental degradation and drug abuse.
