Advocacy Tutorials
With the support of video tutorials, local and international advocacy activities can be used to promote environmental and climate actions.
Young people are learning how to use film, music, visual art, performance and social entrepreneurship to advocate for change: expressing their voices, causes and perspectives to their communities and calling on decision-makers to act. Their local efforts can feed into development toward the SDGs, the European Green Deal, local and regional (policy) initiatives.
Episode 1: How to start?
Learn how to analyse the causes and effects of a problem using the PROBLEM TREE. Problem analysing, will help you pin down the causes and effects of the issues you want to tackle and be concrete in your action. The Problem tree objective is a good example, but you can use other tools, such as the Iceberg model and PEST Analysis.
Additional resources:
The Iceberg Model
The Iceberg Model is a tool that allows you to shift your perspective and see beyond the immediate events that everyone notices. It helps you to uncover root causes of why those events happen.
PEST Analysis
PEST is a broad fact-gathering activity aimed at figuring out the external factors impacting your issue. It stands for Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological. The results of a PEST analysis are very valuable for identifying the different possible causes of a problem.
Read more on advocacy:
Advocacy Handbook from the European Youth Forum
Youth Advocacy Toolkit from UNICEF
Episode 2: SMART objectives
Learn how you can go into the specifics from big picture thinking, and define precise objectives for your advocacy process. SMART Objectives is a model that will help you be concrete in what you are achieving for each advocacy action.
For each objective ask yourself whether it is:
– Specific: what needs to change and for whom? Will everyone understand it?
– Measurable: How can the change be measured? For example; how many people will be impacted and how?
– Achievable: is the change realistic considering the context and your capacities?
– Result-oriented: what are the concrete steps that can and will lead to change?
– Time-bound: do you already have a broad and realistic time frame for when the change should happen?
Episode 3: Do your research and map your ecosystem
In this video you will learn about the importance of doing research and fact-finding on your issue, and how to use those facts to shape your proposal and action in a more targeted way. You will also find out why is it important to do mapping of stakeholders before you start with your actions. For researching, we recommend that you rely on the local resources at hand, such as publications from other organisations, information available at the local statics office, or do a facebook poll with your peers.
Additional resources on research:
Use the following resources to get inspired on how to gather data, or to find some information about youth at the European Level:
Youth Research: The Essentials
Youth Progress Index (relevant data to give each country a score on how well different countries meet basic human needs, foundations of wellbeing, and opportunity)
Country-Specific Factsheets
Additional resources on stakeholders mapping
A lot of the terminology used in this video is also explained in the Advocacy Handbook from the European Youth Forum (pg 62).
Episode 4: Develop an action plan
In this episode you will learn more about the importance of planning before going into action. When leading an advocacy process or a campaign, you need to decide which actions you will lead, and HAVE A PLAN!
Additional resources:
An easy way to plan is offered in the UNICEF Advocacy Toolkit on page 15.
Episode 5: Monitor for success
Learn why it is important to monitor and evaluate your actions, and how to figure out what worked, what to change and when to celebrate the successes.
Additional resources:
Some helpful evaluation questions to use with your team:
1. What did you want to happen?
2. What actually happened?
3. What worked?
4. How do we know? (Evidence)
5. What didn’t work?
6. What can we change next time?
7. What don’t we know?
8. How can we find out?
Manuals:
Save the Children: Monitoring and Evaluating Advocacy
UNODC – Why Monitor and Evaluate (see page 8/9 for a interesting metaphor on Monitoring / Evaluation difference)
Episode 6: Craft a message
Learn why communication is important in advocacy and how to say what you want to say, so that you can convince individuals and groups in power to initiate a change.
Episode 7: Influencing Conference on the Future of Europe
A conversation with Milosh Ristovski from the Civil Society Europe (CSE), the coordination of civil society organisations at the European (EU) level, explaining their work on the Conference of the Future of Europe. The Conference on the Future of Europe was a European Union wide participative democracy exercise that offered citizens across Europe the opportunity to put forward their views about the type of EU they wished to see develop in the years ahead. CSE created and coordinates the Civil Society Convention on the Future of Europe, enabling the participation of the Civil Society in this process, including youth organisations.
Learn more about his story here.
Episode 8: Advocacy example—Sustainable Fiscal Policy
A conversation with Thomas Desdouits, a Policy Officer from the European Youth Forum (YFJ), explaining YFJ advocacy work on Sustainable Fiscal Policy, an important aspect of the conversation on climate change. Fiscal policy needs to serve societal goals, be better aligned with climate action and the transformation of our economies and societies towards an economy that works for the people and the planet.
Learn more about his story here.
Episode 9: Advocacy example— Changemakers Academy
Juanma Báez Ramírez, a Policy and Communications Manager from the Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU), on developing capacity to local student organisations and changemakers to influence change in their schools and at the local level.
Learn more about student organising and activism here.
Episode 10: Advocacy example—Local Eco Campaign
Story shared by Maria Djokovic from the organisation Centrifuge from Belgrade, Serbia, who developed an eco awareness-raising campaign in the local community. Learn about the achievements on the changes Maria and her team achieved, and use them as example to develop your own campaign.