Cooperation between NGOs and state institutions: Advocacy Guidelines for NGOs by Kristina Stepanova

Cooperation between non-governmental organisations and state institutions Advocacy Guidelines for Non-Governmental Organisations

This publication has been published under the Lithuanian-Swiss Cooperation Programme. Development of the sector of non-governmental organizations working in the field of children's rights through improvement of their institutional capacities The publication has been prepared under the project â&#x20AC;&#x153;Development of the Sector of Non-Governmental Organizations Working in the Field of Children's Rights by Way of Improvement of Institutional Capacities of the Organizationsâ&#x20AC;?. The aim of the project is to develop the non-governmental organizations working in the field of children's rights by way of improvement of their institutional capacities, creating successful partnerships between the non-governmental organizations and local government institutions, as well as promotion of efficient cooperation among the nongovernmental organizations. The duration of the project is January of 2013 through July of 2014. Activities of the project include training of representatives of the non-governmental organizations on relevant topics, preparation of reference materials, survey of operations of non-governmental organizations and drafting of strategies for the strengthening of the non-governmental sector, traineeships for sharing of best practices, acquisition of additional equipment for work, events for improvement of the visibility of the non-governmental organizations and promotion of partnerships with local government institutions. The project is financed from the Lithuania-Switzerland cooperation program, with Swiss financial aid amounting to 151,581.51 litas.

Save the Children Lithuania Save the Children is the world's top independent organisation for children in need. In 2002, the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Save the Children Lithuania was granted full membership in Save the Children International, and has been striving to create lasting and significant change in the lives of children and their families ever since. In Lithuania, Save the Children Lithuania began its work for children's rights in 1991. We are now one of the largest and leading non-governmental organisations representing children's rights in the country. We seek to establish lasting changes in the lives of the most vulnerable children first and foremost in Lithuania and in the rest of the world. Our vision A world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation in life. Our mission To inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. Areas of activity: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

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Table of Contents What is this publication about?

1. Possibilities for cooperation between non-governmental organisations and state institutions,

2. What is advocacy?

3. The main components of an advocacy plan, 3.1. Evaluating the existing situation: defining the problem and collecting information, 3.2. Analysis of related parties, 3.3. Analysing political powers and decision-makers, 3.4. Sought-after change: advocacy objectives, 3.5. Choosing actions for advocacy, 3.6. Communicating and promoting awareness of the problem, 3.7. Monitoring the implementation of an advocacy plan,

4. Evaluating the implementation of an advocacy plan,

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What is this publication about? Non-governmental organisations are an important part of a civil society typically called the third sector (alongside the public and business sectors). Non-governmental organisations can operate in various fields such as children’s rights, women’s rights, human rights, environmental protection, protection of animal rights, culture, social services, etc., however, the purpose of their activity can generally be summarised as compensating for and eliminating the shortcomings left behind by the public sector and the market. The importance of non-governmental organisations in society is demonstrated by the fact that the public and business sectors seek to build cooperative relationships with these organisations. The business sector often trusts the competence and experience of non-governmental organisations in the implementation of significant social changes and thus seeks partnership with these organisations in order to create and implement projects and initiatives for the benefit of the public. State authorities also seek the partnership of non-governmental organisations by purchasing public services from them, involving

them in work groups and consulting with them. At the same time, the need to reinforce cooperation between state authorities and non-governmental organisations remains if the desired result is equal partnership, greater attention to proposals put forth by NGOs and more involvement from NGOs in the decision-making process. This is also important because the cooperative relationships between non-governmental organisations and state authorities are quite paradoxical – even though non-governmental organisations and state institutions seek to work together, as they acknowledge that the non-governmental sector makes a significant contribution to the implementation of the public sector’s functions, non-governmental organisations frequently confront the policies being implemented by state institutions and point out their shortcomings.

How does this publication define a non-governmental organisation? There are still many varying definitions of non-governmental organisations in use, and discussions continue as to what this term should mean. However, this document understands non-governmental organisations as organisations established by the free will of citizens operating on a voluntary basis (this does not mean that an organisation cannot have employees, however, it does mean that members can join the organisation voluntarily and leave of their own volition). This also means that non-governmental organisations are organisations that are not established by the initiative of state authorities and they are independent of them (this way they can successfully represent the interests of the public). Non-governmental organisations are also organisations that do not seek profit, instead investing any income to further its ends for the benefit of the group or field it represents (e.g., children, young people, seniors, animals,

the environment, etc.). This also reveals the purpose of non-governmental organisations, i.e., to serve the public and seek significant changes in public life in the field that the organisation represents.

What field does this publication focus on? The subject of cooperation between non-governmental organisations and state authorities is a broad one. There is no doubt that it is an important topic because it is only with team work that these organisations and institutions will be able to implement meaningful change, ensure the protection and rights of the most vulnerable groups in society and successfully solve existing problems. One of the most important activities that non-governmental organisations can potentially undertake and which contributes to strengthening cooperative relationships between non-governmental organisations and state institutions as well as increasing the active involvement of non-governmental organisations in the decision-making process, is advocacy. Advocacy allows non-governmental organisations

to represent human rights in their field of activity, assist members of the public in voicing their interests to state institutions, promote social inclusion and increase awareness of relevant problems, direct the attention of state institutions towards important shortcomings in the policies, programmes and solutions they implement. All of this also enables stronger ties to develop between state authorities and civil society. Thus, this publication focuses on the practice of advocacy by non-governmental organisations, considering that such activity is one of the main instruments non-governmental organisations have for representing the interests of citizens and influencing state institutions as well as their decision-making process.

What is the scope of this publication? In this publication, readers will find the fundamentals of advocacy, which will allow them to understand what advocacy is, why it is important, how it is different from direct work with beneficiaries, as well as where to begin when undertaking the practice of advocacy and what the most important components are in planning for advocacy. Finally, essential recommendations for evaluating the implementation of an advocacy plan are presented. Evaluation is an important part of advocacy, demonstrating how far an organisation has come towards reaching its objectives, what was successful and what should be improved in the future.

1. Possibilities for cooperation between non-governmental organisations and state There are various possibilities for cooperation between non-governmental organisations and state institutions. One of the most frequently occurring forms of cooperation is the purchase of social services from non-governmental organisations. These organisations are often recognised as more successful providers of services â&#x20AC;&#x201C; non-governmental organisations are much more flexible and can quickly and effectively react to the changing needs of members of society/the group they represent. They are also capable of attracting foreign experience and, as is often the case, additional funding for trying out new services or methods, methodologies and means of organising and providing services. Non-governmental organisations have a better understanding and knowledge of the real problems members of the public face. They see these problems from up close because they work in local communities, understand the lives of these people and are in a better position to observe the underlying causes of problems. The provision of services by non-governmental organisations is often a more appealing option

for the public itself because the objective of these organisations is not to seek profit (as it is in the case of profit-seeking organisations) or secure the perpetuation of political power (as it is in the case of public sector: citizens are also the electorate and therefore have the right to demand various securities from the government. In this case, services are often organised and provided, first, because the state is required to do so by the law, and second, because the objective is to achieve the favourable opinion of the electorate). This is why services are organised in greater consideration of universal values such as equality, participation, social justice, transparency, social inclusion, etc. In this case, it is much easier for non-governmental organisations to attract funding from the public and involve volunteers in their activity, i.e., attract additional sources and resources for the provision of services. Finally, non-governmental organisations are also much more flexible because the way they are managed and the way they organise services is not as bureaucratic as it is in state institutions.

The great flexibility of non-governmental organisations is summarised by I. Bode, who indicates that two forms of flexibility are characteristic of these organisations: 1. non-governmental organisations are capable of successfully coordinating public resources in order to solve social problems and take into consideration the specific needs of every individual case; 2. non-governmental organisations are capable of operating in a constantly changing and complex environment, finding successful and effective solutions depending on the demands and challenges of the external environment.

There can be different levels of cooperation between non-governmental organisations and state institutions when organising and providing social services, depending on the developmental stage of the relationships between these organisations and institutions. The activity of non-governmental organisations in the community can be quite organic and not very controlled, and the funding of service provision is typically ensured through collected funds and charity â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this level is characteristic of those countries in which the non-governmental sector has just begun forming after a certain period of crisis (e.g., war) and where assistance for those who have experienced the most suffering is the main priority. A country proceeds to the next level

when state authorities begin to realise the benefits and importance of NGO activity in a society. Programmes for supporting such organisations start to emerge, or funds to support organisations begin to be allocated from the national budget. Under circumstances, the political influence of non-governmental organisations starts to strengthen, they become more active in the decision-making process. It can be said that, at this level, a more and more professional relationship between non-governmental organisations and state authorities develops. Finally, the transition is made to yet another level, where not only do non-governmental organisations provide social services, they also actively participate in the decision-making process, voice their

opinion, encourage state institutions to take their position into consideration and empower the beneficiaries of their activity to participate in public life. Suitable conditions are created for non-governmental organisations to compete with private providers of social services and to establish themselves in the social services market. In democratic countries that strive for the welfare of their citizens, cooperation between state institutions and non-governmental organisations in providing social services is usually perceived as a joint operation that compensates for the shortcomings in the activity of both parties, i.e., the public sector allocates the necessary funding for the provision of social services and commits to organising and providing some of the social services in consideration of the

existing demand for services that the non-governmental sector cannot satisfy (in relation to the private sector, it is of great importance that not all members of the public have the means to pay for services), and in consideration of the fact that the state has certain legal obligations to its citizens to create and ensure their quality of life and welfare. Meanwhile, non-governmental organisations organise and provide social services where state attention or possibilities for organising and providing these services are lacking. NGOs represent public interests by drawing the attention of state authorities to problem areas and existing shortcomings of the social service system and provide recommendations to state institutions for improving the organisation and provision of services.

A similar form of cooperation is the funding of projects implemented by non-governmental organisations. Such projects are financed both from the state budget (e.g., under programmes for funding NGO project work in certain fields) and from municipal budgets (when municipalities announce tenders for selecting and financing projects initiated by non-governmental organisations). Funding NGO project activity is useful because the funds are not allocated to sustain the institutions themselves â&#x20AC;&#x201C; they are used for directly satisfying the needs of the public and providing public services, which, in turn, allows more efficient and cost-effective implementation of state funds. On the other hand, when the projects initiated by non-governmental organisations receive funding, this poses a risk of the latter being perceived simply as support seekers instead of as the equal partners of state institutions. This can reduce the influence non-governmental organisations have in the decision-making process.

Other possibilities also exist for the cooperation of non-governmental organisations and state institutions. One of the instruments developed for the express purpose of promoting cooperation and ensuring that non-governmental organisations (and in turn, the public) participate more actively in the management of the state was Resolution No 337, passed by the Government of Lithuania on 17 April 2013 (On the amendment of Resolution No 728 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania of 11 August 1994, â&#x20AC;&#x153;On the Approval of the Rules of Procedure of the Government of the Republic of Lithuaniaâ&#x20AC;?). Point 34 of this resolution states that any association or non-governmental organisation has the right to inform a ministry in writing about its interest in participating in the preparation of

certain working papers for legal acts in the jurisdiction of the respective minister that are related to the activity of the said association or non-governmental organisation. In such a case, said working papers for legal acts are forwarded to the association or non-governmental organisation, so that the latter can draw up its conclusions. The association or non-governmental organisation submits its conclusions on the working paper in accordance with the procedure laid out by the Rules of Procedure. This resolution ensures the possibility for state institutions to consult with non-governmental organisations, and for non-governmental organisations to provide input and recommendations regarding the improvement of legal acts and to participate in the decision-making process.

Another possible form of cooperation is the involvement of non-governmental organisations in work groups during which important issues related to public life are discussed (e.g., work groups for developing prevention programmes, preparing strategies, guidelines and recommendations for certain areas of activity, etc.). Work groups are set up for certain periods of time, i.e., until a certain document is prepared or a certain decision is made. However, sometimes long-term structures are also set up, e.g., the Child Welfare Council operating under the Lithuanian Ministry of Social Security and Labour, which representatives of non-governmental organisation are a part of. The first priority in this case is that such work groups or structures (as well as other kinds of consultations, conferences and discussions, etc.) do not only include â&#x20AC;&#x153;convenientâ&#x20AC;? organisations that agree with the objectives and intentions of state institutions or those that are in some respect financially dependent on the institutions (e.g., various projects being implemented by an organisations are funded by the state institution), but also organisations that are competent in the relevant field and can provide structured advice. Second, non-governmental organisations should not only be involved in such groups â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the proposals and recommendations they make have to be taken into account when making decisions and developing strategic documents. The participation of the non-governmental sector in work groups alone is not enough to ensure that partnership between the public and third sector is fruitful and meaningful.

Non-governmental organisations and state institutions increasingly more frequently invite each other to participate in joint events to present and discuss pressing problems and issues. This is also a great form of cooperation because it is an expression of the joint commitment of non-governmental organisations and state institutions to solving a certain problem or issue. It represents the recognition that the issue at stake is truly important. It can also be a great opportunity for non-governmental organisations to present their position on the issue at hand as well as their recommendations and proposals for dealing with it. Other types of consultations with non-governmental organisations are also conducted, e.g., they are invited to submit their comments on working documents, activities, etc. For example, the Lithuanian Ministry of Social Security and Labour consulted with non-governmental organisations about the concluding remarks for the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Lithuania as presented by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, about the new Republic of Lithuania Law on Child Protection being prepared, etc. As in all of the other cases, it is important that non-governmental organisations are not only involved in consultation, but that their constructive suggestions are included in the final solution.

Regardless of the form of cooperation that is chosen, it is important that the process of cooperation follows certain principles. The most important are the following: Positive partnership Open and transparent communication Positive attitudes towards joint work Determination to work together and learn from others

• Positive partnership: this means that a cooperative relationship must be developed with the acknowledgement that both non-governmental organisations and state institutions are equal partners that have the necessary competencies, knowledge and capabilities for creating change. No party is more important or competent than the other, and the positions of both must be considered. Partnership means being prepared and committed to a joint effort and not to competition. • Open and transparent communication: successful cooperation also requires the commitment to good-natured sharing of information, which is important in the process of cooperation. • Positive attitudes towards joint work: cooperation between non-governmental organisations and state institutions has to be understood not as a mandatory formality, but as a process that facilitates the work of both parties and enables faster and more effective reactions to pertinent issues. • Determination to work together and learn from others: as mentioned previously, cooperation between non-governmental organisations and state institutions is not based on competition or proving that one party is doing a better job than the other. This is why both sides have to be open to comments and constructive criticism that allows them to learn, improve and discover more successful ways and opportunities to work together. Both sides have to be prepared to work together, i.e., share the experience they have, consider potential solutions as a team and participate in creating meaningful changes. Determination to work together also means that consultations with the non-governmental sector are perceived not as an imposed necessity, but as a great opportunity to receive additional assistance and make a significant contribution towards dealing with social problems.

As can be observed from the opportunity analysis of cooperation between non-governmental organisations and state institutions, it is important that non-governmental organisations are capable of actively participating in the decision-making process, constantly monitoring the policies being implemented by the state and providing constructive suggestions about the removal of apparent shortcomings, improving the existing system and better representation of public interests. Such NGO activity, when organisations represent certain public interests and have an influence on decision-making and changing the policies conducted by the state, is called advocacy. Advocacy is one of the most important instruments when striving to create successful relationships of cooperation with state institutions. Of course, as mentioned already, the relationships between non-governmental organisations and state institutions are often ambiguous because non-governmental

organisations often have to criticise the work and policies of state authorities as well as point out their shortcomings and mistakes. On the other hand, advocacy is not just about criticising and revealing the imperfections of systems, policies, programmes, etc. Advocacy also allows non-governmental organisations to submit proposals and recommendations for managing existing problems as well as to consider and test various alternative solutions together. Moreover, in contrast to funding NGO projects and purchasing their social services, advocacy is a much more successful form of developing cooperative relationships because the aspect of financing is removed from the equation and non-governmental organisations retain their independence from state authorities. Thus, advocacy creates very favourable conditions for developing and reinforcing successful cooperation between non-governmental organisations and state institutions.

The next section of this publication will present recommendations for non-governmental organisations about what they must take into consideration when attempting to prepare a successful advocacy plan (or strategy – this document uses these terms interchangeably) that would allow them to implement consistent and controlled but not chaotic advocacy activity and to consistently seek significant change. We hope that these recommendations will enable organisations to plan their advocacy activity better.

2. What is advocacy? As of late, non-governmental organisations have been showing increasingly more interest in advocacy activities in their quest to implement solutions to the problems they represent. In strong civil societies that have had more favourable historical, social and economic circumstances and other conditions under which to form and develop a non-governmental sector, the majority of non-governmental organisations have great experience in implementing advocacy activities. Compared to other countries, the non-governmental sector is still young in Lithuania. The development of the sector was much more complicated, and only now are non-governmental organisations beginning to realise the significance of advocacy. For a long time, the non-governmental organisations in our country were more focused on the provision of direct services to the most vulnerable groups, and little attention and effort was paid to developing cooperative relationships with state institutions, monitoring and constantly analysing policies being implemented by the state, ensuring

participation in the decision-making process and influencing solutions. However, the understanding is starting to take root that, first, non-governmental organisations cannot be responsible for single-handedly solving the predominant problems in society and providing services to the public (allowing state authorities to shrug off their responsibilities and commitments to its citizens); and second, that systematic and meaningful changes in the lives of the most vulnerable groups in society or in other areas (e.g., environmental protection, animal rights, etc.) can only be implemented if certain political decisions are made, established practices are changed and new mechanisms are created. All of this requires constant communication and cooperation with state institutions as well as the need to influence representatives of the state, so that important decisions are made in relation to certain problems. All of this highlights the need for as well as the usefulness and significance of advocacy.

The main differences between advocacy and the direct provision of social services are discussed below. Provision of services

Advocacy

Philanthropic activity: activity is oriented towards assistance, funding, support and the provision of services to the most vulnerable groups and/or charity work

Political activity: advocacy is implemented in order to influence decision-makers to change certain policies being implemented by the state and to make certain decisions.

The needs of beneficiaries: the objective is to organise activity that would directly influence the satisfaction of beneficiaries' needs

Strategic change: advocacy is not related to the direct support of beneficiaries (e.g., such as the provision of food products to families in need), rather it helps to achieve structural changes in politics and established practices (e.g., more active policies for reducing unemployment are promoted, greater benefits for families in need, or the development of a system of integrated services for such families, which significantly increases the quality of life for these families as well as reducing poverty)

Direct benefit: the benefits of this activity are received by specific individuals who are provided with assistance and services, and such benefits are typically felt immediately. However, at the same time, it usually only has a short-term effect (here and now) and reaches a relatively small portion of those in need

Potential benefits: advocacy promotes changes that have a significant impact on many beneficiaries in the long-term (e.g., if decisions are made to create better conditions in a certain area, allocate additional funding and change the existing ineffective system, this will positively influence a large group of people).

As can be observed from the comparison presented, advocacy is oriented towards the development of a support environment and not towards the provision of direct services or funding to beneficiaries. Thus advocacy contributes to empowerment and promotion of change in policies, programmes and the legal framework. The essence and importance of advocacy can be described by the words of J. Woodrofee, which she uses to define advocacy by paraphrasing the well-known saying about fish and a fishing rod: Give a man a fish and he will be able to feed his family for a day, but teach a man to fish and he will be able to feed his family for many years to come. However, if you and this man represent his rights to have constant access to the river and to fishing tools, fish will be available not only to this man and his family, but also to future generations.

So, what is advocacy? There is no singular way to define advocacy and many varying descriptions exist for this term. For example: Advocacy is any action that speaks in favour of, recommends, argues for a cause, supports or defends the interests and rights of a certain social group (adapted from the Alliance for Justice). Advocacy is a political process performed by an individual or group that aims to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, social systems and institutions (Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists). Advocacy covers different strategies with the objective of influencing decision-making on a local, regional and national level, specifically: â&#x20AC;˘

Individuals or processes related to decision-making: votes, assignations, ministers, advisory boards, judges, managing directors, etc.;

â&#x20AC;˘

What is decided: laws, policies, national priorities, programmes, services, budgets, etc.;

â&#x20AC;˘

How decisions are made: accessibility of citizens to information and the decision-making process, responsiveness to the direct say of citizens; accountability for the decisions made (Lisa Veneklase, The Action Guide for Advocacy and Citizen Participation).

In practice, Save the Children Lithuania defines advocacy as the entirety of certain planned and consistently implemented actions that seek to influence decision-makers and relevant policies as well as to promote political will that leads to significant and lasting changes in the lives of the most vulnerable members of society. In a narrow sense, advocacy is the planned and systematic efforts to change existing practices and policies in such a way that changes contribute to the greater quality of life and welfare of members of the public. In certain cases, advocacy can be related to changes in the

decision-making process, e.g., when democratisation of the decision-making process is sought or creating better conditions for vulnerable groups to participate more actively in decision-making. In this case, advocacy can also be described as an activity that seeks to empower vulnerable social groups. An even simpler description of advocacy is the active representation of a certain problem or issue, and the efforts to draw the support and attention of others to this problem.

The concept of lobbying is often used as a synonym for advocacy. However, these two terms should not be used interchangeably because they are related concepts with different meanings. Advocacy is general activity that seeks to achieve certain changes in a specific area, whereas lobbying is one of the instruments used in advocacy to achieve desired ends. Lobbying involves various methods of creating influence, for example, face-to-face meetings (say, with the representatives of local government , members of parliament or other individuals who have significant roles in the decision-making process and have the power to influence outcomes),

individual or open letters (e.g., this could be a letter addressing a certain member of parliament, a certain committee under the parliament, or an open letter to all members of the Parliament sent with a view to drawing attention to a specific issue), informal communication (e.g., meetings and communication during admission hours or conference breaks, etc.), calls, preparation of general strategies (e.g., when a nongovernmental organisation participates in a work group for developing a national strategy regarding one issue or another). Thus, not all advocacy is lobbying, but all lobbying activity is advocacy.

The term 'campaign' is also related to advocacy. Campaigns manifest themselves in various forms, be it petitions, public promotions, demonstrations, press conferences followed by press releases, or separate press releases (or a sequence of releases), communication campaigns (which frequently include several different measures with a single message, e.g., a social advertising video-clip, radio clip, outdoor advertising), etc. Campaigns can also include lawsuits or legal cases, say, when the European Court of Human Rights is appealed to in relation to a certain situation where human rights have been violated.

The following chapter will discuss the main components of an advocacy plan that allow consistent and strategic contemplation of the most important aspects of an advocacy plan and ensure its success.

3. The main components of an advocacy plan 3.1 Evaluating the existing situation: defining the problem and collecting information The first step towards preparing a successful advocacy plan is evaluating the existing situation. Due to a lack of time and human resources, non-governmental organisations often do not pay enough attention to the evaluation of the current situation because they think that the main problems and their causes are self-explanatory. This might be partially true – if an organisation has been working with the same group of beneficiaries for a long time (a group that the organisation represents and provides services to), involving beneficiaries in the preparation, implementation and evaluation of projects, and if an organisation consistently conducts monitoring activity, analysis, research and the like, it can have accumulated a substantial amount of information and data about the main problems and their causes. However, if an organisation bases its position on a limited number of sources (e.g., statistical data they have access to, fragmented information found online, etc.), this increases the risk of the organisation focusing its attention on a superficial issue and losing its ability to notice the real problem and its root causes. How much additional information and data an organisation needs can be determined by answering several questions:

• • •

What is the current situation that does not satisfy the interests and needs of the organisation and the social group or groups it represents? I.e., what specifically needs to be changed? Does the organisation have enough objective, accurate and significant information, data and facts to be able to provide evidence of the problem and demonstrate why this specific problem is the most important? Perhaps it is linked to deeper problems that should be dealt with first? If the information is insufficient, what sources and possibilities are available for attaining additional data?

One of the simplest and most useful tools for clearly defining a problem is the problem tree method. This method helps identify the root causes of problems as well as how these problems influence the emergence of other related problems (what the effect of these problems are). This method also works well if an organisation wants to check whether it has suitably identified the core problem. The method has several stages:

1. First, the principal problem that the organisation wants to solve is written down on a large piece of paper. E.g., a large number of children in institutionalised care. This problem is the trunk of the problem tree; 2. All team members involved in the preparation of the advocacy plan discuss the causes of this problem together. Team members use brainstorming to share the ideas that they think of. These ideas are written down on a piece of paper or on sticky notes (this way it is easier to remove those ideas that the team decides are not worth focusing on) and placed above the trunk of the problem tree. In the example provided above, causes such as negative public opinion about fostering within the family or insufficient work with the biological families of children/ families at risk might be suggested;

3. When everyone's ideas have been written down, it is important to encourage everyone to take an even deeper look and ask why these other problems occur. What influences their existence? E.g., negative public opinion about fostering children might be related to complicated procedures for becoming a foster parent, or maybe this is a result of insufficient additional services during the fostering process, or of the media only publicising negative stories related to foster care. All of the ideas that are written down at this stage are the root causes of the principal problem. The identified causes are also written down on a piece of paper or on sticky notes and placed at the bottom of the problem tree (the roots of the tree); 4. If certain questions emerge that members of the team cannot answer, these questions must be marked as requiring further investigation and additional information.

An example of a problem tree is presented below. The example uses a problem formulated thus: high mortality rate among children under 5 years old in the X village in Zambia.

Effect of the problem

Complicated birth and frequently occurring deaths of the child and/or mother during birth

Principal problem

Lack of healthcare services and medical aid near the child and mother

Causes

Insufficient funds to set up a medical station in the community and provide it with necessary equipment

Root causes

State authorities do not pay enough attention or allocate sufficient funds for the implementation of child mortality prevention programmes

High mortality rate among children under 5 years old

Volunteers are not provided with a sufficient number of bicycles with which they can quickly reach medical stations with medicine

The example provided is a simplified example of a problem tree, but it conveys the essence of the method. This example is a great illustration of how the main problem is sometimes not the one that an organisation initially identifies. In the given example, the principal problem is not high child mortality rates but a lack of healthcare services and medical aid near children and mothers. Decreasing child mortality rates can be a long-term objective in an advocacy plan, however, the problem that should be dealt with first is specifically the lack of services. There can be many more causes and underlying causes that influence the emergence of a problem than presented in the example, so it is essential that enough time is spent conducting a thorough and multi-faceted analysis. In the example provided, one of the reasons behind the lack of healthcare and medical aid services (besides the one indicated) could also be a lack of healthcare volunteers, and the underlying cause might be the absence of a national programme for training health volunteers. Once the problem has been defined, it is essential that as much information as possible is collected, so that the content of the core problem is appropriately and clearly understood and that the necessity for a certain decision can be reinforced with evidence and presented to the public. The amount of information that the organisation already has about the problem must also be considered. In certain cases, for example, when an organisation has been working on a problem for a reasonably long time and has collected data and facts related to this area all along, the information an organisation already has might be sufficient (if the information is not out of date). Reliable and specific facts that underpin the importance of the problem are one of the most important aspects of successful advocacy. Besides, if an organisation supports its position with assumptions and unreliable as well as ungrounded facts, this could be detrimental to its reputation. On the other hand, there is no point in wasting too much time on analysis and research, especially if an organisation has limited human resources and time. If an organisation has been working on a problem for a longer period of time, it is sometimes enough to use the problem tree method in order to check whether the problem an organisation has identified is truly the core issue that needs to be focused on and whether this is the core problem that is causing the unsatisfactory situation. If a problem has been addressed for a longer period of time, it is also important to evaluate whether significant results have been achieved. If not, then why? Perhaps the focus was not on the root causes of the problem? In such a case, additional analysis is essential in order to ascertain the causal relationships between the core problem and the possible root causes. If further analysis is necessary to determine the problem, such an analysis or study must be welldesigned in order to make efficient use of available resources and time. First of all, one must answer the following questions: for who and for what purpose is this study or analysis necessary? What problem needs to be researched and what will be the purpose of the research (what specifically needs to be clarified)? At the same time, one must consider whether certain data could be acquired more simply â&#x20AC;&#x201C; perhaps a partner, another institution or another organisation

has already conducted a study in this area? This will help save time and, potentially, money spent to cover research expenses and help to avoid unnecessary work. Finally, it is also important to think about what kind of specific information is necessary. Information and facts will have to allow the organisation to reach out to target audiences and draw their attention, so one must consider what is important and appealing to certain target groups. What principal values do they uphold? The next step is to decide the best way to gather information and facts. One must choose methods and means that will produce objective, reliable and clear information. Thus, it is important to answer the following questions: what possible sources of information are out there? Are they reliable? Is the information available from these sources official, based on data about how it was collected? How can it be ascertained that the collected information is objective? Perhaps the information from one source could be backed up by collecting additional data from other sources? Or perhaps a certain issue will have to be investigated from the perspective of various social groups, e.g., by finding survey subjects of different sex, age and nationality? It is very important that collected data is based on evidence and not subjective opinions and assumptions. Finally, an organisation must decide what research tools it will use, what kind of budget it has (if research requires funding) and what the schedule for conducting research is (when research begins, how long various stages will take and when the study must be completed). The organisation must also consider who will be able to carry this research out. If an organisation has some data related to the issue at hand, and this data need only be supplemented or corrected, the study or additional analysis can be conducted by one of the organisation's employees. If more information is necessary and research has to take longer and be implemented on a larger scale, perhaps more of the organisation's employees can be involved in the process of research, with each employee responsible for a certain part of the study. Or perhaps the assistance of external experts is necessary because the organisation has little experience or capability for conducting such a study.

Once the information and additional data are collected, everything should be analysed appropriately, and the facts that best reflect the issue at hand as well as underpin its significance and relevance should be selected. Also, as mentioned previously, the facts must appeal to the target group â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the organisation must help the target group hear what it wishes to say. Really think about how the data collected during research can be appealingly and clearly presented. It would be great if the results could be summarised on one or two sheets of A4 paper, with diagrams or charts (i.e., appealing visual information that reflects the results) and a description of the main findings, conclusions and recommendations on how to deal with the problem. If a more comprehensive report on

the study is being prepared, a summary is still recommended â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it will be used as the principal document when spreading information about the study because most people, including decisionmakers and representatives of the media, receive a great abundance of information from various sources and usually do not have time to read long releases or reports, and thus a summary of the study can help them acquaint themselves with the core problem and the facts behind it, and help non-governmental organisations to draw the attention of individuals to whom the information was sent. The organisation can leave a reference in the summary as to where a more comprehensive report on the research conducted can be found.

Additional tools can be used to analyse the problem as well. These will enable an organisation to determine the main areas that would benefit from advocacy with a view to changing an unacceptable situation. For example, when analysing problems related to the implementation and protection of children's rights, the general measures for implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child can be used. They will help determine the areas in which certain shortcomings exist. Ten general measures for the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child are laid out thus: 1. Implementing provisions laid out by the Convention on the Rights of the Child in national law and other legal acts: it is important that national laws and other legal acts that ensure the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child are passed; and the laws that govern the implementation of child rights and issues related to children should be in compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is also important to constantly re-evaluate applicable laws and other legal acts in order to determine how they affect children, whether they comply with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and to identify potential shortcomings in the legal framework. 2. A national action plan for issues related to children: suitable implementation of child rights in a certain country depends in a large part on whether the state has a national action plan for issues related to children that would lay out how to ensure the implementation and protection of children's rights. Such plans can be drawn up at the local level, with specific actions and measures laid out for the implementation and protection of child rights at the municipal level. 3. Coordinating implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: in every state, separate institutions, organisations and services responsible for the implementation and protection of child rights must be established and operate successfully. The functions of these institutions must be clearly defined and must not overlap. 4. Monitoring and evaluating the implementation of child rights: monitoring is also an important mechanism when striving to ensure acceptable implementation and protection of child rights. Thus, in every state, constant evaluations of the effect the legal framework and the legal measures being implemented have on children must be carried out (and evaluate the following: what effect new laws or amendments, budgetary assignations and programmes in development can have on the lives of children (potential impact), and what effect measures that are already being implemented have on the lives of children (real impact)). 5. Accumulating statistical data and indicators: every state must gather comprehensive and reliable data about all children from 0 to 18 y.o. in all areas covered by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Constant collection of data allows a more realistic evaluation of the child rights situation in a country. 6. Budgetary funding allocated for children's issues: the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child emphasises that every state should analyse its budget in order to determine how much funding is allocated for children's issues and what effect the current distribution of funding has on the implementation of child rights.

7. Cooperating with the community: the committee also emphasises the necessity for involving the community in the implementation and protection of child rights by organising consultations with the public and actively involving it in the decision-making process. Typically, it is the non-governmental organisations that represent civil society, so it is important that state authorities promote and create suitable conditions for nongovernmental organisations to be established, to operate and to participate in the decision-making process. 8. International cooperation: every state must implement all the necessary measures for child rights as indicated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. If, for certain reasons, a state cannot ensure certain measures for children, it has the possibility to use international cooperation and request assistance from international organisations or other states. This also means that states must be prepared to assist other countries that do not operate in favourable circumstances or develop countries that lack the necessary resources to implement and protect child rights suitably. 9. Independent human rights institutions: every state must have institutions that are independent of state authorities and that monitor the implementation of child rights in the country as well as promote acceptable protection and representation of children's rights. The state must ensure the necessary financial and human resources for such institutions, so that they could successfully fulfil their responsibilities, however, at the same time, these institutions must remain independent of state authorities. 10. Spreading information about child rights: appropriate measures must be taken to ensure that the public is educated about issues related to child rights and that it develops the right approach and a respectful attitude towards children as individuals who have rights.

All of the listed measures are essential mechanisms and structures that must be established and successfully operating in a state in order to begin to speak about appropriate implementation and protection of child rights. When analysing a certain problem, the list of measures can be used to determine which mechanisms and structures have not been established in the country and which have only been partially established. This can also reveal the causes of problems and help identify those areas that require attention in order for a successful solution to be found. A simple table in which all of the listed general measures are written down can be used for analysis. Once the measures are written down, participants in the discussion must evaluate how well each of them is being implemented. For example, the problem being analysed is a high percentage of children that experience physical or other degrading punishments in their domestic environment. In order to determine what is causing this problem or what is preventing child protection in

No.

Measure

Laws and other legal acts

Action plan

Coordination of the implementation of the issue at hand

Monitoring and evaluation of implementation

Statistical data

Budget funding

Cooperation with the community

International cooperation

Independent human rights institutions

Spreading information

Established

relation to this form of abuse, write down a description of the situation related to each measure next to the general implementation measures of the Child Rights Convention in the table. Use an 'X' or another convenient marking to indicate whether the implementation of a measure is ensured by establishing and implementing certain mechanisms and instruments, whether it has been implemented only partially (e.g., there is a plan to develop certain mechanisms or instruments, i.e., a work draft for a law is being prepared, or a new programme related to the issue at hand is being drawn up), whether no mechanisms have been created to implement the measure at all and there is no intention to establish such mechanisms in the near future, or there is not enough political will to establish these mechanisms/ solve the problem. The problem provided in the above example â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a high percentage of children that experience physical or other degrading punishments in their domestic environment â&#x20AC;&#x201C; could be analysed in the following manner:

Partially Not established Established

Evidence There are no laws forbidding or protecting children from physical or other degrading forms of abuse in their domestic environment Children's rights protection departments are responsible for protecting children from domestic abuse at the local level.

X Every year, the Lithuanian Ministry of Social Security and Labour funds the projects of non-governmental organisations under the programme for Nongovernmental organisations working in the field of domestic welfare, which enables organisations to organise positive parenting classes. There is a lack of regular funding and positive parenting programmes on a national level

X X

There is a possibility to use the support and funding of the international initiative End All Corporal Punishment

The Institution of the Ombudsman for Child Rights of the Republic of Lithuania supports the ban on corporal punishment and is open to cooperation with nongovernmental organisations regarding this issue

Non-governmental organisations initiate and implement informational campaigns for educating the public about corporal punishment and positive discipline, but their operations are not coordinated and therefore their campaigns are not as effective. The media feeds misleading information to the public

The table is provided simply as an example of how the general implementation measures of the Convention on the Rights of the Child could be used for a situation analysis. In reality, each area should be analysed much more comprehensively than in the example provided. Such an analysis can also provide additional information about existing possibilities. For example, it is possible that one of the greatest problems is the public's negative attitude towards a ban on corporal punishment and other degrading punishments imposed on children in a domestic setting, and such a negative attitude is only reinforced by the media's inappropriate presentation of the issue. However, perhaps it is possible to use the support of the Institution of the Ombudsman for Child Rights and international organisations in favour of the ban in various countries around the world, or find even a single journalist that supports the idea of the ban among the many which do not in order contribute to writing positive articles about the

issue. The most important thing is to present data and evidence that would substantiate the statements next to each measure. The table used in the example can be easily adapted not only to the child rights situation, but also other issues or problems related to human rights. If the table is adapted, it can also be used to analyse issues in other areas, e.g., environmental protection and animal rights (analysis also covers whether there is a national action plan regarding a certain issue and whether there are institutions coordinating how the issue is dealt with, etc.). Once the core problem that needs to be dealt with and substantiated with data and facts has been identified, one more important analysis must be carried out to identify the individuals that may be related to the problem and have significant influence in the decision-making process.

3.2 Analysis of related parties For successful advocacy, organisations must evaluate all of the individuals related to the problem â&#x20AC;&#x201C; not just the beneficiaries (i.e., the individuals whose lives will be positively affected if certain results are achieved or if the problem is solved), but also the individuals who support dealing with the issue at hand and can contribute to promoting solutions and supporting an organisation's actions in its quest for change. Analysis must identify all of the related parties, i.e., beneficiaries, allies and supportive individuals, as well as enemies/opponents and neutral individuals who might not be interested in the problem at the moment, but could potentially become important and influential allies if their favourable opinion is secured. Any individuals that have an interest in solving the problem and want to contribute to the outcome can becomes allies due to a variety of motives, for example, they can benefit personally from successfully dealing with the problem, they have an inner desire and need to contribute to finding a solution or they work in the same field and seek to implement the same changes. The brainstorming method can be used in the process of identifying allies. Members of the organisation's team should suggest all of the individuals, organisations and coalitions that support or could potentially support the organisation's objective. Allies are important because it is very rare that a non-governmental organisation can reach its advocacy objectives on its own unless the change being implemented is very small or the organisation is extraordinarily influential.

When analysing allies, not only is it very important to identify which individuals can and are willing to join the effort to implement certain changes, but their motives, values and objectives need to be understood as well. This is essential as certain individuals might strive for the same results and changes, however, they could be doing it for very different reasons, and they might not coincide with those of your organisation. This is not always a bad thing, but it does present potential dangers that might emerge later in the decision-making process when these individuals might agree with certain compromises that are not acceptable to your organisation. Thus, it is better to choose allies that perceive the problem and desired outcome exactly the same way you do. The following entities can become potential allies: other non-governmental organisations or their coalitions, human rights activists/experts (of special importance are those who have the recognition of the community or state representatives/authorities and a certain amount of influence), similar initiatives, state representatives that support the solution the organisation is proposing, well-known public figures and international organisations. Allies can contribute to the implementation of an organisation's advocacy plan with their resources, experience and competencies or the influence they have. They can also help an organisation find its bearings in the situation more quickly (e.g., by sharing information that is important in dealing with the problem).

At the same time, it is also important to analyse existing and potential opponents/antagonists. The organisation must identify those who do not support the organisation's objective and have enough power to make the process of achieving the desired results more difficult or even impossible. Apart from identifying opponents, organisations must also analyse, as circumstances allow, the reasoning and information that these opponents could use or are using in order to prevent the implementation of their objectives. This way one can prepare to counter their argument, defend the organisation's position and avoid unpleasant surprises. Lastly, analysing opponents and the information they have is important because, in certain cases, such opponents can be persuaded to side with you and become your ally. It can be that certain opponents have misleading or inaccurate information and cannot see the problem in a broader context, so their opinion can change if they receive additional information. Neutral individuals can also become important players in the advocacy process. They might be members of the academic community, independent advisers, famous names (celebrities) or anyone else that is not directly related to the problem or has little information about it and neither supports or opposes the results you seek to achieve. It is important to evaluate the effects and the advantage that neutral individuals might add to an advocacy campaign â&#x20AC;&#x201C; perhaps it would be useful to reach out to certain individuals or organisations that could contribute to your idea and help achieve desired results. It is important to consider how these individuals could benefit by getting involved in your activity and quest towards a common goal. For example, if an organisation is promoting the idea of positive parenting and a ban on corporal punishments for children in their domestic environment and targeting this idea at young families, it can involve a famous individual with children of their own who would be appeal to the target group and who could become an ambassador or the face of the advocacy campaign and share their experience of parenting and solving parenting problems. Such an individual might, for example, find it important that he/she is a parent themselves, and he/she will want to support the idea of non-abusive parenting. The beneficiaries/right-holders, i.e., the individuals or group, whose interests are represented by the non-governmental organisation, are also important in the advocacy process. Their participation in the advocacy process is important because it empowers the beneficiaries themselves to get actively involved in creating meaningful changes in their own lives and this, in turn, empowers them to take control of their lives and to actively participate in governance and public life. Moreover, the involvement of beneficiaries is also important because this can provide feedback about the organisation's activity and help understand or determine which activities are truly useful and appropriate. Finally, beneficiaries can help create and publicise success stories when their own life stories

are used to show how certain decisions and actions helped them significantly change their lives and solve their problems. For example, if an organisation seeks to provide foster families with additional support once the fostering process begins, success stories can be prepared and publicised of how foster families were provided with consultation, support and other services by a non-governmental organisation, helping the fostered child to adapt more quickly and successfully to its foster family, and the foster family to deal more effectively with the difficulties arising during the process of fostering, which alternatively could have caused the child to return to an institutionalised home. The brainstorming method can also be used to identify opponents, potentially useful individuals and beneficiaries who could contribute to the advocacy activity of an organisation. First, all the possible individuals that the organisation would like to involve in its activity and who could successfully contribute to achieving desired results as well as all individuals who are influential enough to lead the organisation's campaign to failure should be written down in separate groups. When identifying allies and neutral individuals, it is important to evaluate both the potential advantage their cooperation could provide and the potential risks, dangers and problems it might pose as well. Of all the identified individuals, the organisation should choose no more than 1-3 of the most advantageous potential partners, contact them and invite them to contribute to the activity of the organisation. This can be done by writing down all possible allies according to their importance to the advocacy work of the organisation (e.g., if the objective is to shape the public opinion of a certain social group in relation to a certain issue, a famous person (a singer, athlete, etc.) would have more influence on the target group than a politician). On the other hand, if the main objective is to influence, for example, the approval of a certain amendment to a law, then those individuals who have the power to make decisions become a priority. Before contacting certain individuals or organisations, the organisation must very clearly and specifically define what it expects from its allies. How can they help? What would their role be in the process of advocacy? What would their responsibilities be? This will allow constructive dialogue and ensure that both parties are clear about the expectations they have during the initial meeting. Once communication and cooperation with potential allies is initiated, it is important to think about how to communicate with them. What is the best method of keeping in contact? How often should they be communicated with? What measures should be used in order to constantly inform allies about the course of the process? It is also very important to provide allies with feedback about the effect they have on the desired outcome. This reinforces their motivation to participate in this activity and encourages them to evaluate their involvement. It is also a form of gratitude for the assistance and support they have given the organisation.

Analysis of allies and opponents can also use simple yet convenient instruments such as, for example, a matrix of interested parties as presented below.

Influence of interested party

Importance of interested party Unknown

Not important

Great influence

Has some importance

Very important

Individual XX

Some influence Little influence Unknown

Individual YY Individual ZZ

Advocacy is usually defined as a certain process or the entirety of consistent actions that help to implement certain changes in policies and practices, however, successful advocacy is actually linked to people and not to structures. This does not only include allies, opponents, neutral individuals and beneficiaries, but also individuals who have the power of decision-making. Thus, the following component of the advocacy plan that is essential for successful advocacy is the analysis of political powers.

3.3 Analysing political powers and decision-makers Non-governmental organisations must identify the individuals who make certain decisions in order to implement the desired changes. It is often clear who these principal individuals influencing decisions are, however, an organisation might occasionally encounter an environment where certain hidden political currents exist and the decision in question depends on several different decisionmakers with varying degrees of influence and importance, and the organisation will have to make a decision as to which decision-makers it needs to target with its advocacy campaign. Identifying decision-makers is one of the most important components of developing an advocacy plan because even though shortcomings and improvable areas exist in mechanisms, systems and structures, the actual decisions are made by the people that have the authority to do so. When analysing decisionmakers, an organisation must first answer the question of who the principal decision-makers are that have enough power to make the decisions necessary for change. It is important to identify the specific names and surnames of these individuals, as opposed to their positions. If an organisation cannot name any specific names that have the power to make decisions,

this means that it must conduct an additional analysis and collect more information or consult with others who might have the information that is needed. Having identified specific individuals that have the authority to make decisions in relation to the problem being represented, the organisation must then evaluate which individuals are a) the most influential and important, b) who would be easiest to initiate contact with; c) who is interested or could be interested in the problem at hand. Once such an individual or individuals are identified, consider how to make contact or address them. Perhaps the organisation will need to identify other individuals who could help make contact with the decision-maker, for example, their adviser or assistant. The decision-maker analysis requires a very simple method: draw a table of all the possible decision-makers who are a) influential in the decision-making process related to the organisation's objectives, b) support the changes and ideas being promoted by the organisation, and c) are influential and supportive. An example of such a table is provided below (the decision-makers in this case are only selected as an example):

Not very Supportive Not very supportive

Committee on Human Rights under the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania

Influential Minister of Social Security and Labour Minister of Finance Members of the Seimas

The success of an official inquiry addressed to a decision-maker depends on many factors. Without a doubt, it is of utmost importance that the problem is clearly defined by presenting objective and reliable facts and reasoning as well as recommendations for dealing with the problem. However, these are not the only factors that determine success. Before reaching out to a decision-maker, the organisation must evaluate its own reputation, image and influence in the community (how well-known and strong the organisation is in comparison to other non-governmental organisations) as well as the advocacy-related competencies it has. All of this can have a significant effect on how the decision-maker will react to an organisation's inquiry. Thus, if an organisation is not sure about it, say, capabilities or image (e.g., it is not well-known at the national level and it is very probable that the decision-maker will

not have heard of the organisation before), then the recommendation is to consider possible assistance and support from a third party. For example, there might be a possibility to address a decision-maker in the name of a whole coalition of non-governmental organisations or at least prepare and send an inquiry together with a partner, i.e., another organisation that is well-known, valued and has a good reputation. Once the text of the address is prepared, it is important to evaluate whether the information, data and facts provided within are strong enough to draw the attention of the decision-maker. Are the recommendations presented for dealing with the problem sufficiently realistic and implementable, i.e., will the specific decisions that the organisation expects from the decision maker in order to change an unacceptable situation be clear to them?

When addressing decision-makers, the organisations must find out the following: • What kind of information about the issue does the decision-maker already have? • How comprehensive and fair is this information? • What are the personal values and attitudes of the decision-maker? Such an analysis can be carried out by, for example, looking through the decision-maker's interview and chat show appearances in which they have presented their views on certain issues related to the problem the organisation represents, or other issues that might reveal their personal attitudes; • What kind of prejudices might the decision-maker have? How can they be altered?

If the decision-maker is contacted by written inquiry (e.g., email) or if they are addressed directly (e.g., by phone), it is important to keep in mind several practical pointers. First, it is important to remember that decision-makers participate in numerous meetings, discussions, conferences and other events, and so they are very busy. This is why a written inquiry, an email or a call must be as brief as possible, however, the decision-maker must clearly understand who you are, what issue you are talking to them about, why you are specifically addressing them, and what you expect. Of course, more information about the issue can be attached to an email – this could be a research report, statistical data or other information that substantiates the importance of the problem – but the letter itself must be brief and specific. Also consider whether the information provided or the problem at hand has something interesting, valuable or appealing to offer to the decision-maker. What could motivate or encourage an individual to accept such an offer? If there are no such motives, perhaps it is possible to create some kind of motivation? How? Will the decision-maker consult with someone before making their decision? Who would this person be and how could the organisation

get in touch with this individual and provide them with information? What additional information might the decision-maker need? The most difficult aspect is evaluating power dynamics. Even the most thought-out advocacy plan can fail if it does not fit the social context, if it is implemented at the wrong time or if it does not correspond to the personal values and psychological state (how they think) of the decision-makers addressed. Thus, it is not enough to just clearly define the problem, present a sufficient amount of data and facts, prepare information to substantiate the problem and implement an advocacy plan. All of this must be underpinned by a clear understanding of what (specific actions) will have the greatest effect on whom and under what circumstances.

This is why successful advocacy is linked to the analysis of political tendencies and understanding of power dynamics. One of the best instruments for analysing power levels, the spaces in which powers exist, their possible forms, their relationships and their interactions is the power cube. This method is useful in a situation where there is a need to understand different aspects of power and how these powers are related to one another. The instrument also allows an organisation to see the position it holds in its environment/situation visually (including their most important related individuals, important relationships and powers) and, in consideration of this position, to evaluate and discover the possibilities for advocacy that could help mobilise necessary resources and achieve important changes.

The power cube enables an organisation to develop an advocacy plan and foresee the best point from which the organisation can start its advocacy activity by using favourable circumstances and the existing situation of power dynamics. Organisations can learn more comprehensively about this instrument on a specialised website that provides methodological materials for using the instrument as well as practical advice and other important information. The website can be found at the following address: http://www. powercube.net/ (information is presented in English).

What is power? Advocacy activity is usually understood as a certain power/authority that formal political institutions and state authorities have. Such power/authority is implemented through the formal system established in a state, including formal legal processes and laws as well as other legal acts. Such processes, systems and structures, as well as the powers associated with them are very clear. In developing their advocacy plans, non-governmental organisations most often orient themselves towards these kinds of powers. They analyse and evaluate which individuals with power they should reach out to/influence in order to achieve important changes in the legal framework, policies or the allocation of state resources. However, organisations have to remember that not all powers are formal, clearly defined and visible. Other types of powers exist as well â&#x20AC;&#x201C; powers that are hidden and invisible.

Hidden powers are typically not associated with formal structures or institutions of authority, however, certain individuals or organisations that, regardless of the fact that they are not given any authority by law, have a great influence on public governance. This category of power includes, for example, large business enterprises and corporations. The power of these organisations is hidden and informal, but these organisations have a great influence on the decision-making process and can influence the issues that will be deliberated, who will be involved in deliberation about this issue and even what decisions are made. In this case, there is the threat that certain groups will be prevented from participating in the decision-making process, especially the most vulnerable groups in society.

The invisible powers are the most difficult to uncover. This category of power includes, for example, deeprooted traditions, cultural attitudes, social norms, practices, faiths and world-views that have become the norm in the behaviour and lifestyles of the public. This means that in certain cases, even if certain formal measures are implemented (e.g., new laws are passed), the situation can remain unchanged. For example, a law forbidding corporal punishment and other degrading types of punishments of children in their domestic environments was passed in Romania back in 2004, however, such punishments are still widely used in Romanian families. There is still a predominant attitude that corporal punishment is an acceptable means of disciplining children, and punishments are often justified with a folk saying that translates into the stance that â&#x20AC;&#x153;beating children was ordained from aboveâ&#x20AC;?. This example demonstrates that promotion of certain changes in formal structures and the legal framework does not always lead to significant change in practice. Passing laws and other legal acts is not enough to guarantee that the situation will successfully change. Of course, a favourable legal framework is also important because laws and other legal acts help to entrench certain attitudes about what is tolerated and what is unacceptable, regardless of the situation. However, only passing legislation does not always mean success â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it can also happen that those groups that are linked to invisible powers will not see any need to guide themselves by the new law or they will regard it as unimportant. In the example discussed, the group that is associated with invisible power is the parents

who are accustomed to using corporal and degrading punishments when they encounter parenting problems, that do not think such punishments are an unacceptable tool for disciplining children and that do not understand why and how they should change their attitude. Many parents begin to fear that they will have no other means of preventing the unacceptable behaviour of their child if they cannot use corporal punishment. This way, strong cultural norms, traditions and attitudes prevent truly meaningful changes from happening, and nongovernmental organisations have to really think about whether advocacy will be successful if they limit their objectives to promoting laws forbidding corporal and other degrading punishments. Perhaps it would be wise to implement an educational campaign in parallel that would help parents and other representatives of children to learn non-corporal methods of disciplining children and controlling their behaviour. Once the new law is passed, perhaps it would be useful to promote the development and implementation of a national programme for positive parenting, which would be available for parents free of charge.

Thus, in developing an advocacy plan, it is important to evaluate all forms of power and project how these powers might influence the issue represented by the nongovernmental organisation and the changes it seeks to implement. Such an analysis will also have an influence on the objectives, actions and interventions of an advocacy plan that will be selected as the principal advocacy activities. For example, if an organisation has to influence clear, formal and visible powers, the following instruments of advocacy can be used: analysis, research, lobbying, campaigns, and media coverage for increasing awareness of the problem. If an organisation has to deal with a hidden power, their instruments of advocacy might differ. In this situation, it would be more useful to implement the following: lobbying activity that involves the most vulnerable group itself (e.g., decision-makers' educational visits to the locations where such groups live), and – the more effective instruments when dealing with invisible powers – educational and informational campaigns that seek to change the unacceptable attitudes of the public and provide the community with more information about one or another issue and so on. Once all the recommended analyses are carried out, a non-governmental organisation will find it easier to understand the environment it is operating in, who has the influence to affect the outcome of its advocacy activity in this environment, who decision-making depends on, what possibilities the organisation itself has, what its strengths are, where it needs help and what kind of help it needs. With the analyses complete, the organisation can now begin to develop an action plan for advocacy which would lay out what specific changes and results are sought in order to deal with the identified problem and what specific actions will be taken in order to make these changes achievable. Designing a plan starts with clearly defined advocacy objectives.

3.4 Sought-after change: advocacy objectives Just like general organisational activity, advocacy must also have a clear goal, i.e., advocacy activity must be purposeful. Before starting to formulate advocacy objectives, it is first recommended to generally define what the organisation seeks to achieve through advocacy. The recommendation is to prepare a short description that would define your general advocacy philosophy – what the unacceptable situation is, why it is unacceptable, which rights of which social group are being violated, what is the organisation's role in solving this problem and what does the organisation intend to do in its quest for change. It is important that this description does not contain a list of planned activities. The purpose of this description is to reveal the organisation's commitment to its goal and to the community, its determination to change the existing situation as well as its perception of how it could influence the situation. This description should not be long – half a sheet of A4 paper will suffice.

The main results of the analyses carried out should be reflected in the advocacy plan, i.e., it should describe the following: 1. the main political processes and tendencies and what possibilities the organisation has to influence them; 2. the main conclusions of the SWOT analysis; 3. existing and potential partners or other interested parties (beneficiaries, neutral individuals, organisations-allies); 4. principal opponents and possibilities for neutralising them; 5. resources that the organisation has for the implementation of the advocacy plan.

The general purpose of the advocacy plan helps answer the question of what change the organisation is seeking and what situation it would like to see instead. What should the final result look like, when all the actions in the advocacy plan have been implemented? The purpose depends on the result that is sought after and thus the objective of advocacy can sometimes be very narrowly defined, e.g., to make the municipality allocate funding for adapting the Culture Centre for persons with physical disabilities: installing suitable runways, stair-lifts and an elevator. One objective is enough in this case. Meanwhile, an advocacy plan oriented towards dealing with a more difficult and complex problem should establish a much broader goal. In such a case, the recommendation is to define one long-term goal, i.e., one main sought-after result, as well as several short-term objectives, i.e., separate steps that would reflect interim results on the way to greater changes. For example, the goal of reducing the number of children in institutionalised care by 40 percent by 2015 might require several interim (short-term) objectives, which would help promote the development of more favourable conditions for foster care or in an environment close to its family. It is recommended that objectives are set by using the criteria of the SMART objective formulation method. According to this method, objectives should be: 1. Specific: what changes do we want to see? Objectives should be very specific. They should clearly define what should be done how and by what deadline. The objectives should not use difficult wording, terminology, concepts, jargon or words that could be read to mean something else and interpreted differently. Good example: by the end of the first quarter of 2015, no less than 45 additional children from the social risk list will be able to receive social services provided at the children's day centre 5 days a week. Bad example: create the possibility for at-risk children to receive additional services in the community. 2. Measurable: what will show us that we have achieved what we have set out to do? The objective must be formulated so that it is clear what criteria and indicators will demonstrate whether the objective has been achieved or not, or how much progress the organisation has made in reaching for its goal. Any goal that is impossible to measure is badly formulated. Sometimes it is very difficult to evaluate how achievable an objective is, especially in situations where changing opinions, attitudes and experiences is necessary. In such situations, qualitative criteria and indicators can be used, however, there still needs to be a way to clearly

see whether the objective has been achieved and to what extent. Maybe there is a possibility to express certain qualitative indicators as quantitative ones? For example, by researching attitude changes in the target group regarding a certain question at the beginning of the activity and at its conclusion (say, a study demonstrated a greater number of parents visiting children's day centres expressing that corporal punishment is not an acceptable method of dealing with parenting problems). Example of a good objective: by May of this year, the municipality of Ĺ akiai district will increase funding for children's summer programmes by 15 percent, resulting in 4 more camps organised than last year. Example of a bad objective: The municipality of Ĺ akiai district will pay more attention to the occupational problem for children during the summer and will allocate more funding to deal with the problem. 3. Achievable: can we achieve the desired result during the time-period we have set? One of the most frequent mistakes that non-governmental organisations make is wanting to change the world in a very short space of time. This is why it is so often the case that advocacy plans, and frequently even the projects implemented by nongovernmental organisations, are tied to unrealistic expectations or objectives that are impossible to achieve in the given time-frame. Two dangers can be encountered when striving to achieve such objectives. First, all efforts are concentrated into activities that desperately seek to achieve a possibly unattainable goal instead of focusing capabilities, efforts and existing resources into a specific change that would enable the organisation to \take the next step towards a greater goal. One must remember that changes, especially those related to long-term practices, traditions, beliefs and attitudes, do not happen overnight. It is not enough to collect clear and strong evidence that would reveal the relevance of the issue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this absolutely does not mean that decision-makers will immediately make the necessary decisions just upon seeing convincing facts and figures. Second, existing resources, including time, are wasted in the quest for an unattainable goal. On the other hand, objectives should not be underambitious either because this runs the risk of never achieving significant change if actions are too little and insignificant in their impact. The most important goal is to divide a complex goal into specific, measurable and achievable steps. Example of a good objective: to analyse funding possibilities and, having researched the needs, possibilities, activity and values of potential sponsors as well as having prepared a partnership proposal for sponsors according to the information gathered, to attract 2 new sponsors that could

provide up to 15 thousand litas in support by the end of the year. Example of a bad objective: to attract 25 new sponsors that could provide 500 thousand litas in support (even though there are only 10 local businesses and only half a year remains till the end of the year) 4. Relevant: will the objectives contribute to the general goal (the long-term goal)? The analysis conducted before developing an advocacy plan shows us what to change and how to go about achieving this in order to significantly change the situation. Thus, it is very important that the objectives of the advocacy plan should bring us closer to achieving desired change instead of simply sounding appealing (usually because they are easily attainable). The organisation must think about the fundamental changes that it seeks to implement and formulate objectives accordingly. The objective should also correspond to the policies of the organisation and to the beliefs, attitudes and worldviews of team members. If the objective contradicts the inner attitudes and personal values of team members or if team members believe in the complete opposite of what the objective seeks to implement, then there is a great risk of the objective not being achieved. It is very difficult to persuade others to believe in what the organisation and its employees do not believe in themselves. Members of the team do not have any motivation to strive for something they do not believe in, and this will influence their determination and efforts in one way or another. Every objective must be meaningful in the context of the general purpose and other objectives. Example of a good objective: to make the municipality approve a programme for the prevention of suicide, under which systematic work strengthening the psychosocial health of children and teenagers will be funded by the end of the year (because, for example, suicides among teenagers are the most pertinent issue in the community and the organisation believes that a prevention programme would help ensure the welfare of the children, which is important to all the members of the team). Example of a bad objective: to create favourable conditions for children to participate in sports by setting up sporting facilities in the town (even though the organisation thinks that there is enough space in the community stadium, school sports facilities and the residential courtyards, and the children's health problems are caused by something entirely different). 5. Time-related: when do we want to achieve the changes we have set out to achieve? Every objective should be time-related. This means that objectives have to be formulated with clear

deadlines for certain results. It is best when a time is also set for the beginning of operations in the quest for achieving certain changes. The time-frame should neither be too short or too long. Some objectives can only be achieved over a period of 3-5 years and other objectives require even more than that. On the other hand, an inadequately long time-period can prevent work from pushing forward, and the objective can become irrelevant in the long-run. Besides, this reduces the ambitiousness of the objectives, does not allow the organisation to reveal its potential and often involves more resources and greater costs that could otherwise be avoided. Example of a good objective: to make the municipality increase its purchases of social services from children's day centres by 15 percent from the beginning of 2014 to the end of 2015 Example of a bad objective: to make the municipality allocate more funds for social services In summary, the clearer, more accurate and time-related an objective is, the easier it will be to plan how it is implemented, i.e., the specific steps (activities) that must be made in order to implement the objective. This also enables planning for evaluation indicators. Apart from the aspects mentioned, when defining the objectives of an advocacy plan, it is also important to remember that an objective should be related to the desired change and not to a specific activity or action. This means that an appropriate objective is one that describes what situation the organisation would like to see and what has to happen, and not what the organisation wants and will strive to do. Activities are things that the organisation will do in order to achieve its objectives, but they are not objectives in themselves.

Other variations of the SMART method can also be applied. One of these is the SMARTER method. Besides the aforementioned criteria (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timerelated), this alternative includes two additional criteria, i.e., evaluated and reviewed objectives. These supplementary indicators are important because first, they encourage objective-setters to constantly evaluate (monitor) to what extent objectives were reached, whether they are still relevant and appropriate to the existing situation, or whether some of them should be changed or amended. Second, these supplementary indicators also encourage objective-setters to review objectives, i.e., provide for specific indicators that would allow certain implemented activities and their results to be measured and substantiated by objective and appropriate data about whether the objective was reached and to what extent it was reached. An alternative for the SMARTER method is the SMARTTA method, where the last two criteria (evaluated and reviewed) are replaced by trackable

and agreed criteria. Trackable objectives mean that every objective should be linked to specific, clearly-defined and objective evaluation tools that can demonstrate the extent to which an objective has been reached and underpin the achievement with concrete evidence. Agreed objectives mean that any objective should be discussed with the entire team and every team member must understand why this objective was chosen and what it means, as well as agreeing that it is important and that successful implementation of an objective depends on the personal commitment, loyalty and efforts of every team member. Objectives are linked to desired results, i.e., what needs to be achieved in order to reach the organisation's objectives. Results are not simply a repetition of actions taken. Results demonstrate the significance of the changes that will affect the situation due to advocacy activity. Once the general goal and interim (short-term) objectives and results have been set, an organisation must plan what specific activity it will have to implement and which methods it will apply.

3.5. Choosing actions for advocacy Specific actions should be planned for the implementation of each separate objective. All actions must contribute to implementing the objective, thus it is important to evaluate whether a certain action is truly the best available alternative. It is also important not to load the advocacy plan with too many activities. Non-governmental organisations have limited resources, so it is important to choose those solutions and methods that suit each specific advocacy objective the best. The fact that an advocacy plan includes an abundance of various actions and methods does not mean that it will be better. On the contrary, a plan that is overloaded with activities will lead to the organisation's inability to identify priority actions and possibilities for implementing its advocacy objectives, and their activity will become chaotic and difficult to control – the resources they have will not be purposefully implemented. If certain methods or actions were effectively implemented by other organisations and led to positive results, this does not mean that these methods will be successful in every situation. Decision-making is not only tied to the actions of an organisation, it is also influenced by acting powers, political tendencies, various emerging possibilities and favourable circumstances that unexpectedly come together. Therefore it is much more important that an organisation constantly monitor and assess the environment and changes in the public and political fields. Undoubtedly, it is important for organisations to share best practices and learn from one another, however, best practices should be implemented with flexibility. No actions can be implemented without necessary resource:

appointed to supervise the implementation of all actions. • Competencies and experience: what competencies are needed in order to implement every action? What knowledge does this require? Do the employees who were assigned to implement specific parts of the advocacy plan have the necessary skills, knowledge and competences? If certain skills or knowledge are lacking, is it possible to train the employees or will additional assistance be necessary (e.g., from partners, external experts)? • Other human resources¬: does the organisation have any volunteers or members that could contribute to the implementation of certain actions? For example, volunteers could help distribute a report or other information via social networks, hand out flyers, help out during public events, etc., and members working in local communities or the chairmen of certain structural subdivisions (if the organisation operates on a national scale and has divisions or branches in certain regions) can help conduct advocacy activity at the local level by contacting local authorities, collecting necessary information about the issue in a local context, etc. • Existing information and data: what information does the organisation already have that would be useful in the implementation of certain actions? For example, if the plan is to organise a press conference during which the problem presented, useful information could be gained by conducting a study related to this problem.

• Financial resources: how much funding and what kind of funding is necessary for the implementation of a specific action? How much funding and what kind of funding can be allocated by the organisation for this action? Are there any possibilities to receive financial resources for the planned action? How much funding does the implementation of the entire advocacy plan require? What funds does the organisation have and how much funding does it need? Is the budget realistic and based on real costs and price analysis?

• Relationships and contacts: what contacts or partners can be used to implement one or another action? For example, a connection to a specific specialist at a specific ministry who can share information about when important events take place at the ministry, which nongovernmental organisations can also attend.

• Human resources: who will specifically be responsible for supervising the implementation of the entire advocacy plan? Which of the organisation's employees and/or partners will be responsible for the implementation of each specific action? It is essential that one individual is

Practically speaking, an action plan for advocacy could look like the following example:

• Time resources: every action must be time-related, i.e., the organisation must define when an action must be initiated and when it must be completed.

Result

Target group

Action

Timeframe

Responsible individual

Necessary resources

Existing resources

Prepare policy brief for child poverty

Members Prepare an initial of the policy brief project Seimas Send brief project to NGO coalition for consultation

Up to June 15

Advocacy manager

Advocacy manager's time

June 15

Advocacy manager

Advocacy manager's time

Correct brief according Up to to the provided June 30 feedback

Advocacy manager

Advocacy manager's time

Prepare brief layout

Up to June 20

Communications Communications Communications manager manager's time manager's time LTL 2500 for LTL 1500 for layout work layout work

Distribute Members Susisiekti su Žmogaus policy of the teisių komitetu, su brief to all Seimas kuriuo susitarta dėl members pagalbos išplatinant of Seimas politikos santrauką Seimo nariams

June 15

Advocacy manager

Etc. .....

Up to June 30

Advocacy manager

An advocacy plan must also have a budget plan that specifies the costs of certain activities (e.g., if a study is conducted and a report published, funds might be necessary if the services of external experts are used, for the layout design and publication of the report).

The action plan must now be reviewed with every member of the team in order to check if too many activities were planned. If this is the case, it is necessary to determine priority actions and focus attention on them. Not all activities can be implemented at any given time, thus it is important to make decisions about what would best achieve the desired results. An advocacy plan that is not overloaded will ensure that an organisation will have the possibility and resources to take advantage of unexpectedly emerging opportunities that could significantly contribute to the results. Thus, it is important to have enough space in an advocacy plan to insert such unexpected opportunities if they are useful. When implementing the plan, it is essential that the planned activities are constantly monitored in order to determine whether they truly contribute to results. If planned activities or methods are not successful or do not work in a specific situation, then the organisation must react and consider what it could do differently.

3.6 Communicating and promoting awareness of the problem Methods that can be used by an organisation for advocacy are, for example, an open letter expressing the organisation's position regarding a certain issue. Such a letter could be used more than once, e.g., it could be used when addressing different decision-makers, distributed during various events or as part of informational packages and so on. An open letter is typically about several pages long. Such a document should be composed of the following: • A description of the problem clearly and specifically indicating what the core issue is, that it should be dealt with and what the causes and effects of this problem are. All the information should be clear and reliable. It is important to avoid difficult terminology (unless this is necessary for describing the problem – in that case, the meaning of the term should be explained in several short sentences), jargon or discriminating, degrading, demeaning language that could possibly insult certain individuals or a whole group of individuals. • Data as well as objective and accurate facts that substantiate the problem. All facts must be checked and based on evidence. As circumstances allow, it is important to include case studies to illustrate the effect of the problem. • Reasoning for why it is important to change the existing situation. • Recommendations and proposals for doing so, specifically indicating who should be responsible for what in order to make these changes happen (who can and must make important decisions). • Why the problem should be dealt with now and how others (e.g., the public) could contribute to solving it. Another advocacy tool is the policy brief. This document is somewhat similar to an open letter, but it is much shorter and more general in nature. A policy brief is usually composed of 2-4 pages which present the principal conclusions of analysis and research as well as recommendations and concrete proposals for fixing existing shortcomings. Policy briefs are often used as a certain form of political advice distributed to decision-makers. Because the brief is shorter than, for example, a comprehensive analysis and research report, this is a great tool for briefly and concisely presenting the problem to important

individuals. The brief can be also used when distributing information via other channels, e.g. the media. It is important that the brief only speak of one specific problem. When writing a policy brief it is important to ask the questions related to this issue that you yourself would want answered as an individual. Who will this brief be for? How much information can these individuals have about the problem? How fair is the information they have? If the information or knowledge they have is misleading, what arguments and facts can help them see the problem anew? What are the interests, values and issues that relate to the individuals who will be reading this brief? A policy brief, and especially the recommendations, must emphasise the potential benefits and positive changes that will come of these decisions. As with the other documents, it is important to avoid complicated terminology and to think about what words, formulations and reasoning could interest the reader. A policy brief must be comprised of the following parts: a brief overview of what is presented in the policy brief, an introduction, a description of the situation and principal results, main conclusions, recommendations and proposals. The short overview at the beginning of the document is especially important – it will determine whether a reader takes interest and reads the document to the very end. The overview must be on the first page of the document, at the very top. Separating it from the remaining text is recommended (e.g., by placing it in a text box). The overview should present the most important information and the most interesting and significant argumentation in order to draw the reader's attention – several short sentences should describe the essence of the existing problem and how it should be solved. The introduction presents information about why it is important to solve the problem, why now, and why immediately. It can also briefly touch upon the methods used for analysis and research, finally presenting the collected data and principal conclusions. A more in-depth analysis of facts and collected data is presented in the description of the situation, indicating the issue and the context analysed in the document, what data and facts were collected, and presenting the methods and procedure of the analysis and research in more depth (be sure to avoid technical and scientific details). The text must stimulate interest and be easy to read. The conclusion is used to interpret the data acquired and present the main findings. Use statements that are very specific and strong. E.g.: Analysis revealed that if better access to healthcare and medical services is not created for

children living in remote rural areas, mortality rates among children under 5 will increase by as much as 37 percent by the end of this year. Such a statement is much more powerful and specific than simply saying the analysis revealed that children's health will continue to deteriorate. In the end, recommendations and proposals reveal how the organisation thinks the problem should be prevented from developing and what should be done to improve the situation. Recommendations must clearly lay out what steps should be taken in order to change the existing situation. These steps must be very specific, clear and realistic. In order to make the

text boxes with interesting facts, and excerpts from the data described or additional information that presents a broader view of the issue at hand can be inserted into the main text. Questions can be used to create interest for the reader, as presented in the example. Additional information can be presented in a different font, size, and colour or in a text box, as indicated in the example, or by making the information stand out from the rest of the text. If circumstances allow, visual information can also be used in the document, e.g., charts or diagrams that illustrate the data presented.

Where have the children of Lithuania disappeared? There are about 700-800 missing children in Lithuania. Most missing children go unreported â&#x20AC;&#x201C; such cases are kept quiet by both families and institutions of care. There is no accurate data about the 5000-6000 children that do not attend school â&#x20AC;&#x201C; some of them left the country with their parents, but where are the others?

When preparing these documents or an official address to decision-makers, it is useful to use international instruments and mechanisms that can provide information about what the state is already committed to in relation to the implementation of human rights or managing a certain problem. The Universal Periodic Review is one of these mechanisms. The Universal Periodic Review is a human rights mechanism established in 2008 by the United Nations General Assembly. According to this mechanism, a universal periodic review is conducted in countries every four to five years. Each country is evaluated by another country (both those that are members of the Human Rights Council (composed of 47 member-states) and those that are simply observers). The human rights situation in a country is assessed by collecting information about human rights from several sources in that country. Evaluators assess information presented by the country itself (e.g., in the form of a national report), information prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights using, e.g., state reports under other ratified conventions, documents from other subdivisions of the

United Nations and so on, as well as information provided by non-governmental organisations and national human rights institutes. Other countries present the country being evaluated with recommendations about the implementation and protection of human rights. The evaluated country can agree with these recommendations and commit to implementing them or reject them. Recommendations that the state agrees to can be used as a great tool for advocacy if they the recommendations are related to the issue represented by the nongovernmental organisation. This is a great opportunity to remind state authorities that they are committed on an international level and to encourage it to take concrete action to actualise its commitments. International human rights conventions ratified by the state are a similar instrument. By ratifying a convention the state commits to appropriately implementing all of the provisions laid out in the convention (e.g., all of the specified human rights) and allocating necessary funds for their implementation. The state must also periodically present reports

according to ratified conventions to respective committees, where national reports are evaluated by experts. The latter provide state authorities with concluding remarks in which the state is congratulated for successful actions ensuring the implementation of a certain convention. However, alongside the positive, comments and recommendations are also provided in relation to existing shortfalls and areas that require improvement. Therefore, concluding remarks can also be used as a reminder to state authorities of the recommendations it has received, and as encouragement for the state to take action in order to fix the shortcomings indicated in the remarks.

No.

Document

Also, when preparing these documents, an organisation can also mention the commitments that the state made when it ratified one or another convention. For example, if the state is encouraged to implement measures in order to reduce child poverty, the official statement can mention that, according to Article 4 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the state is committed to adopting all necessary legal, administrative and other measures to implement the rights recognised by the Convention. For example, Lithuania has ratified the following human rights documents of the United Nations:

Lithuania

Link to document

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Ratified on 12 March 1991

http://www3.lrs.lt/pls/inter2/ dokpaieska.showdoc_l?p_ id=278385&p_query=&p_tr2=

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

Ratified on 3 July 1995

http://www3.lrs.lt/pls/inter3/ dokpaieska.showdoc_l?p_ id=19848&p_query=&p_tr2=

United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

Ratified on 17 February 1994

http://www3.lrs.lt/pls/inter3/ oldsearch.preps2?Condition1=204 16&Condition2=

United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Ratified on 10 September 1991

http://www3.lrs.lt/pls/inter2/ dokpaieska.showdoc_l?p_ id=280690&p_query=&p_tr2=

United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

Ratified on 10 November 1998

http://www3.lrs.lt/pls/inter3/ oldsearch.preps2?Condition1=642 66&Condition2=

Jungtinių Tautų Neįgaliųjų teisių konvencija

Ratified on 17 September 2010

http://www3.lrs.lt/pls/inter3/ dokpaieska.showdoc_l?p_ id=335882

Every advocacy activity is more successful if the organisation prepares a slogan that is used throughout the entire advocacy process (the main message of the advocacy campaign). The message must be related to the issue being represented. The message should hook the reader and be short (several sentences), but also present the problem, what should be done when, why and how. One of the most frequent mistakes that non-governmental organisations make is to only present the problem. Such a message might draw a person's attention, but they will simply forget it and walk away if there is no indication as to what the person can do or how they can contribute to solving the problem. For example, such a message could be: Children have the right to a happy and safe childhood! However, more than 50 percent of children in country XX live below the poverty line. Together we have the unique opportunity to contribute to creating a programme for reducing child poverty. Sign our petition today! Such a message should be used in all communications, information material, the email signatures of employees, and it should be clearly visible on the organisation's website and other similar platforms. It is important to think about all the possible channels for communicating and spreading information: television, radio, press, social networks and the internet. When addressing representatives of the media, it is important to keep several aspects in mind. The information sent to the media will be different from the information that will be sent to decisionmakers. The press is interested in interesting statistical data, facts and conclusions, however, only as much as they help create an interesting and appealing news item. Thus it is much more important to consider the following: 1. What would be interesting to the media? 2. What information would help attract their attention, so that they could prepare an interesting news item or report? It would be great if representatives of the media could be provided with "living" information, e.g., success stories or the stories, quotes or feedback of individuals whose lives have been significantly affected by the problem. Another important aspect to consider is what information about the problem is new (information that no one has reported on) and original? What information is worthy of a place alongside other news? The more specific the answers to

these questions are, the greater the probability that the material will truly be interesting and appealing to the media. It is also important to evaluate other aspects, for example, it might happen that the problem an advocacy campaign is associated with is a hot topic at the given moment and receives a lot of interest from the media. Perhaps the information an organisation has can be associated with a certain event that is interesting to the media, for example, an international conference, a government meeting, an important date or an important event. In this case, the provision of additional information will be met with great joy, and attracting the attention of the media will be much easier. If the data presented by an organisation is specific, clear, reliable and interesting, this can lead to additional benefits â&#x20AC;&#x201C; journalists will reach out to an organisation themselves, inviting its representatives to participate in chat shows where the problem is discussed and requesting their opinion or an interview. The organisation must be prepared to present the problem, provide evidence of its relevance and effects as well as propose recommendations on how to solve it. It is also essential that journalists' time is respected, for example, the organisation should find out when a reporter needs information, so that they can prepare a report on time. Typically, journalists have to meet strict deadlines for writing articles, so that they can be viewed by an editor before publication or so that a report can be prepared on time. In general, establishing relationships with the media must be a consistent and constant part of a non-governmental organisation's work. An organisation can analyse which journalists are interested in the field that it is working in or who have previously prepared articles or reports about relevant social problems. It is also important to accumulate a list of contacts in the media with whom the organisation has had business with and which produced successful results. Existing relationships should be constantly maintained by thanking journalists for their work with the organisation and maybe even presenting them with a small gift (e.g., a certificate of gratitude or the organisation's souvenir).

On the other hand, an organisation should not limit its communication to traditional tools and channels. This is especially relevant to smaller organisations operating on a local level that sometimes do not have as many resources and possibilities as larger organisations do. In this case, creativity is essential. For example, there is a possibility to take advantage of the newsletters produced by local institutions and organisations. Perhaps a local library or culture centre has such a newsletter, informational bulletin or some other form of communication? The organisation could then ask that these institutions distribute the information it has prepared in its newsletter or bulletin. If the organisation has prepared some sort of information/communication material about a certain problem (e.g., bookmarks, posters, leaflets and so on), it should consider how this material could be distributed. For example, bookshops can be asked to distribute bookmarks to customers purchasing books, stationery shops could present their customers with pens marked with the address of the organisation's website where more information can be found about the problem. In every situation, information is passed on by word of mouth, thus it might be useful to consider the clubs, associations and other similar

organisations that operate on a local level. Such clubs and organisations are usually open to various guests. They allocate time to meet with them during meetings or other events, and the guest has the opportunity to present their activity and give a presentation on a certain topic. Such opportunities can always be used to present the problem represented by an organisation in a few brief sentences and invite members to join the initiative, sign a petition and so on. In order to attract additional funding or support for the problem represented, the organisation can prepare a wish list on a sheet of A4 paper that would present what the organisation seeks to achieve, why it seeks to do so and what the organisation needs in order to do so. What organisations need is to find ways for members of the public to get involved in their advocacy campaigns, so a wish list could contain wishes such as signing a petition and distributing it through available channels, contributing to certain events by volunteering, helping the organisation distribute informational leaflets or contributing in other ways (depending on the kind of support the organisation needs most).

3.7. Monitoring the implementation of an advocacy plan An important component of an advocacy plan is the process of monitoring and evaluation. These two elements make it easy to ascertain how successful an advocacy campaign was, what proved to be effective, what should be changed and how the plan for advocacy should be revised. Apart from this, advocacy and evaluation allows organisations to learn from their own activity and to accumulate best practices.

Monitoring and evaluation are two different processes: â&#x20AC;˘ Monitoring is a constant process during which an organisation's progress in the implementation of an advocacy plan is assessed. Completed activities are also assessed, taking into account how effective they were in bringing the organisation closer to its objectives. In short, monitoring is the process of gathering information that demonstrates and provides an understanding of what is happening. â&#x20AC;˘ Evaluation enables an organisation to assess what has been achieved with the activities, what objectives were reached and what objectives were not. Evaluation is a process that allows an organisation to understand what happened, why it happened and how it happened.

In order to simplify the process of monitoring and evaluation, an advocacy plan must be developed in which every objective must be designed with indicators in mind that would allow results to be measured. Indicators can be either quantitative or qualitative, and they must be clearly defined, measurable and proven, i.e., indicators should be based on evidence that can confirm whether an indicator has been achieved. This can be, for example, lists of event participants, photos, the results of an effect study, the results of a survey of beneficiaries, the results of qualitative surveys, etc.

Monitoring covers different areas – certain processes are monitored in each area. Possible areas: • Monitoring objective attainability: collecting any information that provides evidence of how much has been achieved in relation to the objective set. Information depends on the objective, however, essentially, this is information that shows which of the planned activities were implemented and what the effect of each activity was (e.g., a report was distributed to members of parliament, a proposal for the amendment of a law was drafted and submitted for deliberation, a public event was organised and attended by important individuals who have an influence over decisionmaking, and two of these individuals contacted the organisation themselves after the even about possibilities for cooperation and so on). Also, visual material, participant lists, event schedules, invitations to events and any other material are collected in order to prove that a planned activity or action was truly implemented and that targeted individuals attended an event organised by the organisation and so on. Such evidence might also include any of the products or measures prepared by the organisation, e.g., research reports, leaflets (a digital and, if possible, a printed copy), presentations, policy briefs, official statements, open letters or copies of other documents, publications, protocols of certain events or other documents, etc. • Monitoring changes in target group and public opinion: any information that shows how the opinion of a target group is changing regarding a certain question. For example, information can be statements made by members of the target group that show a change in opinion, feedback about the organisation's activity or a specific event or campaign organised by it. It is important to preserve or otherwise monitor information about things such as emails, calls and direct contact with the organisation on the part of the target group or, generally, the public, as well as to evaluate the content of every transaction – whether the individual addressing the organisation gave feedback about an event, campaign or another activity, expressed an opinion about a problem, etc. Is there any evidence that shows changes in the opinion of a target group? Is there any evidence that shows changes in the opinion of the general public? • Monitoring decision-makers: this is similar to the monitoring of target groups. It is important that information about changes in the opinion of decision-makers are also tracked – can this somehow be proved? How many new decisionmakers were contacted? How many meetings were

set up with decision-makers and what did they result in? Did decision-makers start to consult with the organisation more often? Regarding what issues? How do they react to comments provided? In this case, it is also important to collect information that will serve as evidence of achieved results. For example, if it has been stated that decision-makers have taken into consideration the suggestions provided by an organisation, perhaps an official document is available that reflects how these suggestions were taken into consideration. If meetings were set up, perhaps there are photos, agendas or meeting protocols that can be referred to. • Monitoring media: it is important to collect articles and, if possible, monitor radio and television shows in which representatives of the organisation participate, as well as articles or entries generally related to the problem. If reports about a certain problem prepared by the organisation were distributed, then it is important to monitor how many representatives of the media showed interest in these reports and printed them or used the information presented in reports or articles of their own. Did the number of journalists contacting the organisation increase after certain information was distributed? Was there an increase of invitations for members of the organisation to participate in chat shows or give interviews regarding a specific issue? Do representatives of the media use data and argumentation presented by the organisation in their articles on this topic? Does the media support the organisation's opinion or criticise it? • Monitoring the influence and reputation of the organisation: have more people become aware about the activity of the organisation? Perhaps there was increase in the number of individuals following the organisation's profile on a social network? Perhaps the representatives of a certain ministry contacted the organisation and invited members to join a work group in which the issue at hand was discussed? Perhaps members of the organisation began receiving invitations to other important events in order to present the problem they represent, give a presentation or make a speech.

4. Evaluating the implementation of an advocacy plan The evaluation process also has to be planned and designed according to separate stages. First, the procedure for evaluation must be planned by answering the following questions: • • • • used?

What is the purpose of the evaluation? What needs to be found out and why is this information important? Who will conduct the evaluation and who will be invited to participate? How will the evaluation be conducted? What method and measures will be

The first task is to decide on the objective of the evaluation. An evaluation is not necessarily only conducted at the end of an implementation period, but also during it, if the organisation decides that this is important. For example, the organisation being evaluated would like to carry out an evaluation after a larger communication campaign in the plan for advocacy. An evaluation can also be conducted midway through the implementation period of the advocacy plan. However, conducting an evaluation at the end of the implementation period is crucial. The objective of the evaluation should reflect the questions that the evaluation will seek to answer. It is recommended that no more than 2 to 4 key questions are chosen to become the basis of the evaluation process, i.e., these are the questions that will need to be answered. It is important that the questions cover the following areas: successful and unsuccessful aspects as well as challenges, their effect on the advocacy process and the final results; observable changes in the environment due to the advocacy carried out by the organisation and, if an evaluation is conducted at the midway point or another reference point, changes that can have an influence on the process of advocacy or that demand real changes in the advocacy plan; principal lessons learned during the implementation of the advocacy plan. When key questions have been formulated to become the objectives of an evaluation, the organisation can proceed to the next step, i.e., planning who will conduct the evaluation and who will participate in it. Participants of the evaluation process must all be related to the implementation of the advocacy plan or be the individuals that were targeted by certain activities of advocacy. These can be decisionmakers, partners, and representatives of the media, beneficiaries or other related individuals.

When the participants of the evaluation process are decided, the next question to be answered is who will carry out the evaluation. If an organisation has the funds, it can use the assistance of external experts or the services of an organisation that conducts evaluations. If there are no such funds, the evaluation can be conducted by the employees of the organisation that have the appropriate competencies. In such a situation, it is important that an evaluation team is composed from within the organisation, i.e., the decision must be made as to which employees will be able to carry out certain parts of the evaluation. When forming a team, it is important to consider the personal qualities and skills of each team member. For example, one team member can have great analytical skills, another might be very good at making contact with various people, making them talk and so on. In certain cases, the evaluation team can be mixed, i.e., the evaluation can be carried out by both employees of the organisation and external experts. Mixed teams are especially useful when an evaluation of the implementation of an advocacy plan is being conducted for the first time. This means that an external expert will ensure that the evaluation is carried out properly, and the participation of employees in the evaluation process will allow them to get to know the requirements for conducting an evaluation and how they are carried out. The next time, employees will be able to conduct an evaluation on their own. The evaluation team must decide the terminology and concepts that will be used during the evaluation process and how these terms will be described, for example, the meaning of terms such as advocacy, decision-maker and so on. Finally, methods must be chosen for gathering all the necessary data. For example, will a document analysis be necessary, or a verbal

survey, or a questionnaire, or individual meetings, or focus groups, etc.? Decide what method of collecting information will be most convenient. Perhaps some participants will have to be met in person (or this is required by the chosen method, e.g., a focus group) and others can be contacted and talked to via phone, email or online survey. The choice of evaluation method depends on various aspects that need to be considered. For example, certain important participants might not have enough time for individual meetings, possibilities might be limited by geographical barriers (e.g., beneficiaries from different municipalities) or the organisation's budget as well as other resources (e.g., time, human resources). All of these aspects must be evaluated before beginning the evaluation because this will allow the selection of the most convenient and effective evaluation methods. Either way, evaluation will include the analysis of documents related to the implementation of the advocacy plan. These documents will provide

evidence for the implementation of certain activities and their effects. It is also important to plan for additional sources of information that could increase the reliability and comprehensiveness of the evaluation. Once the accessibility of information is evaluated, we can once again turn to the evaluation objectives (questions that the evaluation must answer), evaluate whether there is enough information to answer these specific questions and, if not, evaluate whether it would be possible to get additional information elsewhere. If this is impossible, then the objective will probably need to be rejected and replaced by another one. One must specify why a question cannot be answered – this might help evaluate what important information was not collected, why, what was missed and what important factors were not taken into consideration. This will allow better planning of important information in the future.

Evaluators must have access to information/documents and other material collected during the monitoring process: • Advocacy planning documents: this is all of the material that was collected when analysing the problem at hand, material that was collected when evaluating political powers and tendencies, as well as material that was collected when carrying out other analyses. • Performance reports: if certain advocacy activities were funded within the framework of a certain project or by sponsors, this means that the employees of the organisation will have had to prepare a performance report. Performance reports are a great source of information for evaluation. • Event schedules, protocols and other related documents: these documents allow the evaluation of statements made by important individuals during events, what decisions or commitments were made during events, and whether any arrangements were made (e.g., regarding possible cooperation or the like). Photographs, video recordings, participant lists, etc. can also be used. • Conducted studies and analyses: if an organisation has conducted a study or analysis related to the issue at hand, evaluators must acquaint themselves with this research and with information about how the research was used in the process of advocacy. • Material related to media monitoring: this means all of the collected articles, radio and television recordings, the prepared presentations and information about how they were distributed and used, and other similar material. • Campaign-related material: any visual, audio or written material related to a campaign (e.g., poster layouts, layouts for outdoor advertising, social advertising clips, radio recordings and any other campaign-related information). • Other important material: evaluators must also be provided with any other material that could serve as evidence of the implementation of certain activities and their effect.

Evaluators should systematise all the available information about which of the documents mentioned above are accessible and which are missing, how much attention was paid to developing an advocacy plan, how comprehensively analyses were conducted and so on. A simple table can be used for this purpose by writing down all of the important components of preparing an advocacy plan and specifying how each component can be substantiated by existing documents or other evidence. It is recommended that such a table cover the most important components of advocacy, i.e., analysis of the problem, analysis of the political context, SWOT analysis, analysis of related individuals (allies, opponents, neutral individuals, beneficiaries, etc.) and decision-makers, and other analyses if any were conducted (e.g., a media analysis), objective setting and planning for indicators. Every one of these components must be associated with specific criteria, e.g.: Not implemented

Very weak 1

Weak 2

Average 3

Strong 4

Very strong 5

1. Problem analysis 1.1. Analysis of the causes and effects of the problem was conducted, a description of causes and effects was prepared 1.2. Beneficiaries were also involved in the analysis of the problem

1.3. The problem analysis was based on reliable facts

1.4. Plans were made as to what/who could contribute to solving the problem

2. Analysis of decision-makers 2.1. Analysis of all decisionmakers who could potentially have an influence on the problem at hand was conducted Etc. ....... The suitability of each component is evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being very weak and 5 being very strong. Once the table is filled in, evaluators must write down the points scored by each criterion and calculate their average value. In the example provided, the criteria of the problem analysis were evaluated with the following points: 4, 3, 5, 5. This means that the average score will be 4.25. This is how all components should be evaluated, resulting in a general evaluation:

Also, before the beginning of the analysis, evaluators should become acquainted with the indicators that were provided for in the advocacy plan â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it is these indicators that the evaluators will have to use in the evaluation process when they analyse whether certain objectives were reached and, if not, then why? It is important that evaluators are aware of all the changes that were made to the advocacy plan during the implementation process. For example, if certain planned actions were dropped during the advocacy process, or new and initially unplanned events or other actions cropped up, or certain methods or objectives were changed, it is important that evaluators know about all of these amendments because this also says a lot about the course of the advocacy process. Moreover, evaluators must know how the need for every change was substantiated. Once all the available information is evaluated, evaluators must prepare the General Principles of Evaluation. This document does not need to be very long, however, it is important because it defines the structure and course of the evaluation process. The principles must indicate the following: 1. Evaluation objectives; 2. The scope and time-frame of the evaluation process, who will carry the evaluation out and what will their specific responsibilities and functions be (if there is more than one evaluator), who will participate in the evaluation, the geography and the time-frame of the evaluation; 3. Methodology, i.e., what methods will be applied in order to gather the data necessary for the evaluation, how these methods will be applied; 4. Limitations, i.e., limitations of time and accessible information; 5. Stages of evaluation, i.e., a brief description of the steps in the evaluation process. If necessary, other documents must also be prepared, for example, a schedule for implementing the evaluation or a work plan. Ensuring the reliability, accuracy and clarity of facts is very important during the evaluation process, just like it is when conducting an analysis. All data must be evidence-based, i.e., documents or other information that proves that an activity really took place and had a certain effect, as indicated in the evaluation report. Once the evaluation is completed, an evaluation report must be prepared. The evaluation report should consist of several main parts: a description of the evaluation process (what kind of evaluation was conducted) what were its objectives, who conducted the evaluation, who participated in it, what was the time-frame for the evaluation, what methods were applied, what were its limitations and what stages it went through. Essentially, the evaluation report must describe all the components laid out in the General Evaluation Principles. Next, the data collected during the evaluation is described â&#x20AC;&#x201C; what did the evaluation reveal? Both successful results and weaker areas must be discussed. The summary of what the evaluation revealed should be based on evidence gathered during the evaluation, e.g., quotes from participants of the evaluation who were interviewed during the evaluation, examples from media reports and specific laws that were passed due to successful advocacy and so on. An analysis of why certain endeavours resulted in failure should also be presented â&#x20AC;&#x201C; why one or another action seemed ineffective and did not have the impact that was expected. The body of the report is summarised by presenting conclusions and recommendations on how to improve activity in the future.

This publication was prepared under the Lithuanian-Swiss Cooperation Programme. All rights are reserved by Save the Children Lithuania, a non-governmental organisation. Publication prepared by Kristina Stepanova, independent consultant-expert 48