Internet Advocacy

Each day, each of us in the society advocates for our causes and for our communities by looking for support to improve the lives of the people around us. This support can come in the form of words or actions; and it is crucial to the success of every organization

With the enabling ICT technology like internet, today we can make our case to much wider audience, and in turn receive support from more people in many more places. The aim of changing or involve in any short-term activities to reach a long-term vision of change is called 'advocacy'.

Advocacy is an action directed at changing the policies, positions or programs of any type of institution or working with other people and organizations to make a difference. Advocating online can have different meanings to different organizations, depending on the mission, the people with whom we work with and the scope of our organisation.

In today 'new media' scenario advocacy comes into the next chapter from conventional method to advocating online. I have broken down online advocacy into three main activities:

1. Informing
A large part of any advocacy campaign is informing people about your couse. For example, you can inform the people in your community about their rights, providing compelling information about the needs of your community and the work that you are doing and this can be the catalyst for rallying people to action.

2. Organising
Once you have begun informing the public about your cause and your work, you will need to engage different infividuals and organisations to make your campaign successful. This means identfying volunteers, sharing information within your organisation and within partners, bringing people together to discussed ideas, and making plans for action.

3. Acting
Online actions can enable you to mobilize new audiences, reinforce the importance of your cause and make your entire campaign more effective

Below are the basic advocacy cycle that normally take place in any advocacy initiatives

Step 1: Issues Identification
Identify the problem that needs to be addressed

Step 2: Research and Analysis
Gather the necessary information and ensure that the causes and effects of the problem are understood

Step 3: Planning
When advocacy has been identified as an appropriate way of addressing the problem, a strategy needs to be formulated. This includes the goal, objectives, success indicators, means of measurement, targets, allies, methods and activities, risks and assumptions, times scale and responsibilities.

Step 4: Evaluation
Monitor actions and evaluate the results throughout the cycle and decide what further action is appropriate or how advocacy could be done differently in the future.

Whatever you are trying to change or do plan your advocacy strategy well and keep in mind that what you say in the intenet is hard to retract. Unlike a phone conversation, the points you make may be archived for years on computers of other people around the world and on public Web sites.


Regards


-MZA-