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Report on advocacy workshop held at Pandhari Lodge, Harare Zimbabwe
(4 March - 7 March 2003)
Mwengo
March 07, 2003
http://www.justassociates.org/mwengoday2.doc
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Day 2 - 5
March 2003
Rappoteurs
- Makoude/Wahu
Introductions centred around participant expectations;
people's expected contributions; learning from others' experiences;
how to do advocacy for first times; one person wanted to be the
fly on the wall.
What was
useful
Generally positive
Comments
of what was not useful
English - slow down as it is difficult for non-English speakers
to follow
Not challenging each other sufficiently
Important participants focus on the issues and make brief contributions
Poor time keeping
What more information do we need/share experiences of:
- Go deeper
into interface between community needs and advocacy
- 3 faces of
power
- Basic practices
on advocacy
- How do we
start community participation and how do we sustain advocacy
Established
ground rules:
Collective responsibility.
Focus of
the workshop:
Focusing on:
- how to understand
the dynamics of the different political movements and design advocacy
strategies appropriate to the context.
- Constituency
building - need to engage people to understand the policy environment
to force change and its enforcement
- A clear understanding
of power and how it is played out in different political contexts
- people's
values, attitudes and behaviour
Visioning
- activists need political visions to guide their actions.
Every advocacy coalition needs to negotiate a vision. Failure to
negotiate a vision or the absence of a negotiated vision causes
coalitions to break apart, or to be susceptible to co-option.
Exercise
- Defining Political visions - justice and democracy
Role plays: Family, NGO, Community and Executive/President
Important issues emerging:
Family
-
Cultural set up economic power does not directly translate into
social power (traditional norms)
Untapped power sources which the wife and children failed to recognize
and seize because of the socialization process
Power - shared ownership, shared responsibility, shared decision
making
NGO -
Dependency on the money source/donor and decisions assumed to
emanate from that source therefore perceived sense of powerlessness
(Sense that power lies "up there")
Passing the buck
Undue preoccupation with procedures over people and real needs
are neglected - Clouding of the issues with abstracts like the
next strategic plan to delay action.
Community
Level -
Externally driven agenda
Pretense at participation and consultation
Preponderance of traditional norms which segregate youth and women
Community took charge and refused to be pushed - negotiated time
factor
Executive/Parliament
Burden of proof on opposition not the government
Role reversal when the opposition becomes the one with concerns
for country's health program and not the elected government
Data can be
- a source
of power
- abused,
- delaying
tactic/abstraction and people reduced to faceless numbers,
- vital information
is not always in public domain,
Having information
alone may not suffice - those with power may control the agenda
and consequently utilize their position to de-legitimise the issue.
Those in power determine values and structures
Gender does not necessarily determine the decisions arrived at
if it is practiced in a particular context - e.g. woman speaker
supporting the government in spite of unpopular decision taken.
Questions:
What should we aim to change as activists - the systems that give
rise to and support policies or people's values, attitudes and behaviour?
What should our first target be as activists?
Issue not exhaustively resolved.
Faces of
Power
Power is the landscape where advocacy is done it is characterized
by power plays.
Power is dynamic it may be applied in a monolithic way
Power may be looked at from both negative and positive perspectives
e.g. - Power of Moral authority, power of knowledge, power to organize
3 faces of power
Visible - parliament, congress, rules, the law
Hidden - who gets to set the agenda, public opinion
Invisible - ideas, values, socialisation
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