A Preface to Advocacy: What You Should Know as an Advocate
Practical tips from experienced advocates. Collated by Erin Gilmer to empower any person entering the advocacy space to have the knowledge they need to make the biggest impact.
Tag
Advocacy
Lobbying and Advocacy: Start Here
Welcome to the Lobbying & Advocacy topic in the Commons Social Change Library. This article guides you through a wide range of materials to inform the public in relation to lobbying, advocacy and policy-making.
Windows and cycles: How policy gets made
This article helps advocates understand and intervene in policymaking more effectively by understanding the two main models of policymaking.
Films about Women & Social Change
An inspiring list of feature films and documentaries about women and social change including Women of Steel, Suffragette, Mission Blue, She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry and more.
7 online MOOCs about social change and activism
Are you ready to learn more about social change and activism? Here are 6 MOOCs from Oxfam International and universities. MOOCs are free for everyone.
Changemaker Chat with bushfire survivor Fiona Lee
When the 2019 Bushfires burnt her home, Fiona Lee did what most would find hard – she became an advocate for climate change. Three days after her house burnt down, Fiona and her family stood at NSW Parliament House calling for serious action on climate change as creating the context for these catastrophic fires. What is her story? How did she do this? And what did she learn about the power of her own voice in this moment.
3 tools for advocacy evaluation
Links to useful resources in the area of advocacy, policy change, and social movement evaluation.
Activists Guide to Archiving Video
Archiving video is an essential but often overlooked component of video advocacy. Learn about best practices for organizing, storing, preserving, and sharing your footage.
How to get your local MP to listen to your community: ACF Community Toolkit
This toolkit describes the nuts and bolts of implementing advocacy tactics to put pressure on your local state or federal MP and to plan effective campaigns locally.
A Stakeholders’ Guide to the Australian Senate
This guide is intended to be an introduction to the Senate and its procedures. It is designed to give NGO staff an understanding of the basics of the Senate and how to best achieve policy and campaigning goals.
How to Contact Australian Members of Parliament
Need to contact Australian Members of Parliament? Here’s the contact list and even some handy mailing labels.
Workshop Assessing and opening policy windows
A process guide to be used in training workshops and planning sessions. The workshop introduces the idea of ‘policy windows’ and ‘political opportunity structure’ and enables participants to critically evaluate the political opportunity structure apparent in current campaigns.
3 resources to assess and open policy windows
The policy window is an opportunity for advocates of proposals to push their pet solutions, or to push attention to their special problems. When everything comes together a problem is recognised, a solution is developed and available in the policy community, a political change makes it the right time for policy change, and potential constraints are not severe.
Lobbying Workshop Guide
A process guide to be used in training workshops and planning sessions to introduce participants to lobbying in an experiential way; identify lobbying as just one tool in a community organiser’s toolkit of skills and techniques for change; provide resources and information for future reference.
Lobbying: a tactic for social change
Lobbying is one method of raising public awareness of an issue and enlists support for a particular cause. The objective of lobbying is to persuade decision makers to take or not to take particular actions. This handout covers the skills, knowledge and qualities of effective lobbyists, as well as the essential steps to preparing for lobbying.
3 Templates for Campaign Evaluation
Evaluating the impact of advocacy campaigns can seem impossible. Here are three handy guides that can help you undertake effective monitoring and evaluation of your advocacy and campaigning.
How to Talk About Human Rights
Using incredible language data from advocacy, opposition, political speech and popular culture, Anat Shenker-Osorio’s latest research analyses why certain messages resonate where others falter in the human rights sector across Australia, the UK and the US.
The Unicorn Activity: Political Lobbying Role Play
This role play activity outlines an interactive session to help people experience a political lobbying meeting, in a light-hearted way. The role play involves people being from either the Minister for Magical Creatures, or the NGO “Unicorn Revive”.