Given Hapunda

248 identifies areas of action and forms the foundation for developing an advocacy plan. A situational analysis gives an opportunity to organisations to uncover the problems and identify ways to address them. Situational analyses create a solid evidence base upon which advocacy priorities are set and a baseline, upon which its progress will be measured against. A problem and solution tree is a particularly useful tool for conducting a situation analysis because it offers a visual structure to analyse the problem and solution. The problem tree will help advocates understand the immediate, underlying and root causes of the issue, as well as help in gathering information to support the analysis. The objective/solution tree then provides a visual structure of the solutions and how they can affect change. Situational analyses should provide evidence of the problem’s extent and solution to the problem. Good evidence is important for successful advocacy. Generating evidence is only possible with a good research plan, gathering both primary and secondary data to substantiate the problem and proposed solutions. Sometimes, the situation analysis will identify many issues that could be addressed through advocacy. However, choosing just a few is necessary to ensure a focused plan and meet the realities of context and resources (UNICEF, 2010). Further, it is important to identify barriers and opportunities to addressing the issue at hand. This enriches the advocacy plan development. Step 2: Setting Goals and Objectives - As with any other plan, an advocacy plan should have a goal it aims to achieve. Planning should be done in a group so that the goals and objectives of the advocacy plan are reflective of their needs. This increases ownership and collective responsibility. Although setting goals and objectives of the advocacy plan is the second component of the plan, they are often formulated at the beginning of the advocacy plan. The analysis of the situation in step one could influence the direction of the goal and objective. Therefore, in most cases, by the time you are on step 2, the initial goals and objective would have slighted changed to reflect evidence of the situational analysis. A well formulated goal should bring out what the advocacy intends to achieve. The goal and objectives frame clearly states what the plan should work towards achieving. The advocacy goal is what the Focus Box 3: Defining Situation Step one in developing an advocacy plan requires asking what do we want? This entails undertaking the situation through situation analysis exercise. To achieve this; 1. Develop a problem and solution tree, 2 plan research 3. Generate evidence and choose advocacy priorities. Focus Box 4: Goals and Objectives Successful advocacy starts with strategy and moves to tactics. Your strategy is the larger mission, the overall map that guides the use pf tactical tools towards clear goal. Start by clarifying your bigger goals and then select your tactics.