Given Hapunda

256 Social media advocacy has become an effective way of mobilising the public to take social responsibility to hold those in government accountable for many socio-economic issues. Conducting media forums in which you invite the media and communicate your message is another effective way to mass- communicate the campaign messages. The more noise you make, the more effective the advocacy. Therefore, use more than one method of advocacy. Step 7: Putting in Place Necessary Conditions and Capacities - before you start your advocacy, take stock of the necessary capacities and conditions that can make your advocacy not only effective but efficient. Just like capacities and conditions needed in implementingM&E systems, the advocacy plan needs to consider capacity for people, partners and organisations, incentives to motivate the advocates, supportive and optimal organisational structures, and finances and resources to do the advocacy. Capacities When asked why advocacy is weak or not working, the common response is “poor” or insufficient skilled capacity. Capacity is the ability of individuals and organisations to perform functions effectively, efficient and in a sustainable manner (UNDP, 1998). Capacity includes human ability, knowledge and skills of organisational staff. Therefore, to meet capacity needs of the advocacy team, the organisation needs to acquire right people by hiring already trained and skilled people, training the advocacy team and indeed the entire organisation through internally or externally organised courses and hiring external consultants for specific advocacy inputs. This could bring in new insights into the advocacy project. Skills and knowledge are just two of the required things among many; capacity of good quality can complement the skills. Therefore, ensure capacity is of good quality by removing disincentive and introduce incentive for learning, be clear about what you expect from each staff and partner and conduct staff and partner performance appraisals. In addition, develop a sound advocacy training plan. This will continuously need to be updated and adjusted to reflect current trends in advocacy e.g., use of social media. Incentives Use of incentives in advocacy means offering stimuli that motivate staff and partners to perceive your advocacy work as useful and as tool to bring about sustainable change. IFAD (2002), argues that incentive systems should be equitable, applied in a timely manner, be compatible with the organisation’s principles and strategies. Incentives need to be context-specific and aimed at supporting sustainable efforts. As such, monetary incentives should be discouraged because they cannot go beyond the advocacy period. Good incentives include: