working papers

The paper explores both the benefits and challenges that this approach can bring when focused on strengthening the voice and power of marginalised sectors of society.

For some social commentators supplementary or alternative means are required to move from a democracy of form to a democracy of substance. On its won, liberal democracy cannot generate levels and types of public awareness, participation and accountability that would constitute a veritable democracy. An engaged citizenry is strongly correlated with the effectiveness and responsiveness in government that is a prerequisite to addressing sustainability problems.

To know who you are you have to know where you belong. ldentities are never as profoundly fixed as psychoanalysis suggest. A particular weight is given to interactions with emotionally important ‘others‘. The enhanced significance of ‘significant others’ is because these are emotionally charged relationships that people care for much more than other issues. And partly because these relations have involved more meaningful social interactions.

Unless one believes in a cause one cannot advocate for that particular cause. Advocacy seeks to go beyond the idea of working on behalf of the marginalized and is focused on practicing participation and enabling the marginalized to speak for themselves. It has targeted more than ever to challenge and change unjust and unequal power relations. The values of human rights are brought into people's attention to claim their rights, to be awake. It also raise concerns among people the responsibility to work for just and viable political and policy alternatives. It is not just about manufacturing consent, manipulating opinions - it is a principle based on a moral choice that is inclusive and has respect for all. The willingness to share power, to increase tolerance and to respect others.

Networking and building alliances with religious groups, poweful and recognized artists such as poets, painters and writers, as well as intellectuals such as journalists and NGO activists, can change the public mood and political context. Networking as a means to synergise the strengths of both institutions and individuals leads to convergence of interest to support common issue. The result is bridging the gap between micro level activism and macro level policy initiative in favour of the advocacy cause. There is a need to link effectively public policies, political process and power relationships. Lobbying is a strategic process of convincing those in the corridors of power.

Power mapping is essential as it works to use information and knowledge from subtle forces to exert influence and rationalize a convincing argument. Social, economic and political issues needs to be clearly identified and assessed by people in terms of power relationships within the society, politics of the state, and the policy priorities before initiating advocacy and lobbying - the real impact they can bring to the lives of the poorest must be recognized to avoid unintended consequences.

Power must be addressed in its many dimensions, in its visible and hidden forms, and in its social and ideological facets including divisions of class, race, gender, religion, age that lead to extremism and exclusion. In human rights activity there is a need to build the direct advocacy of marginalized groups and to protect their rights to participate, to dissent, and to organise.

A key way to exercise power is to influence someone's beliefs. Someone can have the power to define the agenda, mould others' perceptions and preferences and constrain possibilities for others. A second dimension is the power a person has to directly influence the behaviour of someone else.


It is sometimes assumed, that greater democracy comes at a cost of reduced efficiency. Some critics have maintained democratic constructions are inherently deficient, what ever the cultural context. From this perspective globalization would need to promote different kinds of public self rule in order to be truly democratic. Democracy, according to this view, requires more than multiplicity of political parties, periodic elections to representative state institutions, respect of civil rights, and non partisan bureaucracies. At best, these sceptics say, liberal arrangements can achieve a low-intensity democracy that does little to mobilize the majority and to empower marginalized circles(Gills et al., 1993).


The debate about rising women's expectation and status by increasing their participation in all areas particularly in political and economical actions bring us to the widely held view of breaking invisible barriers. The aim is to address this issue by way of problem solving. That is to say, adopting a realistic approach of taking account of social and cultural impediments, while building on capacities. then finding ways for overcoming barriers that are more than often related to power relations.

Powerful agents directly influence behaviour through power relations that manifest themselves in social relations. And since agents' interactions are socially embedded (Granovetter, 1985), institutions as an ensemble of agents' strategies are influenced by power relations. There is also other way of exerting power which is through powerful actors, as skilled social actors, who are able to manipulate and influence the preferences and consequently the strategies of actors for their benefit.

Since power relations, hierarchies and the structure of society are reflected in social relations and social exchange, preferences and actions are therefore also embedded in relations between actors with different degrees of power, resource endowments and amongst whom dependency relations exist. (Fligstein, 1999, Fligstein, 2001, Granovetter, 1985, Eyben et al., 2006). In this case power doesnÌt work via internalised frames but its is rationally decided that in the circumstances it is in their best interests to consent rather than to contest power (Eyben et al., 2006) The institution-as-equilibrium-summary- representation model that will be adopted, assumes bounded rationality and allows values and norms to be viewed by actors as exogenous though they are endogenously shaped in the course of interactions
to some extent. These assumptions are in line with the social embeddedness theory. The social embeddedness of actors choices and actions is captured in the model by the concept of interlinked domains whereby games in the social exchange domain influence games in other domains (Aoki, 2001). This will explained more in detail late.

Shared beliefs are the basis upon which actors decide on strategies.


Power relations and hierarchies manifest themselves in social relations. Higher status, wealth or influence of certain actors makes them privileged and
more powerful and this is reflected in social relations.




More specifically I think of patron-client
relationships, prominent in many rural African societies, and high esteem and tolerance for elite
in these societies. Opposing the elite in certain domains potentially threatens benefits gained in
other domains. This is a significant mode by which powerful actors can deliberately influence
institutions and institutional changes and can manipulate towards a status quo. The linkage of institutions therefore can be an explanation for deliberate stickiness and stability of institutions .

These
skilled social actors Ò or institutional entrepreneurs (DiMaggio, (1988) in Fligstein, 2001)- can
produce new common perceptions of institutions, transforming preferences, and strategies of
other actors. They will invent new conceptions that resonate with existing beliefs but will result
in actorsÌ preferences and actions skewed towards their benefit (Fligstein, 2001).

Democracy is no more susceptible to a single, universal, fixed, and final definition than any other key concept. On the contrary, notions of rule (kratia) by the people (demos) have varied enormously across different historical times, cultural settings and political commitments since the world was coined.

That said, the diverse notions all broadly concur that governance is democratic when decision-taking power lies with the people, a public, a community of fate, whom the regulations in question affect. But, what builds a general concession is less the number of voters than the common interest uniting diverse social groups; for, under democratic system, each necessarily submits to the conditions he imposes on others: and this admirable agreement between interest and justice gives to the common deliberations an equitable character.




Even so, the state, being territorially grounded, is not sufficient by itself as an agent of democracy in a world where many social relations are substantially supra-territorial. A statist framework of democracy cannot adequately subject Trans world flows to public direction. Global democracy needs more than a democratic state. For veritable democracy in a more global world, rule by the people has to extend beyond the relationship between states and their respective national populations. No state can fully control its jurisdiction’s involvement with global flows. Even the most powerful national governments cannot by themselves effectively regulate global health problems, global financial markets, global communications flows, global migratory movements, and global environmental changes. Each states rules over a limited territory, while global processes encompass the planet, often defying country borders. In this sense global flows can undermine even the best national democracy. The growth of sub-state, trans-state and no territorial identities and solidarities has reconfigured the public.

In so far democracy through the state is focused in the first place on education, of participation by, and accountability to the nation.

More often a working democracy depends on knowledgeable citizens. A public that is unaware of its situation, and thus immobilized, cannot pursue meaningful self determination. To be democratically competent, people must have access to relevant information and an adequate understanding of the issues, concepts, principles, policies, procedures, and evidence at hand.

This democratically unacceptable ignorance has by no means resulted from inherent stupidity on the part of citizens. Rather the problem has bee a general lack of sufficient opportunities to become cognizant of globalization and its governance. These failures of public education have been systemic across all the main sites of knowledge production: schools, universities, mass media, civil society, and governance agencies themselves.

(1) Bookchin, M., from Urbanization to Cities: Towards a new politics of citizenship, (London: Cassel, 1995), p. 63

Prugh, T., Costanza, R., Daly, H., The local politics of Global sustainability, Island Press, 2000

Scholte, J. A., Globalization: A critical introduction, second edition, Palgrave Macmillan, UK, 2005

Gills, B., et al. (eds), Low intensity democracy: political power in the New World Order, London: Pluto, 1993

IDEA, Voter turnout from 1945 to 1997: A global report. Stockholm: institute for democracy and electoral assistance, 1997


Building Alliances, key issues:

- trust/defined time line/reviewing the process
- work behind the scenes
- team building with equal participation
- agree how you will be disagree
- drawing at the strength of each agency complementarity
- clearly defined aims and common ground
- consistency in membership
- learning attitutde
- recognize the usefulness to bring it to an end
- avoid domination of one organisation over others
- agree on a common result
- keep marketers out


Types of Advocacy:

ADVOCACY FOR - on behalf of your constituents
ADVOCACY WITH - together with your constituents
ADVOCACY BY - by your constituents themselves (with your facilitating access)


SUCCESSFUL LOBBYING:
- Be clear what you want
- Know the viewS of the people to be lobbied
- WHAT IS IN IT FOR THEM - why should they change their views.
- Develop your messages:
Be simple and explicit about what is the issue
Clearly state what you want them to do about it
Use examples that will engage their interest
- Prepare A short brief large type
- Plan and rehearse
- Consider the best time and place for a meeting
- Be sure you know the venue
- Be conscious of your body language
- Relax keep your voice calm

BUILD RELATIONSHIPS: THE MESSENGER CAN BE AS IMPORTANT AS THE MESSAGE

- Consistency of personnel builds trust and transparency
- Being credible and reliable source of information makes people listen
- Consider involving someone who is deirectly effected by the issue
- Be freindly , use social skills
- Keep in regular contact
- Always finish a meeting by suggesting another one


May 2005

References:
1-Gender Equality and Men, Oxfam GB, Edited by Sandy Ruxton, 2004 http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/resources/downloads/
geneqmen/gem_complete.pdf

2-INTRAC Southern Advocacy Workshop, Gabriella Romo, Hillary Coulby, January 2005, London

3-Capacity development: WHY, WHAT AND HOW, By Joe Bolger, CIDA Consultant, Capacity development, Occassional series, CIDA, Policy Branch Vol, May 2000

4-Monitoring and evaluating advocacy, Jerrifer Chapman, and Amboka Wameyo for ActionAid, UK, (2002)

5-What is people-centred advocacy?, John Samuel, National Centre for Advocacy studies, www.ncasindia.org, editor of Info-Change and Features www.infochangeindia.org.

6-Making change happen: advocacy and citizen participation. Hilary Couldby 2002 , http://www.iied.org/docs/pla/plan_04301.pdf

7-Advocacy toolkit: Understanding Advocacy, Tearfund,
www.tilz.info/frameset.asp?url=topic.asp?id=7497&cachefixer=cf20325645073335

8-AN INTRODUCTION TO ADVOCACY: TRAINING GUIDE, Ritu R Sharma
www.dec.org/pdf_docs/PNABZ919.pdf

9-Advocacy Guidance Notes, BOND, www.bond.org.uk/pubs/index.html#uk
The what and why of advoacy, participative advocacy, getting the message across, Monitoring and Evaluating Advocacy

10-Networking for policy change: an advocacy training manual
The policy project, the futures group international Oct 1999, www.policyproject.com/pubs/AdvocacyManual.pdf

11-Advoacy in Action: A toolkit to support NGOs and CBOs Responding to HIV?AIDS
www.aidsmap.com/en/docs/4782D096-C740-41A5-AF06-D67C14B46DB8.asp



Culture, power, technology


To analyse a social reality there is a need to focus on the meaning defined as the integrated system of socially acquired values, beliefs, and rules of conduct that delimit the range of accepted behaviours in any given society. It is created by a social network involving multiple feedback loops through which values, beliefs, and rules of conduct are continually communicated, modified, and sustained, it emerges from a network of communications among individuals and as it emerges, it produces constraints on their actions. In other words, the social structures, or rules of behavior, that constrain the actions of individuals are produced and continually reinforced by their own network of communications. The social network produces a shared body of knowledge, including information, ideas, and skills - that shapes the culture’s distinctive way of life in addition to its values and beliefs.


Cultural identity also reinforces the closure of the network by creating a boundary of meaning and expectations that limit’s the access of people and information to the network. Thus the social network is engaged in communication within a cultural boundary which its members continually recreate and renegotiate. Social boundaries of meaning are not necessarily physical boundaries but boundaries of meaning and expectations. They do not literally surround the network, but exist in a mental realm that does not have the topological properties of physical space.

One of the most striking characteristics of social reality is the phenomenon of power. The exercise of power, the submission of some to the will of others, is inevitable in modern society, nothing whatever is accomplished with out it… power can be socially malign, it is also socially essential. The essential role of power in social organisation is linked to inevitable conflicts of interest. Because of our ability to affirm preferences and make choices accordingly, conflicts of interest will appear in any human community, and power is the means by which these conflicts are resolved. Coercive power wins submission by inflicting or threatening sanctions; compensatory power by offering incentives or rewards; and conditioned power by changing beliefs through persuasion or education. To find the right mixture of these three kinds of power in order to resolve conflicts and balance competing interests is the art of politics.

Relationships of power are culturally defined by agreements on positions of authority that are part of the culture’s rules of conduct. In human evolution, such agreements may have emerged very early on with the development of the first communities. A community would be able to act much more effectively if somebody had the authority to make or facilitate decisions when there were conflicts of interest. Such social arrangements would have given the community a significant evolutionary advantage.

Indeed, the original meaning of authority is not power to command, but a firm basis for knowing and acting. From the earliest times, human communities have chosen men and women as their leaders when they recognized their wisdom and experience as a firm basis for collective action. The origin of power lies in culturally defined positions of authority on which the community relies for the resolution of conflicts and for decisions about how to act wisely and effectively. In other words, true authority consists in empowering others to act. However when the invested authority, rather than the wisdom of a leader, is the only source of power, where its nature changes from empowering others to the advancement of an individual’s own interest, power becomes linked to exploitation. Today, more often, individuals and groups seek power to advance their own interests and to extend to others their personal, religious, or social values.


Citizen Engagement

Three means of citizen engagement with the state in a democratic society includes: first through the ballot box as part of the electoral process, second as active citizens enrolled in civic participation at a local scale, third through involvement in social engagements. Each of these activities is it self a result of particular rights enjoyed by citizens in a democratic context – the right to vote, the right to participate in government and the right to participate in social, religious, economic and cultural activities. The difference between de jure and de facto citizenship frequently has a spatial manifestation – on finding that their rights are restricted in particular often public spaces, excluded groups create more private, marginal, spaces in which proper machineries can be achieved and the enforcement agencies of the state or of an intolerant minorities may be compromised and be negotiated.





Influencing Policy



Maximizing policy influence

Focus
It is vital that civil society groups focus down on areas that they believe have the most impact on the poor, or on areas where they have the most expertise. Within any national or local coalition of civil society, different actors can lead on different issues depending on their strengths and weaknesses. Prioritisation is about picking 3-5 key issues and doing them well. This means ignoring other issues, and making tough choices.

Research
All too often Civil Society is accused of simply criticising without giving good arguments or alternatives. This undermines the credibility of Civil Society, and the extent to which its views are heeded. Although strong arguments do not guarantee success, nevertheless you have to know what you are talking about if you are to successfully influence policy. Researches need to argue your purpose well using credible data. Consider all aspects of social identity. Make every attempt to generate disaggregate information that establishes the specific impacts on marginalized and poor the way they see it. Clearly showing how policy affects the poor, and highlighting how poor women and men feel about the effects of certain policies provides an extremely convincing argument that everyone can understand.

Key messages
With growing openings for increased participation, there is now more room to propose alternatives. What is good, what is harmful and what alternative measures could be implemented instead for poor women and men in current government action and proposed reforms.

Briefings
Preparing written briefings on issues - short, clear and concise, with a few key recommendations are vital (4 recommendations are better than 10). Briefings are an important tool in influencing government officials, politicians, media etc.

Targets
Identifying decision making institutions or bodies concerning policy changes are important. A useful approach is what is known as an ‘insider/outsider’ strategy, whereby civil society organisations develop close contacts inside the target in order to influence them, but retain a tougher external or public position in meetings, in the media and in campaigning. When combining advocacy with strong campaigning, this approach is essential, but again, care is needed if relationships become too close – you need to always keep in mind your overall objectives and purpose. It is important to spot where the power lies, to negotiate, and to be clear about the bottom line. Identify your allies and opponents, in the media, politicians, academics, policy makers. Build relationships, trust and credibility.

In most countries undertaking PRSPs, the Ministry of Finance has generally taken over management of the process, and thus poverty reduction has gained a higher profile and higher importance within government (rather than being seen as some add-on in the Ministry of Social Affairs for example). Clearly officials in the Ministry of Finance will become key targets, but other line ministries are important too, the Cabinet, the President and his/her office, key Parliamentary committees or other similar structures in the legislature and lastly key donors.

Lobbying: Attending Meetings
Meetings are an important part of lobbying, but it should be remembered that without other pressure, meetings alone are unlikely to be sufficient to achieve the change you want. Access does not equal influence. Informal meetings are very useful, over a drink or something to eat, they help build relationships and trust, and share ideas while avoiding fixed positions. Sometimes it may be appropriate to be tough in a meeting, but it is rarely appropriate to be confrontational. Generally engagement is more effective than condemnation.

Building effective coalition/alliance

All too frequently civil society undermines itself through lack of co-operation. Sometimes civil society groups can be more concerned with their own profile, or fundraising efforts, than in working together for policy change. However, the fact remains that with regards to influencing national or local strategies, civil society can achieve far more together than separately. Develop consensus over aims and objectives. Establish whose agenda you are working to; and work through differences of emphasis or tone before implementation. Remember at all times to focus and prioritise. Identify different roles. Ensure that everyone knows what is expected of them. At the first meetings ensure as broad a representation as possible, but do not be disheartened if the real work is done by a handful at first. As you build your reputation others will become more involved; in the meantime consult them and inform them of all decisions.


Media Strategy
Unless your advocacy has to be carried out behind the scenes use the media as an important ally to achieve your aims. What follows are a few tips on working with the media.
__Who are you trying to influence?
__Where do they get their information from?
__Be familiar with the media.
__How can you get your message carried by the media?
__Develop a relationship with key journalists; find out what they are interested in, what they will cover.
__In many countries, radio is the main media source for the poor. However, often it is controlled by the state so there is a limit to what news it will cover. Here positive and constructive criticism based on issues is most likely to be successful.
__Think globally, international media can put pressure on your government or international institutions and donors.
__What do you want to say? - Draw up a press release (see box below).
__Timing – Think of when will you have most impact with your media work

Public Action/Campaigning
Where there are vested interests involved and serious obstacles to change, more pressure is required. A strong public campaign on an issue can help push for change in a powerful way, building substantial public support for pro-poor change. Identify activities that will help develop a groundswell of public opinion in favour of your message. Be aware of how a campaign may affect your relationships inside government or institutions when these are the targets of your campaign. Have a simple and strong message, and be supported by strong evidence. be sustainable through a progression of actions and milestones, while being flexible and reactive.

Plan of Activities
Draw up timetabled outline of activities required to implement the strategies. Make sure that the component parts interrelate:
__Specify who will do what.
__Bear in mind the particular opportunities for influencing - e.g. key governmental meetings.
__Be realistic about the time-scale. Allow flexibility.
__Identify materials that you will use to further the strategy. Think carefully about materials appropriate to the different targets - e.g. press releases or politicians' briefings should be short (one page), pithy, accurate and convincing. Materials must include thoroughly researched information, be well argued and objective.
__Identify allies (beyond the coalition) who can be approached at different points in the implementation of the strategy - e.g. individuals within the State apparatus? Researchers?


Analysing a Budget: Some Tips
There are two simple questions to be answered in analysing a budget which will give you good analysis:
1) Have allocations to programmes or sectors actually increased since the previous year, and
2) How do they compare to expenditures in other programmes or sectors?
This is easier to do with sectors (e.g. Health) than with programmes (eg. Primary Health Care) as information is often not disaggregated in a budget in such a way as to make this possible. (For example, Primary Health Care could be made up of 40 separate budget lines and would itself be undefined as a budget category).
To calculate real increases or decreases there is a need to deflate the proposed figures to last years prices. To do this the following steps need to be followed:
1. First take the approved figures for last year (not the revised figures as these are unreliable although you can still highlight huge differences between approved and revised where they exist).
2. Then take the comparable figure for this year’s proposed figures.
3. Find the agreed average inflation figure for last year (called the ‘deflator’ and available from the World Bank/ IMF and the National Statistics Office in most cases).
4. Reduce the proposed figure for this year to make it comparable in real terms to last year. This will enable you to demonstrate the real change. To do this take the official deflator figure (say it is 30%) and subtract that from the proposed amount. So if for instance the Government is proposing to spend $100 million on education this year, up from $80 million last year but the deflator is 30% then in real terms education spending is $70 million which is actually a decrease.
Once you have these real figures you can then make comparisons not simply with last year but also with other expenditures. For example it can be useful to do the calculations for social sectors and also ‘accountability agencies’ such as Audit Offices, Human Rights Commissions and Ombudsmen and then compare these to ‘non poverty reducing expenditures’ such as State Residences, Defence and Debt Service.
If data is available at a programme level, you can do the same thing for intra-sectoral expenditures. For example how does the amount spent at the Health Ministry Headquarters compare with the amount spent on Primary Health Care?
These simple calculations can often give you very powerful conclusions and points to make either through Parliament or through the Media. However, make sure you check your figures very carefully and use the same source documents for all of them.
Lastly, always try to make concrete suggestions for alternative allocation of resources that would be more pro-poor.


Source: Oxfam, Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide

1 Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)/Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA)
2 Participatory Poverty Assessment (PPA)
3 Further information on the IDT can be found at www.developmentgoals.org
4 World Bank World Development Report 2000-2001: Attacking Poverty.
5 See for example ‘Ignoring the Experts’ Christian Aid October 2001 (available on the internet- see links in annex two)
6 For commitments from the Bank and the Fund see ‘Poverty Reduction Papers: Progress in Implementation’ Development Committee Communique April 18th 2001




Pro-accountability reform is much more effective when societal actors play a central role. Initiatives as different as participatory budgeting, administrative procedures acts, social audits and citizen report cards all involve citizens in the oversight and control of government and therefore can be considered social accountability initiatives. Unfortunately, although society is omnipresent it is often quite dormant and apathetic. Indeed, the capacity of onlookers to not intervene to resolve problems is well known, particularly in highly modernized, urban areas. Examples abound of circles of curious passersby who do little or nothing to help victims of accidents, heart attacks or theft. In addition, civil society is not always as “pure” as it is often made out to be. Any power that is given to society risks being co-opted by powerful interest groups who only look for personal and group benefits.



Social Accountability in the Public Sector, the World Bank, 2005