Advocacy and Policy Program

Please note this is a closed archived program.

Grant period: July 2003 - August 2004

In early 2002, the Advocacy Advisory Committee (AAC), which is composed of Cambodian and International NGOs, initiated research that examined the success and challenges facing advocacy campaigns conducted by local NGOs over the past five years.1 One of the major findings of this research was the need to develop greater technical advocacy skills within Cambodian civil society and create stronger relationships with government to address policy issues. In order to provide capacity building training in advocacy, Pact and the AAC established the Advocacy and Policy Program (APP). In the summer 2003, the APP was launched with the goal of ensuring that civil society organizations-most working on securing justice and human rights for vulnerable populations-had the technical knowledge to effectively conduct advocacy campaigns

Pact's approach

Without greater advocacy skills, civil society will continue to be unable to articulate the needs of their constituencies - the poor and marginalized - in the policy arena. The APP's hands-on training program helps Cambodian NGOs design, implement, and monitor effective advocacy campaigns to further equitable sustainable development and a more democratic and prosperous Cambodian society.

In its first year, APP received 71 applications from grassroots organizations, which represented over 175 individual Cambodian advocates. Unfortunately, our nine-month training series could only accommodate 12 organizations, each of which sent two staff members to assure sustainability and continuity. This clear demand not only confirmed the need for advocacy training, but also helped to support the APP's transition towards localization and sustainability. It is our goal that the APP will become an independent Cambodian-run organization within the next 2-4 years.

The APP has helped key Cambodian advocates:

• Gain technical skills to enhance their capacity to run effective advocacy campaigns;
• Develop strategic advocacy campaign plans for their organizations;
• Increase their knowledge and skills in broad-based community mobilization in order to work more effectively with local level associations in advocacy activities;
• Transfer the technical skills learned in the training programs into their ongoing actual advocacy campaigns;
• Provide advocacy training programs to their partners at the provincial and local levels; and
• Learn innovative new techniques in organizing and mounting effective advocacy campaigns from Southeast Asian counterparts.

To help our civil society partners who are working to expand the rights of the poor and most vulnerable, the APP has developed an innovative performance-based advocacy training series:

1. Advocacy Campaign Management (November 17-21, 2003)
2. Building Relationships with the Government (January 12-16, 2004)
3. Working with the Media (March 1-5, 2004)
4. Creating and Maintaining Coalitions (April 26-30, 2004)
5. Advocacy Through Legal Services (June 7-11, 2004)

As a result of this training program, key Cambodian advocates:

• Enhanced their capacity to run effective advocacy campaigns;
• Increased their knowledge and skills in broad-based community mobilization in order to work more effectively with local level associations in advocacy activities;
• Transferred their technical skills learned in the training program into their organizations;
• Provide advocacy training programs to their partners at the provincial and local levels.

Additionally, APP created a series of accompanying handbooks. Available in English and Khmer, the handbooks are a practical tool for advocates, local government officials, and community activists working on local, state, national or international policies that reflect the needs of low-income communities.

In 2004 APP proposed that Year II of the APP aim to increase Cambodia's democratic space by creating more effective advocates and responsive government institutions. This goal will be achieved by using the Advocacy Expert Training Series to assist 12 Cambodian NGOs (CNGOs) per year in working to expand the rights of the poor and most vulnerable. Year II of the APP will focus on three main activities:

• Conducting the Advocacy expert training, providing technical assistance, and publishing and distributing bilingual advocacy handbooks
• Promoting anti-corruption efforts by coordinating working groups for the passage of freedom of information laws
• Awarding and monitoring advocacy innovation action grants and hosting national advocacy campaign management conferences.

Interim Results

• Facilitated creation of 12 advocacy strategy campaign plans addressing domestic violence, human trafficking natural resource management and decentralization.
• Trained 25 advocates in campaign management, governmental relations, design of effective media campaigns, coalition building, and legal services.
• Wide distribution of in-house training-related publications, including to government ministries, military officials, commune councils and NGO leaders.
• Coordinated working group for passage of Freedom of Information Law, with representatives from civil society, private sector, media and government
• Trained participants from 12 Cambodian NGOs in advocacy management and building relationships with government. Training focused primarily on six advocacy issues: environment, domestic violence, land rights, senate election, child rights/education and resettlement issues. Based on training pre- and post tests, the knowledge of participants increased an average of 54%.
• 2,500 copies (500) each of five Advocacy Expert Training Manuals were reprinted and widely distributed to 24 municipalities and provinces

1 - Cambodian NGOs include Adhoc (human rights), CIDSCE, Cambodia Women's Crisis Center (CWCC), Project Against Domestic Violence (PADV) and Star Kampuchea (civil society capacity building). International NGOs include DanChurchAid (DCA), Forum Syd, and Pact.