ADVOCACY IN ACTION– A Toolkit to Support NGOs and CBOs Responding to HIV/AIDS

Summary

This toolkit aims to help NGOs/CBOs to have a clear understanding of what advocacy is and how it might support the work of NGOs and CBOs, and to provide practical assistance in how to actually undertake advocacy work. The toolkit is about advocacy and HIV/AIDS – influencing people and organisations in power to create an environment which protects the rights, health and welfare of everyone, both HIV positive and negative. For NGOs/CBOs involved in HIV/AIDS, this means understanding the role of advocacy in relation to other responses to HIV/AIDS, such as information, education and communication (IEC), community mobilisation and service provision. It addresses the advantages of planning advocacy work systematically and how this can be achieved. It also helps organisations consider how advocacy could help them to achieve their mission, and to recognise the potential impact of advocacy work on their organisation. The toolkit also aims to introduce NGOs/CBOs to advocacy methods that have worked in the past to address HIV/AIDS, and to understand when their use is appropriate.

How is this document connected to AV principles and project

It is a good example of knowledge-sharing and widening the impact of the whole project and topic. It promotes social inclusion and awareness of the topic.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM IT: the toolkit is very useful because it has very good guidelines on how to lead the advocacy process through its different stages, it has very practical "Skills-building activity" section which can be used for different NGOs (not only HIV/AIDS NGOs), and also a lot of practical explanations on how to work according to the mission of the NGO, how to analyse legislation and policies etc.