Formulating an advocacy strategy for SRHR.

• Position: ADVOCACY KIT: SEXUAL & REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH RIGHTS

Outlining an advocacy strategy involves selecting an advocacy issue, selecting target audiences, setting an advocacy goal, identifying allies and opponents, selecting roles, identifying key messages, and defining advocacy activities.

Select an Advocacy Issue

To be effective advocates for S&RH issues, advocates need to understand and accurately represent the needs, priorities, and interests of their constituencies. Knowing the community means finding out what people think about SRHR issues and how they are personally affected by the policies that govern the provision of S&RH services. A SRHR needs assessment examines the sexual and reproductive health rights status of a defined group of people and analyzes factors that affect the reproductive health of that population. Once the needs assessment data are collected, advocates must identify and rank needs. To advance the network's advocacy agenda, it is also important to understand how SRHR policy decisions are made and the political climate in which they take place. A Problem Tree Analysis is a useful technique for synthesizing and visualizing the results of analyses, including policy analyses. You can use a problem tree to represent and help you to analyze links between a reproductive health problem and key actors and/or institutions.

Define the Advocacy Goal and Objectives

Like any other program or project, advocacy initiatives require clear and specific goals and objectives. An advocacy goal is the long-term result (three to five years) that the network is seeking. Participants should envision how the policy environment will be changed as a result of their advocacy efforts. Will all people have access to effective SRHR services? Will the government draft, approve, and implement a national HIV/AIDS policy that takes into account SRHR issues using a transparent, participatory approach? These examples represent a long-term vision for policy change.

An advocacy objective is a short-term target (one to two years) that contributes toward achievement of the long-term goal. A sound objective is specific, measurable, realistic, and time-bound. Often, advocacy campaigns work on two or more objectives simultaneously in their efforts to achieve a single goal. It is important that an advocacy objective identify the specific policy body with the authority to fulfil the objective as well as the policy decision or action that is desired. Two examples of sound advocacy objectives follow:

* To reverse the...