Young Digital Activists from Rwanda Climate Change and Development Network attended one-day training organised by Pax Press on 13th October about the Engagement of Media in Civil Society Organisations Advocacy Campaign.
In his opening remarks, the National Coordinator of PAX PRESS who also led the training said, “At the end of this session we should be able to understand the role of Civil Society Organisations and Media in doing Advocacy.”
Advocacy is any action that speaks in favour of, recommends, argues for a cause, supports, defends and or pleads on behalf of others. With all those being said, Civil Society Organizations advocates seek to use media platforms to spread their campaign messages and increase public and political awareness of their demands.
The Media is recognised as a powerful tool and can also be a danger in advocacy campaigns since they are neutral to visible, invisible power and CSOs. Therefore it is always essential for Civil Society Organizations to engage Media actors in advocacy as partners to avoid negative media coverage.
Media can play two roles in relation to civil society in advocacy campaigns such as: Being the platform through which the message is shared and the partners to partake in the cause. It can also influence politicians, and policymakers when the message is clear and SMART (Sustainable, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound).
We looked at criteria and steps for advocacy which are: CLASP (Credibility, Legitimacy, Accountability, Service and Power). Some steps are to identify some needs, set goals, identify the target/main objective, develop the campaign message, collect funds, target/main objective, develop the campaign message, collect funds, implement and evaluate.
Coming to the end of the session it was highlighted that Media Houses and Journalists are not supposed to do advocacy for CSOs since they are neutral and so they can be used as platforms or as partners for CSOs in advocacy and campaigns.
Written by: Djenny Mwizerwa
