Training on Effective Communication for Advocacy
Client
Alt Unfold & Population Foundation of India
Role
Communications Consultant
Area of Work
Sexual Reproductive
Health Rights;
Communication
Duration of Project
May to August 2022
About the Project
Population Foundation of India's (PFI) project "Feminist Adolescent and Youth-led Action (FAYA) project aims to educate young people on SRH, identity and power dynamics, gender roles and constructs, healthy and unhealthy relationships. The curriculum is being transacted with 8,000 adolescents in the age group of 12-19 years in 200 villages across four project districts – Bundi,
Tonk, Karauli and Dungarpur.
At the final stage of the project, FAYAs project team and the adolescents part of this since 2019 were trained in effective advocacy methodologies by Alt Unfold. There was specific emphasis on building effective communication skills that would prove a useful tool for advocacy processes. As part of Alt Unfold's team, I was looking at co-designing and facilitating sessions on effective communication, as well as documenting all the training and advocacy processes.
Process
The final stage was divided into three phases - training of project team members, training of youth leaders and monitoring, hand-holding and documentation of advocacy efforts of youth leaders in their respective districts.
The first phase consisted on training the project team on -
-
the need and importance of meaningful anfd effective advocacy
-
the importance of communication and how to use it effectively
-
identification of key areas for advocacy and planning the next steps
The second phase consisted of training the youth leaders of the project on -
-
building an understanding of team work and leadership
-
identification of key issues for advocacy (from their perspective)
-
creating communication skills that would be useful for advocacy efforts
The final phase consisted of monitoring and providing support to the advocacy efforts in every cluster, which were in the form of -
-
village level meetings with key stakeholders
-
on-ground awareness through marches
-
signature campaigns for specific actions around provision of SRH services
The project ended with a documentation film of the same.
For more details of the process, scroll below.
PHASE 1: TRAINING OF FAYA PROJECT TEAM
The training was conducted in Jaipur, Rajastham with existing team members of the FAYA project. In the course of 4 days, the participants were oriented with information about advocacy, communication, and leadership. Through presentations, activities and participatory exercises, the team members were able to develop a plan of action around training youth leaders and developing advocacy events.
Participants engaging in an activity around importance of decision-making at a community-level
Participants working on identifying key issues of advocacy in their district
Feedback was an essential tool in creating effective plans for advocacy
Participants engaging in an activity around importance of decision-making at a community-level
PHASE 2: TRAINING OF YOUTH LEADERS
The core team of Alt Unfold and FAYA conducted district-level trainings of youth leaders. Using participatory methods and exercises, the leaders were oriented on the need of leadership and team work as well as the communication tools required to conduct effective and meaningful advocacy events. The leaders engaged with one another through processes of sharing and came up with ideas of various slogans that they could use for their events.
PHASE 3: ADVOCACY EVENTS
This phase focuses on monitoring and supporting youth leaders and FAYA team members to plan and implement their advocacy events in their respective districts. Through meetings with key stakeholders and street marches for awareness, each district was effectively able to understand and influence opinions on SRH provisions and mindsets. This led to a successful signature campaign that saw the participation of different stakeholders.
Group meetings with key stakeholders such as adolescent girls, mothers, aanganwadi workers, teachers
Street marches to increase awareness on demands on SRH-based provisions
Signature campaign to show support towards the advocacy efforts
Group meetings with key stakeholders such as adolescent girls, mothers, aanganwadi workers, teachers