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PRACTICAL TOOLS 1. 2. 3. 4.
A guide to creating a strong foundation for cancer advocacy Working in partnership to strengthen advocacy Working with media Monitoring and evaluating advocacy
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A GUIDE TO CREATING A STRONG FOUNDATION FOR CANCER ADVOCACY
UICC defines advocacy as a strategic process that is designed to influence governments, decision makers and other key stakeholders through the effective use of evidence, to reduce the global cancer burden, to promote greater equity, and to integrate cancer control into the world health and development agenda. Through experience, UICC understands that cancer advocacy requires a sustained investment over the longterm. We have produced this guide to pass on lessonslearned as a leading voice in cancer control and share current priorities and activities in cancer advocacy. There is no single correct way to perform advocacy. However, across the spectrum of advocacy resources and guides available for global health and development organisations, there are common areas of focus that underpin all successful advocacy efforts. While our guide presented here is by no means exhaustive in its approach, it provides a high level view of how these common principles apply to cancer advocacy, and is designed to provide thinking points to help you to identify areas that are already working well and areas that need to be strengthened. We hope that you will consider this guide as you design your own cancer advocacy initiatives and explore some of these areas in greater depth as you tailor your advocacy efforts to your organisation’s specific goals, resources and skills, and participate in the collective global efforts to reach the World Cancer Declaration’s overarching goal of major reductions in premature deaths from cancer and improvements in quality of life and cancer survival rates.
Updated in 2013 to align with new United Nations commitments to prevent and control cancer and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in all countries, the World Cancer Declaration represents a consensus between public health and cancer experts and advocates, and outlines an overarching goal, supported by 9 targets to be achieved by 2025. For information on how UICC members and partners can use the World Cancer Declaration go to: www.uicc.org/world-cancer-declaration.
Front page: CIAN Agency © François Struzik - simply human - Tdh-02 Above: © 2012 Arindam Chowdhury, Courtesy of Photoshare
Here, we provide guidance around seven focus areas of advocacy action and provide examples of how these are being used to create sustained positive change at the community, national or global levels: Focus Area 1: Setting Goals and Objectives Focus Area 2: Effective Use of the Evidence Base Focus Area 3: Understanding the Environment Focus Area 4: Working in Partnership Focus Area 5: Communicating Key Messages Focus Area 6: Organisational Capacity Focus Area 7: Monitoring and Evaluation
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FOCUS AREA 1. SETTING GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Fundamental to successful advocacy is setting goals that communicate what you want to achieve as a result of your advocacy efforts. Underpinning these goals should be a set of priority objectives that meet the SMART criteria – namely specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives that together will allow you to meet your advocacy goals. Many goals are long-term and interim objectives may extend over several years while others will be related to specific milestones at the local, national or global level. For example, cancer-specific goals might be aligned with achieving the globally adopted goal of a 25% reduction in premature mortality from NCDs by 2025 with specific objectives directly linked to the 9 targets of the World Cancer Declaration.
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Mainstreaming cancer in the post-2015 development agenda In September 2000, when world leaders came together to adopt the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which included health goals targeting a reduction in child mortality, combating HIV/AIDS, and improving maternal health by 2015, cancer and other NCDs were largely absent from the agenda. This had a negative impact both on the level of global political attention accorded to the prevention and control of NCDs, and on the levels of bilateral and multilateral funding directed to tackling the NCD epidemic in lowincome countries. Member States now agree that cancer is a development issue, and in 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases 2013-2020 declared that the “prevention of NCDs including cancer is a precondition for, an outcome of and an indicator of all three dimensions of sustainable development: economic development, environmental sustainability and social inclusion.”
Despite significant progress being made, specific advocacy efforts are now needed urgently from the cancer community to make cancer and NCDs a top priority for governments and ensure that cancer and NCDs are embedded within the post-2015 development framework. Mainstreaming cancer in the post-2015 development agenda is one of UICC’s priority advocacy goals and we encourage members to use our guide to understanding cancer in the post-2015 agenda included in this toolkit when planning your advocacy efforts. For more information, please refer to the section in this Toolkit: ‘A guide for advocacy to mainstream cancer in the post-2015 development agenda.’
A mortality target of a 25% reduction in premature mortality from NCDs by 2025, is one of 9 global targets and 25 indicators that form the basis of the WHO Global Monitoring Framework on NCDs adopted by Member States in 2013 to enable global tracking of progress in preventing and controlling major NCDs - cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung diseases and diabetes - and their key risk factors. www.who.int/nmh/global_ monitoring_framework/en/
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER: 1.
What does your organisation want to achieve?
2.
Has your organisation established a clear longterm goal for cancer advocacy?
3.
Has your organization set of objectives for cancer advocacy that are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound?
4.
Will your advocacy goals and objectives help to progress achievement of the 9 World Cancer Declaration targets?
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FOCUS AREA 2. BUILDING THE EVIDENCE BASE
Successful advocacy is predicated on evidencebased change. Evidence for advocacy supports the arguments for adopting policies and programmes and must be robust in order to counter challenges to supporting an issue or an approach from opponents of change. In some cases, the research and data required to support evidence-based advocacy is inadequate or unavailable. Seeking collaborations that bring together partners with different perspectives that can better understand and quantify problems, and create platforms to exchange information and share technical expertise is essential to filling these gaps in the evidence base. In many cases, the data and research are available and the challenge for organisations is to identify, interpret and communicate the existing evidence to create sustained positive change. Presenting the evidence effectively means that it needs to highlight the facts behind the issue, the specific feasible proven solution and, where possible, provide success stories of the solution(s) working in practice in the particular setting.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
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Has an effective, feasible solution been developed?
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Does your advocacy make the best use of the existing evidence base?
3.
Do your advocacy messages highlight specific feasible proven solutions?
4.
Do your advocacy messages include case studies?
5.
Does your advocacy seek to fill the gaps in the evidence base?
UICC Advocacy Toolkit 2014 - Practical Tools
! ADVOCACY IN ACTION Cancer in the Americas In 2013, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) published the landmark document ‘Cancer in the Americas: Country profiles, 2013’, in response to global and regional commitments on NCDs including cancer for the urgent need for more available and accurate information on country situations with respect to the epidemiological status of NCDs and the capacity for public health programmes to implement prevention and control. The purpose of these country profiles is to disseminate data made available to PAHO by each of its Member States on the current state of cancer risk factors, cancer mortality, cancer plans, policies and services. These country profiles provide an unprecedented resource for cancer advocacy by bringing together multiple datasets to present an accurate snapshot of cancer in each country, as well as across the main sub-regions of the Americas. We encourage UICC members to use these profiles to advocate for cancer issues in their countries. For example, cervical cancer data available through the PAHO country profiles can support national action on prevention of cervical cancer screening through VIA or Pap smear and ensure that all women between ages of 30-49 are screened for cervical cancer at least once. For a copy of the report go to: “Cancer in the Americas: Country Profiles 2013”. For more information on the report and Cancer in Americas visit the PAHO website.
FOCUS AREA 3. UNDERSTANDING YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Cancer advocacy often occurs in complex environments with both positive and negative influences. Understanding key country and/ or regional priorities for cancer is essential for advocacy planning. For example, does your country have a functional National Cancer Control Plan, and if yes, are your advocacy priorities aligned with this plan? Additionally, benchmarking your country’s progress against the targets and indicators contained within the Global Monitoring Framework will assist in identifying key priorities for advocacy. A successful advocacy strategy needs to consider carefully both ‘Who can make it happen?’ as well as ‘Who will oppose this succeeding?’ Understanding both requires mapping out the key stakeholders, identifying key decision-makers and power brokers on specific issues, and organisations and individuals with complementary and competing interests. In many cases, distinct groups of organisations may be striving for the same goals and objectives, where valuable partners frequently exist outside of the health domain. The capacity to view cancer in the broader context including through the lens of a lifecourse approach to health and wellbeing may be the most advantageous approach for some advocacy strategies. It is equally important is to understand the opposition. The most overt example of this is the tobacco industry’s coordinated and pervasive opposition to tobacco control policies. However, opposition to policies to curb exposure to risk factors has also been documented from the alcohol, food and beverage industries. Amongst many co-ordinated advocacy initiatives, targeted social media campaigns directed at these industries have had some success in changing attitudes and advocating for legislation to protect young people from the adverse impacts of marketing. These seek to counteract the increasing use of digital marketing used by some industries, including the alcohol industry, that in most countries is not subject to legislated advertising prohibitions despite the evidence of alcohol-related harms in increasingly younger age groups.
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Taking a life-course approach to cancer prevention and care The adoption of an overarching health goal in the post-2015 agenda that recognises the central role that health and wellbeing play in development is critical. The outcome-focused goal of “maximising healthy lives at all stages of life” recommended by the NCD Alliance is endorsed by UICC. It re-frames the cancer discourse away from a vertical approach and instead takes a life-course approach to health considering how multiple social, cultural and economic determinants such as gender equity and education interact to affect health throughout life and across generations. It is also provide new arenas for collaboration with other sectors including the development sector through the common goal of promoting an inclusive and equitable approach to development whereby all people have the right to achieve the highest attainable standard of health.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER: 1.
Is the current environment favourable to achieving your advocacy priorities?
2.
Is the current policy environment driving demand for a solution?
3.
Are your organisation’s advocacy activities aligned with key country and/or regional priorities for cancer? For example, where it exists, are your organisation’s activities aligned with the National Cancer Control Plan?
4.
Are there other organisations that are striving for the same goals and objectives?
5.
Are your goals and objectives aligned with those of development agencies and organisations?
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Do you know who the key decision-makers are that can impact your advocacy?
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Do you know the key opposition meeting your advocacy goals?
For more information on how to undertake a stakeholder analysis, please see the section of this toolkit ‘Working in Partnership to Strengthen Advocacy’. UICC Advocacy Toolkit 2014 - Practical Tools
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FOCUS AREA 4: WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP
A cornerstone of successful advocacy is connecting with a diverse array of stakeholders and building strong partnerships that form a broad base for advocacy at the national, regional and global levels. Beginning from the planning phase, a participatory approach that involves all stakeholders should be encouraged including civil society organisations (CSOs), relevant private sector institutions, cancer patient advocacy groups and other stakeholders at the local and national levels with shared goals and policy interests. Promoting active participation in partnerships can assist with building the evidence base for advocacy; building capacity through the exchange of knowledge and skills; and resource mobilisation. Many cancer-related issues require solutions outside of the health sector including legislative and regulatory measures so that seeking out synergistic partnerships across sectors including education and labour to accelerate progress on shared goals and taking advantage of existing platforms and infrastructure should be considered.
Identifying and building the necessary relationships and networks and engaging champions to support achieving your organisation’s advocacy goals are critical. For example, UICC as a founding member of the NCD Alliance recognised the power of working together as a network united in the goal of creating sustained global action on NCDs. Together the four federations – UICC, the International Diabetes Federation, the World Heart Foundation and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) – have successfully driven remarkable progress on two advocacy fronts: securing a robust Global NCD Framework and integrating NCDs into the post-2015 Development Agenda. UICC members are encouraged to use their own advocacy efforts to further these campaigns by making cancer and NCDs a top priority for governments including through strengthening local and regional advocacy by joining or creating national NCD coalitions (The NCD Alliance has produced a toolkit around participating in an alliance to influence NCD policy and practice as well as providing practical suggestions for creating local or regional alliances to advocate for NCD action). A separate guide has also been developed to further assist you in understanding the benefits of building relationships with different stakeholders and engaging partners. Both resources can be found at www.ncdalliance.org.
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FOCUS AREA 4: WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP (CONTINUED)
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ADVOCACY IN ACTION
Participatory approaches to cancer advocacy: cankids advocates and ambassadors for childhood cancer CanKids KidsCan is a national society working across the country to make a change for childhood cancer in India. It is a family support group that enables and empowers children with cancer and their families. At CanKids, parents who have been through the cancer journey are encouraged to become Parent Support Group (PSG) members and any teenaged child cancer patient or survivor is encouraged to become a member of KidsCan Konnect (KCK) – a teenage and young adult childhood cancer club. PSG and KCK members are the heart of the organisation – driving the awareness and advocacy agenda and are a strong and powerful voice to advocate for greater awareness and attention to childhood cancer. Under a recently launched KCK Leadership Programme, survivors become childhood cancer ambassadors. These ambassadors are the best living proof that childhood cancer is curable, and raise public awareness of childhood cancer, demand a child’s right to the best standards of treatment, care and support, and a child’s right to a childhood during treatment, including in hospital. At the recently concluded 45th Congress of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP) in Hong Kong, Ritu Bhalla, a two-time cancer survivor, KCK leader and interning as an Awareness Officer at Cankids, represented Cankids as the Girl Child Cancer Ambassador presenting on gender bias and its effect on cancer outcomes in India. KCK members take the lead in awareness initiatives including activities such as producing and performing street plays, making CanKids movies, performing and hosting events, and attending and conducting national childhood cancer survivor programmes.
A global coordination mechanism (GCM) for NCDs is being convened in response to calls from civil society led by the NCD Alliance to create a formal mechanism to unite actors and catalyse collaborative NCD action at the global level. The GCM will cover five high-level functions, specifically advocating and awareness; brokering knowledge and information; encouraging innovation; promoting multisectoral action; and promoting accountability.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER: 1.
Who are partners that your organisation needs to work with to maximise the impact of your advocacy?
2.
Does your organisation take a participatory approach to advocacy planning including people affected by cancer?
3.
Has your organisation formed the necessary relationships and networks and engaged champions to support achieving its advocacy goals?
4.
Do you seek to form meaningful cohesive partnerships that result in joint advocacy action?
5.
Do you seek partnerships outside of health?
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FOCUS AREA 5. COMMUNICATING KEY MESSAGES
To achieve the objectives of any cancer advocacy campaign, it is essential that all stakeholders communicate key messages effectively and with a united voice. To achieve this goal, a responsive and dynamic communications strategy to disseminate your key messages should first identify the target audience with a key criteria being ‘Who can make it happen? (e.g., government, community or religious leaders, media etc.) and then align the channel of communication (e.g., personal contact, press release, social media etc.) with this particular audience. A variety of communications platforms may need to be managed if multiple audiences are being targeted.
Seeking out all opportunities and entry points that are most likely to advance an issue, including timing your advocacy with key major events and meetings of stakeholder and decision-makers will ensure your efforts have the greatest impact. For example, World Cancer Day presents an opportunity to launch advocacy initiatives and campaigns with much of the world’s media reporting on actions and activities around the day. The World Cancer Day toolkit produced each year provides support through the development of tools and guidance to encourage its member organisations to run local cancer awareness campaigns that are aligned and adapted to key advocacy opportunities for the cancer community.
It is also important to identify individuals or partners who are best placed to communicate with each audience. For example, the communications strategy should be aligned with the skills and resources available within each organisation, forging partnerships with other likeminded organisations that can provide complementary skills and resources. Particular emphasis should be placed on developing and maintaining media support including social media to broaden the reach of your campaign and raise awareness of your issue. Understanding how to communicate effectively with the media and work closely with media is an essential skill. Please refer to the ‘Working with Media’ section in this toolkit.
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FOCUS AREA 5. COMMUNICATING KEY MESSAGES (CONTINUED)
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ADVOCACY IN ACTION
February 4: World Cancer Day A truly global event taking place every year on 4 February, World Cancer Day unites the world’s population in the fight against cancer. It aims to save millions of preventable deaths each year by raising awareness and education about the disease, pressing governments and individuals across the world to take action. World Cancer Day has been gaining huge momentum around the world, with over 456 events taking place in 80 countries in 2012, and 547 events in 112 countries in 2013, involving a broad range of UICC members from grassroots patient advocacy groups to some of the world’s largest cancer societies, many of whom choose World Cancer Day to launch new initiatives and make important commitments to the global fight against cancer. To learn more about World Cancer Day, visit: www.worldcancerday.org
Please refer to the Evidence Sheets in this Advocacy Toolkit for key messages that promote the achievement of the 9 World Cancer Declaration targets.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER: 1.
Does your organisation have a communication plan?
2.
Have you identified your target audience e.g., government, media, donors?
3.
Does your organisation consider the best spokesperson for each audience?
4.
For different audiences, do you consider: The channel of communication (e.g., personal contact, letter, webinar, social media) that is best for your intended audience? Do you tailor your advocacy messages for that audience?
5.
Does your organisation align the timing of your advocacy activities with major events, such as World Cancer Day?
6.
Does your organisation develop and maintain media support including social media?
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FOCUS AREA 6. ORGANISATIONAL CAPACITY
Given that an effective advocacy effort takes time, money and resources, an assessment of the internal capacity of organisations to support advocacy should form an integral part of the advocacy planning process. The breadth of activities and actions should be closely aligned with the level of available resources with the understanding that activities can be expanded as more resources are mobilised. A strong internal champion for the campaign, who has the skills to develop and lead the advocacy strategy and communications plan, and who has the support of executive management to move initiatives forward is also essential. Additionally, investment in training may be required to equip key staff with core advocacy skills in communications, research and analysis.
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ADVOCACY IN ACTION
The McCabe Centre for Law and Cancer Building Advocacy Capacity for the Effective use of Law The McCabe Centre for Law and Cancer is a joint initiative of Cancer Council Victoria and the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). Its mission is to contribute to the effective use of the law for cancer prevention, treatment, supportive care and research. The McCabe Centre conducts training workshops and hosts international fellows and law student interns. In 2013, the McCabe Centre hosted fellows from Swaziland and Russia and student interns from the Melbourne University Law School, co-hosted a workshop with the Norwegian Cancer Society in Oslo on ‘Using the law effectively for cancer control in Europe’ and a workshop with WHO’s African Regional Office in Cape Town as a satellite event to the World Cancer Leaders’ Summit on ‘Legal challenges to tobacco control in the Southern African Customs Union region’. It has also conducted a four-week intensive training programme in Melbourne primarily for government lawyers from low-and middleincome countries.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
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Does your organisation have the capacity to implement the advocacy strategy?
2.
Do you have high-level organisational support for your advocacy?
3.
Do you have a strong campaign leader?
4.
Are there resources allocated to your advocacy efforts?
FOCUS AREA 7. MONITORING AND EVALUATING PROGRESS
Planning, monitoring and evaluation form the foundation of an advocacy strategy – they are interrelated and of equal value in the success of your advocacy efforts. As a consequence, a framework for monitoring and evaluation should be built into advocacy programmes from the start and carried out through the lifetime of the project. There are three main reasons to undertake monitoring & evaluation that are indispensable for improving current and future advocacy planning, implementation and decision-making: 1. Understanding the effectiveness of your advocacy strategy in achieving its objectives and the return on investment for your organisation 2. Learning from experience of what works and what needs improvement and using these lessons-learned to improve the effectiveness of your advocacy efforts 3. Demonstrating to donors positive outcomes for advocacy in order to retain and attract funding Please refer to the ‘Monitoring and Evaluating Advocacy’ guide within this toolkit which has been designed to further assist you in developing a monitoring and evaluating framework.
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ADVOCACY IN ACTION
Creating a Framework to Measure Progress in Global Cancer Control: Benchmarking against the World Cancer Declaration Targets In 2008, the LIVESTRONG Foundation conducted a study, which illustrated that although there has been significant efforts made in global cancer control, cancer was still not a priority for many countries and serious disparities exist in access to care. The global cancer community needs the capacity to galvanise around key issues. To address this need, LIVESTRONG launched a campaign to unite the cancer community to respond to the global cancer burden through a shared vision. In 2009, LIVESTRONG launched a global call for cancer commitments, calling on advocates, NGOs, corporations, world leaders, and healthcare practitioners to commit to specific actions. They sought single or multi-year commitments - programmes, initiatives, campaigns, research projects or investments - and every commitment had to align with at least one of the targets of the World Cancer Declaration. The response was immense. A total of 350 commitments across 68 countries were received from stakeholders, who were convened in a landmark Summit held by LIVESTRONG to share best practices and build meaningful networks in August of 2009.
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FOCUS AREA 7. MONITORING AND EVALUATING PROGRESS (CONTINUED)
ADVOCACY IN ACTION (Continued)
LIVESTRONG conducted one of the first assessments of global cancer control efforts benchmarked against the Declaration targets. In 2010 and 2011, they collected two rounds of self-reported data about progress towards these commitments. In total 167 completed follow-up surveys from 134 unique stakeholders were submitted. At that time, there were no specific indicators to measure the targets and the range of cancer control efforts was incredibly diverse. LIVESTRONG undertook an analysis of the cancer control commitments and created a broad set of indicators to measure commitments mapped against the targets. The framework measured numbers of people served, people trained, programmes created, people reached, partnerships and research projects established, new or changed policies, and people directly and indirectly affected. Results illustrate that stakeholders directly affected over five million lives through services and interventions, and indirectly affected over 246 million lives through education and awareness efforts in the two years the commitments were implemented. They also show that notable progress is being made towards targets 1, 5, and 6. It is increasingly important for civil society organisations to support the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of national cancer programmes, particularly as government leaders are called to meet new global goals for NCDs.
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The NCD Alliance have produced a national/regional NCD civil society benchmarking tool to assess progress on NCD action. To complement this tool, UICC will soon be releasing a cancer-specific benchmarking module to assist cancer advocates to track progress against priority cancer targets and indicators. The NCD Alliance Advocacy Toolkit can be found at www.ncdalliance.org.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER: 1.
Has your organisation included plans for the monitoring and evaluation of advocacy efforts?
2.
Does your advocacy plan include a clear framework for the monitoring and evaluation of advocacy?
3.
Do you have the capacity including the skills and resources to implement the monitoring and evaluation framework?
4.
Does your organisation share the lessons learned with your staff and stakeholders on the effectiveness of your advocacy?
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Do you use the lessons learned to improve current and future programme planning, implementation and decision-making?
WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP TO STRENGTHEN ADVOCACY
A keystone of successful advocacy is connecting with different stakeholders and building strong partnerships that form a broad base for advocacy at the national, regional and global levels.
JOINING FORCES ACCELERATING PROGRESS UICC recognises that innovative and strategic partnerships with organisations committed to the fight against cancer are fundamental to delivering the targets of the World Cancer Declaration. With a network of more than 800 member organisations in 155 countries, as well as other civil society, UN and private sector partners, we work together for the pursuit and achievement of the 9 Declaration targets to be achieved by 2025. UICC is also a founding member of the NCD Alliance, a global network that unites four international NGO federations - UICC, the International Diabetes Federation, the World Heart Foundation and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease - to catalyse action on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) at all levels. We encourage all UICC member organisations to join forces with other UICC members, national and regional NCD alliances, and other key stakeholders as well as organisations outside of health to strengthen their advocacy by developing meaningful and cohesive partnerships to accelerate progress towards meeting the World Cancer Declaration targets.
UICC developed innovative tools to foster the creation of synergistic partnerships and collaborative initiatives at the 2012 World Cancer Congress. The Congress smartphone application enabled easy networking by linking all delegates. It allowed users to search for any specific delegates either by keyword (area of interest) or by their registered country, and included a meeting planner, that delegates could use to manage their meetings throughout the event. This feature was also an essential tool used by abstract presenters, wishing to present their work to a specific and targeted audience. In line with the theme ‘Joining Forces – Accelerating Progress’ the 2014 edition of the Congress has also being designed to generate plenty of meaningful connections, through tools such as smartphone applications, but also through interactive sessions, social events and the event’s networking hub: the Global Village.
Here we explore some of the benefits and successes of promoting active participation in partnerships.
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WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP TO STRENGTHEN ADVOCACY (CONTINUED)
Where your country has an operational National Cancer Control Plan, urge your government to share their plan on the ICCP portal – International Cancer Control Partnership portal The portal is an innovative initiative to provide comprehensive support for cancer planners and decision-makers at global, regional and country levels in the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of NCCPs. ACCESS THE ICCP PORTAL AT: www.iccp-portal.org
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ADVOCACY IN ACTION
The Global Opioid Policy Initiative (GOPI) is a collaborative initiative of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO); the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC); UICC; the Pain Policies Study Group (PPSG) of University of Wisconsin; the World Health Organization (WHO) and a consortium of 17 international oncology and palliative care societies. GOPI was established in response to a lack of data regarding the availability and accessibility of opioids and the regulatory barriers to adequate pain management in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, the Caribbean and the states of India. This international collaboration is the largest and most comprehensive that has ever been undertaken in the study of opioid availability and accessibility. To date, it has involved an unprecedented collection of resources and organisations working together to derive a dataset that is relevant to more than two-thirds of the world’s population. It provides a valuable foundation for global, regional and national policy initiatives in individual countries that wish to take the right steps to truly improve the availability and accessibility of opioids for the management of cancer pain. Survey results and additional related advocacy resources can be found on the ESMO website: www.esmo.org.
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WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP TO STRENGTHEN ADVOCACY (CONTINUED)
BUILDING CAPACITY Strategic partnerships can broaden support and increase the legitimacy of advocacy efforts ensuring that governments and policy makers hear the same key messages across all levels of the global health and development discourse. Scoping out civil society organisations (CSOs), relevant private sector institutions, cancer patient advocacy groups and other stakeholders at the local and national levels with shared goals and policy interests strengthens advocacy around common issues by creating a united voice for sustained positive change. Collaborating actively with partners in advocacy can also significantly reduce duplication of efforts and ensure the best use of scarce resources, as well as increasing access to policy and political decision-makers. Many cancer-related issues require solutions outside of health including legislative and regulatory measures and it is important to look beyond the health sector and to seek out synergistic partnerships with non-traditional partners in the development, disability, education, employment and many other sectors to accelerate progress on shared goals and take advantage of existing platforms and infrastructure. For example, advocating for increased training opportunities for healthcare workers will be best achieved by working with partners in the education and employment sectors as well as health to promote the development of education and training programmes, developing training networks and strengthening infrastructure. Likewise, the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) International is leading the way in advocacy around the effective use of law to tackle the rising rates of obesity. The NOURISHING Framework is a package of 10 evidence-based food policies to promote healthy diets and the prevention of obesity that provides a strong impetus for the public health community to engage more actively with the legal community to enable the promotion and wider implementation of more effective policy action to address unhealthy diets. For more information please visit: WCRF International Nourishing Framework.
Linking local and national advocacy to global campaigns is another important way of building capacity. Individual CSOs, particularly those working at the community level often have limited capacity to engage in global advocacy efforts so that joining networks such as the NCD Alliance Common Interest Group (www.ncdalliance.org/cig) provides a mechanism to access the latest updates on global non-communicable diseases (NCD) advocacy through webinars and newsletters. At the same time, these vital linkages provide a platform to showcase solutions that are working on the ground as well as highlighting key barriers to implementation of policies and programmes. In many countries worldwide, national and regional NCD Alliances are also being formed to create effective, coordinated platforms for NCD action. As of 2013, 25 alliances including four regional alliances in Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean are operating. Building on the success of these initiatives, the NCD Alliance has produced a toolkit around participating in an alliance to influence NCD policy and practice as well as providing practical suggestions for creating local or regional alliances to advocate for NCD action. The online advocacy toolkit can be found at www.ncdalliance.org/ supportingNCDaction.
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WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP TO STRENGTHEN ADVOCACY (CONTINUED)
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ADVOCACY IN ACTION
Radiotherapy is recognised as an essential tool in the cure and palliation of cancer and is an indispensible element of a comprehensive cancer control programme. However, access to radiotherapy is less than optimal in many parts of the world, most notably in developing countries where the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimates that there is currently a deficiency of at least 5,000 radiotherapy machines. UICC has convened the Global Task Force on Radiotherapy for Cancer Control (GTFRCC) to address this very challenge under the organisation’s purpose statement “…to unite the cancer community to reduce the global cancer burden, to promote greater equity, and to integrate cancer control into the world health and development agenda.” By bringing cancer leaders together with radiotherapy professionals, industry partners, cancer control organisations, patient groups, economists, and enablers of healthcare change, the GTFRCC seeks to clarify the challenge, identify opportunities, and quantify the investment needed to provide equity in global access to radiation therapy. To date, more than forty individuals, organisations and industry partners have agreed to work on the task force providing global representation, wide consultation, subject matter expertise and guidance on health policy and economics.
RESOURCE MOBILISATION The ability to apply for and attract different sources of funds can often be enhanced when working together in an alliance or coalition. Mobilising resources through strategic partnerships is best achieved through engaging with private sector institutions, donors and foundations that are strongly aligned with your organisaton’s mission and values.
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ADVOCACY IN ACTION
Over the last three years, Varian (a manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer) has partnered with UICC to ensure that cancer is firmly placed on the global health agenda. Varian has provided expertise and support in showcasing radiotherapy as a core component of national cancer control efforts, and NCD planning in both high- and low-resource settings. Varian will continue to support UICC’s efforts to highlight the importance of ensuring access to safe, affordable, and effective cancer technologies including radiotherapy, and the need to improve national capacity to deliver radiotherapy services through improved education and training.
STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS AS A FOUNDATION FOR BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS WHAT IS A STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS? A Stakeholder Analysis is a qualitative methodology that gathers information to identify and understand the needs of those who have a ‘stake’ or an interest in the development or implementation of a policy or programme. A stakeholder analysis aims to identify the individuals or groups in a particular area you are trying to seek change and how to work towards winning their support on the issue.
WHY DO A STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS? Knowing who has the ability to implement, influence or prevent cancer related policies or programmes is a key aspect of effective advocacy. Conducting an analysis that considers whether stakeholders are decision-makers, facilitators, potential partners and allies or potential opponents of policy change, is critical to designing effective communications strategies and information materials as part of an advocacy campaign. Conducting a stakeholder analysis is also important to selecting appropriate channels for delivery of information and advocacy messages, as well as deciding what follow-up actions to take.
UNDERTAKING A STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS Once a policy issue is identified, it is important to identify and understand the actors that can impact the development and implementation of the policy. There is frequently a broad spectrum of individuals or groups who might have a vested interest in cancer control and thereby an interest in any proposed policy options or changes. A stakeholder analysis should identify who to involve in discussions around the proposed policy issue, particularly individuals who make direct policy decisions or those individuals or groups who can influence decisionmakers. It is important to note that there is a difference between proposing changes to national health policies and suggesting changes in the way cancer services are implemented at a local level. In other words, specific individuals and groups need to be engaged according to the ‘level’ that your organisation is trying to influence. Similarly, one set of stakeholders can be constituted as a ‘primary’ stakeholder group i.e. those who have direct authority to influence policy and related programmes.
Another set of individuals or groups may constitute a ‘secondary’ stakeholder group who are able to influence the decisions of the primary stakeholders. These can include interest groups, NGOs, professional associations, patient groups, parliamentarians or other policy makers. Depending on the accessibility to the primary audience, advocacy focused on the second group of ‘influencers’ can be a strategic and effective way to reach decision-makers. A stakeholder analysis can be done in the form of a ‘stakeholder map’ or table that disaggregates all stakeholders into categories and considers issues such as the following in the analysis (see Box 1 below with relation to childhood cancer): •
Identification of all stakeholders (individuals and groups)
•
Knowledge of the policy area (high, medium, low*)
•
Levels of influence (primary, secondary)
•
Interest of the stakeholder with regard to the proposed policy or programme (e.g. high, medium, low*)
•
Beliefs with regard to the issue (e.g. supportive, need convincing, not supportive).
•
Ability to mobilise resources (yes, no, type)
*Numerical values can also be assigned and ‘scores’ generated Interviews can be used to gather stakeholders’ views towards the issue and can inform the stakeholder mapping process. As this process can be time-consuming, it is helpful to prioritise the list of stakeholders to be interviewed and design appropriate questions that can elicit views on the health topic as well as the desired policy change. Here, open-ended questions are particularly helpful. As policy-making is a process involving the identification of a problem, developing a policy, passing a law or regulation, implementing a policy and evaluating it, a key strategy is to engage with stakeholders from the beginning of the process. This can engage key individuals and groups early on, elicit their input and support on the formulation of a policy and its implementation and open doors to resources and other support.
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BOX 1 CHILDHOOD CANCER: Example of a stakeholder analysis table Policy goal - Decentralization of early detection of childhood cancer to primary health care services STAKEHOLDER
PRIMARY/ SECONDARY
KNOWLEDGE
INTEREST
BELIEFS/ATTITUDES
MOBILIZE RESOURCES (SPECIFY)
COMMENTS/POTENTIAL ACTIONS
Minister of Health (MoH)
Primary
Low
Medium
Generally supportive (but other competing priorities)
Yes - Financial and HR
Develop policy brief with clearly outlined options. Increase advocacy efforts through constituents particularly in local constituency.
Director, National child health services
Primary
Medium
Low
Child health services oriented towards infectious diseases and immunisation programmes. Feels that the focus of PHC should be here.
Yes - Financial and HR
More information required about incidence of childhood cancer and evidence of early detection on survival. Communications to include key messages, programmatic options and evidence. Explore possibility of ‘pilot’ in selected districts first.
Director, District X child health services
Primary
High
High
Very supportive of issue. Likely to agree to ‘pilot test’ in selected health facilities within the district.
Yes - Financial and HR
Present policy implementation plan with timeline and monitoring and evaluation. Include estimate of HR training and any other associated costs.
National Medical Association
Secondary
High
Medium
Mixed support among those interviewed - concerns particularly related to costs of treatment and care and human resource constraints.
No for financial resources. Can mobilise Paediatric Oncologist members(s) for review of training materials.
Engage more actively through ‘champions’ for childhood cancer (particularly paediatric oncologists) to influence MoH and child health programmes.
PHC Medical Officer
Primary
High
High
Is supportive and feels that actions to encourage early detection can be implemented at low cost. Wants stronger referral mechanisms to specialised centres. Requires approval from District Health Services Director for implementation.
No for financial resources and Human Resources.
Involve in plans for implementing the policy through training on early detection. Provide information on time, duration and health staff to be trained plus any expected costs. Develop referral plan with specialised facility.
National Nurses association
Secondary
Medium
High
Very concerned about the issue. Has already been raised by members. However, wants reassurance about feasibility of implementing the policy in terms of referrals to specialised facilities
No for financial resources. Can mobilise Paediatric Nurse members(s) for review of training materials and contribute to advocacy efforts.
Involve selected representatives in discussions on implementing the policy particularly with regard to curriculum development and training. Develop referral plans with specialised facility. Involve in community-based awareness and/or in advocacy activities with health authorities.
Parents associations
Secondary
Low-high (includes childhood cancer parent organizations)
High
Very supportive across parent groups (both childhood cancer parent organisations and other parent organisations). Want greater public awareness of the issue and an improved health sector response.
No for financial resources. Can provide volunteers for awareness raising and advocacy.
Involve parents in advocacy activities in their constituencies. Involve and engage in any public awareness materials on childhood cancer.
X Health NGO (active in various districts)
Secondary
Low
High
Is a strong player in child health; Focus has been previously on infectious disease and is increasingly lobbying for greater attention to noncommunicable diseases including childhood cancer. Wants to be more informed and active in this area.
Yes - financial resources to support production of any awareness materials.
Involve as advocates and champions for childhood cancer. Explore partnerships and links to health facilities and organisations with whom they work.
WORKING WITH MEDIA HOW JOURNALISTS WORK • Journalists want to understand the topic, tell an interesting story and be recognised for bringing subjects to life for their audience. • Journalists want to provide facts, figures and a credible opinion in order to put their story into context for the audience. PLEASE CONSIDER: 1
Journalists have rigid professional ethics that must be taken into account when decisions on the importance or validity of a story must be made.
2
The journalist’s job is to write about you and others – not to write for you.
3
The journalist has the right to quote someone who might agree or disagree with your opinion.
4
Your message competes with a multitude of other news items and journalists have to make difficult choices about what to cover.
5
Choices are driven by newsworthiness (timely, new and relevant) to their readers, listeners and viewers.
6
The news you have to offer may be of interest to you but not necessarily to an objective outsider.
DEFINING A STORY Media relations efforts need to begin with clearly articulated statements and answer the following five “W’s” to define the story. Who What Why
is central to the story? is the news you want to report? When answering this question think carefully about what you want this story to accomplish. has it happened?
When
did it happen?
What
will the consequences be?
• A story must be new, or offer a new angle, in order to be considered news. • Experts must offer reporters something new, a clear opinion and an additional insight, or they may not write the story or use that expert as a resource and look elsewhere to find the facts needed to write the story. In the worst case they may discount the story completely. 19
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HOW TO DEVELOP A PRESS RELEASE 1
Find an interesting news angle e.g. new data, activities, important event, etc.
2
Define your target group e.g. wire, trade or consumer journalist (see ‘Defining your audience’)
3
Develop a contact list (see ‘How to produce a media list’) Develop / write your press release and consider the following: • Why the release is being written? • Who is the audience • Does the release contain invaluable or newsworthy information that will be used by the target audience? • What do you want recipients to take away from the press release?
4
Overall tone and structure • Content: ensure that the release is grammatically correct and doesn’t contain any spelling mistakes or errors, and that sources are quoted correctly. • Concise: keep it punchy and don’t use unnecessary flowery language e.g. cutting-edge, revolutionary. • Factual: present the information for distribution that is true and correct. • Objectivity: virtually impossible to do, but refrain from using over hyped quotes from sources, as they will be presented as being too biased. • Timing: The press release may not be topical, but it may be possible to link the release with a more recent news event. For more information on how to write a good press release, please visit: http://www.journalism.co.uk/skills/how-to-write-the-perfect-press-release-for-journalists/s7/a535287/#before
5
Obtain approval of the press release by the legal team, communications department, CEO or relevant decisionmaker within your organisation.
6
Distribute the press release via email, mail or fax (as required by journalist) (See ‘How to produce a media list’)
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WORKING WITH MEDIA (CONTINUED) HOW TO DEVELOP A PRESS RELEASE EXAMPLE - UICC PRESS RELEASE FOR THE WORLD CANCER LEADERS’ SUMMIT 2013 EXPERTS COME TOGETHER TO CLOSE THE CANCER DIVIDE BY 2025
Come Together To Close The Cancer Divide by 2025 Tuesday, 19 November 2013: Cape Town, South Africa – United Nations (UN) officials, Ministries of Health and leading international decision makers have come together for the first time in Africa to discuss the growing global cancer burden at the 2013 World Cancer Leaders’ Summit (WCLS) which took place today at Cape Town City Hall Organised by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and hosted by the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA), the event is an important forum to secure a coordinated, multilevel global response to address the spiralling cancer epidemic in lowand middle-income countries and to ensure that cancer control is fully recognised in the world health and development agendas. The WCLS represents a significant response from the global cancer community to the recent commitment made by the UN to achieve the global goal of reducing premature deaths from NCDs by 25% by 2025.
SHORT TEASER TO GRAB THE READER’S ATTENTION
LINK TO A RECENT NEWS EVENT E.G. A NEW PUBLICATION, A GLOBAL MEETING, POLICY CHANGE ETC.
“The theme of this year’s Summit is ‘Closing the Cancer Divide by 2025’ which highlights the urgent need to address the glaring disparities in cancer control within and across national, international and regional boundaries,” said Professor Mary Gospodarowicz, President of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). “It is of particular significance that we are in Africa today, a region that is seeing an overwhelming increase in cancer incidence and deaths.” According to the World Health Organization, more than 12 million people worldwide will be diagnosed with cancer this year, of which approximately eight million will die. Often misconceived as a disease of wealthy, developed populations the truth is that over 70% of cancer deaths actually occur in low- and middle-income countries. And without sustained action, cancer incidence is projected to increase by 70% in middle-income countries and 82% in lower-income countries by 2030.
INCLUDE DATA/ STATISTICS THAT WILL DRAW ATTENTION
Cancer affects countries all over the world, but countries lacking the health infrastructure to cope with the increasing number of people affected by the disease are particularly affected. CEO of CANSA and cancer survivor, Sue Janse Van Rensburg, explained the importance of ensuring better access, better reporting and having more data available so that cancer can be controlled in an effective manner. “We needed this very important event to create more awareness, especially amongst the leaders in cancer control in Africa.” According to CANSA, more than 100,000 South Africans are diagnosed with cancer every year. Local issues around cancer in South Africa include early detection, access to information and treatment and women’s cancers, which has been a big focus of the Summit this year. Ms Zoleka Mandela, a cancer advocate and survivor, attended the Summit to share her involvement and highlighted the importance of early detection, “Women’s cancers are
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QUOTE FROM A PROMINENT PERSON E.G. CELEBRITY, CEO, PRESIDENT
WORKING WITH MEDIA (CONTINUED)
the most prevalent cancer among sub-Saharan Africa women. With few exceptions, early stage cancers are more treatable than late stage cancers, so access to early detection, screening and treatment programmes are critical.” The WCLS addressed how the global cancer community can support low- and middleincome countries to improve the collection and understanding of cancer information in their countries, heighten awareness of and the treatment of women’s cancers and what options exist to improve the treatment of and access to essential cancer medicines and technologies for the disease. Delegates embracing academia, civil society organisations and the private sector agreed to help support governments in the implementation of strong, action-oriented national cancer control plans in all countries by sharing best practice and information. “With cancer incidence set to rise dramatically in low- and middle-income countries in the next twenty years, an unsustainable burden is falling on these nations, both economically and socially. The international cancer community must commit support and expertise to help the low- and middle-income countries address this trend through measures adapted to the specific cancer patterns occurring in these populations,” commented Professor Gospodarowicz. - END -
NOTES TO EDITORS About the WCLS First organised in 2008, the World Cancer Leaders’ Summit (WCLS) is the most important annual high-level policy meeting dedicated exclusively to influencing global strategy for can cer control. The event brings together key decision makers from around the world and encourages timely debate on emerging issues related to cancer. It provides a vital forum to secure a global, cross-sector, response and ensure accountability in addressing the spiralling cancer epidemic.
About UICC
USE THE “NOTES” SECTION TO INCLUDE ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION THAT DOESN’T NEED TO APPEAR IN THE MAIN TEXT E.G. YOUR ORGANISATION’S DETAILS AND CONTACT INFORMATION
UICC unites the cancer community to reduce the global cancer burden, to promote greater equity, and to integrate cancer control into the world health and development agenda. A membership organisation founded in 1933 and based in Geneva, UICC’s growing membership of over 800 organisations across 155 countries features the world’s major cancer societies, ministries of health, research institutes and patient groups. Together with its members, key partners, the World Health Organization, World Economic Forum and others, UICC is tackling the growing cancer crisis on a global scale. For more information visit: www.uicc.org.
Media contacts For more information please contact <Name of contact person and organisation> <Contact email> <Contact phone>
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WORKING WITH MEDIA (CONTINUED)
HOW TO ADAPT OR LOCALISE A PRESS RELEASE 1 2
Review the press release and decide if there is any need or interest group in your local market/target group Define your media target group e.g. wire, trade or consumer journalist (See ‘Defining your audience’)
3
Develop a contact list (See ‘How to produce a media list’)
4
Adapt the press release to include local information e.g. statements from local experts/celebrities or local data
5
Obtain approval of your press release by the legal team, communications department, CEO or relevant decision-maker within your organisation.
6
Distribute press release via email, mail or fax (as required by journalist) (See ‘How to produce a media list’)
A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS… Take into consideration that a picture can increase interest around your story and therefore the likelihood of it being published. Most wanted and appropriate images include: • Prominent people: i.e. President, CEO, local expert (i.e. scientist) or celebrity. • Graphics or illustrations: i.e. microscope picture of a cancer cell, graphs, pie charts etc. • Images that best illustrate your campaign i.e. For ‘Cancer can be prevented’, you could use images that represent a healthy diet, exercise, quitting smoking, physical exercise etc.
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WORKING WITH MEDIA (CONTINUED) HOW TO ENGAGE KEY SPEAKERS/CELEBRITIES Other than trade reporters, the media are usually not experts on the subjects they cover, which mean they depend on their sources (the people they interview) and background research to build their story. Working with the media is about building relationships and establishing yourself as an expert in a given field by bringing credentials, experience and reliability to the story. The media expect experts to provide: An educated perspective/ opinion on cancer i.e.:
1
2 3
•
From the perspective of Individual patients and others affected by the disease (i.e. family, carers, etc.)
•
Physicians (GPs and specialised Medics)
•
Policy influencers
Relevant support for the information i.e. studies, statistics, personal clinical experience An explanation why something is happening or how something is working in order for the general audience to understand the context.
The media expect celebrities:
4
To be champions/advocates for the cause
5
To represent the interests of the cause - i.e. patients, institutions etc
Involving key speakers and celebrities requires detailed planning
1 2 3 4
Define your target audience and then establish a clearly defined role for the expert/celebrity. Define the type of expert/celebrity to suit your cause and messages (i.e. you don’t want to engage a celebrity that smokes – for an anti-smoking campaign). Prepare a detailed concept note and brief, which includes key messages and activities related to the expert/ celebrity’s involvement. Contact the expert/celebrity and organise a time to present your concept. Discuss expert/celebrity fee and setting in which the expert/celebrity will be available. Develop a consent form,
5
which clarifies what you are allowed to do with the expert/celebrity materials (e.g. images and footage rights, etc.)
6
After the expert/celebrity has agreed to support the project/campaign he/she needs to get essential key messages and guidance on how to deal with journalists.
7
If possible, organise regular meetings with the expert/celebrity to build a solid relationship and keep track of their role in your project/campaign targets.
8
Make sure you involve experts/celebrities into your approval processes. Experts/ celebrities will likely want to approve all their statements/quotes/images etc. UICC Advocacy Toolkit 2014 - Practical Tools
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WORKING WITH MEDIA (CONTINUED) HOW TO PUT TOGETHER A CONTACT LIST It is important for a successful media campaign to produce a detailed contact list. Each press release should have a customised contact list, based on your target group. Creating and administering a contact list is hard work. You need to update your list at least once a year so that your contact data is always up-to date. It is also important to select the journalist contacts with regard to their focus, e.g. medicine, science, economics, etc.
Select a target group for your press release/subject and the search relevant press services to create a list. Services:
1
•
www.vocus.com
•
www.prnewswire.com
•
www.mondotimes.com/topic/wire.html (this link provides a comprehensive list of global newswire services).
If you can’t afford a service, create your own list by researching your local newspapers, magazines, websites, television news stations, etc.
2
425
Check you have the correct person and all their relevant contact information (i.e. phone number, email address, fax and postal address).
3
Define how the journalist likes to receive press releases i.e. as an email, fax, or letter.
4
Modify contact list if and when necessary.
5
Regularly update your contact list.
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WORKING WITH MEDIA (CONTINUED) DEFINING YOUR AUDIENCE The media landscape is very broad, and includes trade publications, daily newspapers, special interest magazines, websites, and radio and TV stations. Below are the general categories to consider:
Newswires are based on an electronic news flow that allows these journalists to publish immediately on a breaking story. As such, newswires essentially set the scene of a story
Wire journalists
and serve as the basis for stories written by journalists from other types of media. With urgent news, it is critical to reach these reporters first due to their influence on the coverage that follows.
The consumer media generally have more time and ability to place a story into a wider
Print – consumer journalists
context, requiring more background information and simpler language that a general consumer can understand. This journalist wants to empower the consumer to make choices based on the information provided or educate them enough to know where to seek additional information (e.g. a healthcare provider).
Trade journalists have acquired specific industry knowledge and are very well recognised
Print – trade journalists
by their target audience. Usually they are well informed and it is important not to underestimate them. Trade journalists relevant to medical news would include those that cover industries such as medicine, pharmaceuticals, payer/access, etc.
Broadcast
The number of television and radio channels has grown rapidly and is continuing to proliferate. Broadcast news segments are usually very short therefore the story must be kept straight and simple. Some programmes are longer and may involve the opportunity for listeners to call in with comments or questions. Other shows will collect information and sound bites from several sources and put them together, contributing to a longer segment.
In addition to independent news websites, all of these media outlets listed above will
Web portals
often have a corresponding website that will publish some, but not all, of the same news that appears in print, on television or radio.
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MONITORING AND EVALUATING ADVOCACY
Planning, monitoring and evaluation form the foundation of an advocacy strategy – they are interrelated and of equal value in the success of your advocacy efforts. As a consequence, a framework for monitoring and evaluation should be built into advocacy programmes from the start and carried out through the lifetime of the project. This tool is designed to provide some guidance on the: What, Why, and How for designing a monitoring and evaluation component as part of your advocacy efforts.
WHAT? Although the terms monitoring and evaluation are sometimes used interchangeably, they have different functions. Monitoring tracks progress through regular reporting and review of activities on the achievement of specific objectives within a strategic plan for advocacy. The purpose is to improve efficiency and to provide information for making changes to the approach to improve outcomes over the course of the advocacy programme. Evaluation attempts to determine as systematically and objectively as possible a strategy’s worth or significance. It goes a step further than monitoring using many of the same measures but in addition, can utilise populationbased surveys and other research studies designed to assess the effectiveness and relevance of advocacy efforts. Evaluation occurs intermittently over the course of a programme and at the end.
WHY? There are three main reasons to undertake monitoring and evaluation that are indispensable for improving current and future advocacy planning, implementation and decision-making: 1. Understanding the effectiveness of your advocacy strategy in achieving its objectives and the return on investment for your organisation. 2. Learning from experience of what works and what needs improvement and using these lessons-learned to improve the effectiveness of your advocacy efforts. 3. Demonstrating to donors positive outcomes for advocacy in order to retain and attract funding.
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MONITORING AND EVALUATING ADVOCACY (CONTINUED)
HOW? Deciding on a framework among stakeholders is essential in order to carry out monitoring and evaluation systematically, and should be based on: 1. A clear understanding of the activities that need to be monitored and evaluated, as well as who is responsible for monitoring and evaluation activities.
Evaluation can take many different forms - measuring your successes in descriptive ways through storytelling or case studies can complement data collection and analysis.
2. The timing of monitoring and evaluation activities. 3. The indicators for monitoring and evaluation and how these will be assessed. 4. The resources required and existing funding commitments to advocacy monitoring and evaluation. There are differing levels of complexity and detail for monitoring and evaluation frameworks that will vary depending on the timeline, size and scope of an advocacy project. Also different partners and donors may have different monitoring and evaluation requirements. Measures of progress can take many forms – quantitative measures that require data collection and statistical analyses, for example, community surveys or social media counting; and qualitative or descriptive measures, for example, through storytelling and case studies. Planning and implementation of a monitoring and evaluation framework that is tailored to your organisation’s specific goals, resources and skills is the best approach.
CIAN Agency © Majority World - 01
Key Resources for Monitoring and Evaluation United Nations Development Programme Handbook on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for Development http://web.undp.org/evaluation/handbook/ch1-2.html http://web.undp.org/evaluation/handbook/ch3-2.html The Global Fund, Monitoring and Evaluation http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/me/ UNICEF, Monitoring and Evaluating Advocacy http://www.unicef.org/evaluation/index_60811.html References 1. World Bank. Growing Danger of non-communicable diseases. Available at http://siteresources.worldbank.org/HEALTHNUTRITIONANDPOPULATION/Resources/PeerReviewed-Publications/WBDeepeningCrisis.pdf Last accessed August 2012
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MONITORING AND EVALUATING ADVOCACY (CONTINUED)
Table 1 below is designed as a guide to assist you when you are planning your monitoring and evaluation. While our guide presented here is by no means exhaustive in its approach, it provides a high-level view of how you can match what strategies you are using to measure changes that have occurred.
WHAT IS THE OBJECTIVE? To build organisational capacity in cancer advocacy
To build community support for a cancer-specific issue
To have cancerrelated policies adopted by governments
WHAT ARE THE ACTIVITIES THAT YOU ARE TRACKING? •
Developing strategic partnerships
•
Building internal capacity for advocacy
•
Engaging key champions
•
New partnerships which might include joining or establishing a national NCD alliance
•
Launch of new and strengthening of existing collaborative initiatives
•
Recruitment of new members where appropriate
•
Level of resources mobilised for joint advocacy and action
•
Representation at key consultations and events
•
Spokespeople / champions engaged in your campaign
•
Staff involved in advocacy
•
Building internal capacity and resources for communications
•
Implementation of a public-facing communications strategy
•
Implementing a community awareness programme
•
Change in public opinion and attitudes monitored through surveys and interviews
•
Developing locally appropriate evidence-based advocacy materials targeted at your community or population
•
Web and social media coverage
•
Change in knowledge and attitudes of community leaders
•
Population-based data on knowledge, attitudes and beliefs
•
Number of requests for information or assistance on cancer-related issues
•
Opportunities to share advocacy materials with policy makers (through correspondence and / or face-to-face meetings)
•
Developing a multimedia campaign
•
Engaging community leaders
•
Developing strategic partnerships
•
Benchmarking NCD action at the national level
•
Developing evidence-based advocacy materials targeted at policy makers and governments
•
Meetings convened with key stakeholders and partners on policy issues
•
Developing a multimedia campaign
•
Web and social media coverage
•
Participating in key consultations and meetings with government representatives, policy makers and other key stakeholders
•
Publication of policy recommendations
•
Submissions to national and global consultations
•
Adoption of policies within national and/ or global policy plans or frameworks for action
•
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WHAT INDICATORS WILL YOU BE USING TO MEASURE PROGRESS?
Developing strategic partnerships
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