Advocacy

Societal change towards a more just and sustainable world often needs changes in regulation or political policies. This can be achieved by public campaigns and/or in more subtle ways of advocacy. I support your advocacy work by:

Developing an advocacy strategy. The first step is analysing the situation that needs to change and defining a limited number of goals. It sometimes needs an outsider not to see the wood for the trees and I am happy to be that person for you. The next step is understanding the political processes (which can be quite obscure) that are necessary to reach a certain goal, e.g. a law change. I can do all the background research for you and help you adjust your advocacy strategy accordingly. I support also you in identifying the people you need to talk to and frame your messages in a way that convinces stakeholders from different backgrounds.

Being prepared for advocacy opportunities. Sometimes it is just not the right time to push for a certain goal. However, this can change within less than 24 hours: Public outrage, maybe regarding something completely unrelated to your work, causes a minister to resign and someone else who is much more in favor of your positions gets appointed. Or a catastrophe like the Fukushima nuclear disaster changes public and political opinion overnight (as a result, Germany quit nuclear energy production). You may want to be prepared by having an advocacy strategy, policy briefs and speaking points at hand that you only need to adjust a little bit to the new situation.

Advocating for your cause. You have the strategy, the policy briefs and identified the people to talk to but you lack capacity of staff or volunteers? I am happy to pitch in.
If your goal lies within areas that are related to my research expertise and publications, this increases credibility. But I can also completely rely on your policy briefs.