Advocacy campaigns as training tools

For those of us who work in the sphere of democracy promotion, one of our priorities is to get more people involved and excited about participating in the democratic process. Doing so is not always easy through regular training seminars and roundtables, which are generally more technical and academic in nature, and can end without a sense of tangible outcomes. Advocacy campaigns as training tools can provide an alternative way of approaching our work.

An advocacy campaign is simple: it is a campaign to advocate either voluntary behavioral changes, such as encouraging more people to vote on Election Day, or specific changes in regulations or laws.

An advocacy campaign as a training tool has many advantages over other forms of training. For example, an advocacy campaign attempts to solve an actual problem while training people in the process. Even if a campaign doesn’t alter legislation, those working with the campaign still learn how to advocate for change. The outcome becomes less important than the process, though a successful campaign does have the added benefit of making participants feel empowered while also fostering social change.

The International Republican Institute has used advocacy campaigning as a training tool with much success in many countries, most recently in Iraq. With IRI’s assistance, young Iraqis managing youth centers across the country have worked in coordination with one another to advocate a change in the law that places a 30 year age minimum on candidates for public office.  With more than half of the population in Iraq under the age of 30, this law effectively disfranchises young adults from an active form of political participation. In this case, it is easy to see how other avenues to express their discontent, such as involvement with radical groups, can become more attractive.

Through campaign training, peer mentoring, developing advertising strategies and lobbying their legislators, the youth center located in Northern Iraq was successful in its efforts when the Kurdish Regional Government’s chief legislative body passed legislation in 2009 lowering the age at which someone could become a candidate in the Kurdish region from 30 to 25. Iraqis modeled their campaign, which they called “Campaign 25,” after a similar campaign succeeded in neighboring Turkey.

Young Iraqis continue to advocate for similar changes in Iraq’s national parliament. In the meantime, however, they are learning skills that will serve them well, especially if they become able to run as candidates for public office. As a training tool, the advocacy campaign continues to make an impact in Iraq and should be used as a model training tool everywhere possible.

This post is part of a series of guest posts by the International Republican Institute (IRI).