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Advocating for Adolescent Reproductive Health in Sub-Saharan Africa [PDF]
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Chapter 6. The Art of Persuasion: Getting the Support of Opinion Leaders and Policy Makers
Advocacy takes place
any time opinions are shared. The most effective advocacy campaigns
determine which policy makers or opinion leaders should be convinced
to support the issue and offers exactly what they should do to show
their support.
Many of the basic strategies
for approaching and persuading opinion leaders are the same whether
they are at the community, regional, or national level. Use this information
to help design the most effective strategy for the advocacy effort.
General Tips
for Advocacy
Target efforts.
Assess which opinion leaders' agreement and support will be necessary
for the advocacy campaign to reach its goals. Decide whom to approach
and in what order. Start with people who are very supportive and move
on to those who are somewhat supportive or undecided in their views.
Be sensitive to any opinion leaders who should be approached very early
in the campaign. For example, a traditional leader may want to be aware
what is being planned in the community and may be nonsupportive if
he or she feels ignored.
Be gracious
and respectful.
Always begin by thanking the opinion leader for his or her time.
Opinion leaders who support adolescent reproductive health may be
taking a controversial and difficult position in the community. Sincere
thanks will be greatly appreciated.
Be professional.
Be professional in both dress and manner. Avoid criticizing other leaders,
public figures, or organizations.
Be focused.
Talk only about one subject in the visit or letter. Advocates frequently
feel they have to share as much information as possible with a leader,
but too much information will only confuse the message and dilute the
point, especially if the opinion leader's time is limited.
Be prepared.
As a part of preparation, try to determine the opinion leader's position
on the issue. The position can be discerned through comments he or
she has made, the kind of events the leader attends, his/her political
affiliation, and past policy decisions. Working within a network helps
with this research, because at least one organization will be likely
to have had some contact with the opinion leader. Explore the opinion
leader's personal connections with youth: is he or she a parent, uncle,
aunt, or grandparent of adolescents? Design a persuasive approach that
is based on knowledge about the leader's followers, views, background,
and interests. Different arguments compel and move different people.
Role playing what to say at the meeting and how to respond to possible
comments will help in preparations.
Make a personal
connection.
Let the opinion leader know about friends, relatives and colleagues
in common. A personal connection may make the difference in the effectiveness
of the visit. Leaders are often more likely to remember and think
favorably about a visit that had some personal connection to them.
Be an information
source.
Some opinion leaders have so much to think about that they cannot
focus too long on any one issue. They may not be as informed as they
would like to be, so fill the information gap. Encourage leaders
to ask questions about the issue. Do not imply that the
leader is not intelligent or knowledgeable. Instead, be helpful and
informed.
Tell the truth.
There is no faster way to lose credibility than to give false or misleading
information to an opinion leader.
Know who else
supports the issue.
Opinion leaders like to know which other leaders and
organizations support the position. Providing this information
illustrates support
and may provide the opinion leader with additional reasons
to support the position. When possible, bring community
members—including young
people—on visits to leaders.
Know who disagrees
with the issue.
The opinion leader may be faced with a difficult decision if another
powerful institution or individual opposes the issue. Anticipate
who the opposition will be and what their positions are. Discuss
with the opinion leader the potential arguments of the opposition,
and why the leader should not support that position. When there is
opposition, the ability to anticipate criticism and defend the issue
will make a difference.
Acknowledge
when more information is needed.
If an opinion leader wants information that is not available, or
asks something not known, admit a lack of knowledge. Then, offer
to get the information he or she is looking for and do so as quickly
as possible after the meeting.
Make a specific
request.
Walk in knowing exactly what the opinion leader will be asked to
do in support of the issue. For example, advocates might request
that the leader put his or her name on a letter, change a school
policy, answer a question, make a public endorsement, or support
increased funding for youth programs. Ask directly and attempt to
get a direct answer.
Follow up.
Find out if the opinion leader did what he or she committed to doing.
Send a letter of thanks after the conversation, and restate the position.
Thank the leader for any supportive actions. Politely ask for an explanation
if he or she has failed to follow up on promises.
Do not create
enemies.
It is easy to get emotional over strongly felt issues. Be sure to
leave the relationship with the opinion leader on good terms to permit
working with him or her again. Do not argue heatedly, and never threaten
a leader. Even if he or she opposes this issue, the opinion leader
could be a strong supporter on another!
Communicating
with Opinion Leaders
By letter
Identify the writer,
organization, issue, and relationship with the opinion leader.
If possible, use paper with a letterhead. When writing on behalf
of an advocacy network, identify member organizations either in letterhead
or in the text of the letter. Provide a one-line mission statement
or statement of purpose that gives the leader a sense of what is
at stake. If writing on behalf of a network, include complete contact
information for one or two people to whom the opinion leader
can respond.
Mention a specific
issue.
The letter will be more effective if it concentrates on one specific
issue.
Be brief and succinct.
A one-page letter has the most impact. Give the main point in the first
paragraph and cover only one issue per letter. For background, include
a fact sheet, newspaper clipping, or short publication that discusses
the issue in greater depth. Respectfully, but clearly, indicate what
kind of action is desired from the opinion leader.
Make it personal.
Opinion leaders are more likely to pay attention and remember letters
that include real life experiences. Explain why the issue is important
and how the leader's decision will affect people. Describe an experience
that illustrates the point. Personal communication can be just as effective
as organized campaigns.
Ensure that the opinion
leader receives the letter.
Verify that the address is correct. If the opinion leader is local,
hand deliver the letter.
Follow up.
If the opinion leader has a phone, make a quick call to confirm that
he or she received the letter. If the opinion leader does what was
asked, write again to thank him or her.
Face-to-face
visits
Schedule a meeting.
Call the opinion leader, or send a representative to schedule a meeting.
Make appointments well in advance, prepare for the meeting, confirm
the meeting, and invite other colleagues. Keep a record of who attended,
what information was shared, and any actions promised.
Be flexible.
Expect interruptions and changes in schedule. Be willing to accommodate
the opinion leader's busy schedule. If the opinion leader has to reschedule,
set up another meeting right away.
Be prompt.
Do not be late, as it sets a bad tone for the meeting before it has
even started.
Be prepared. Make
the most of the visit. Plan the presentation in advance and divide
up roles for group members to take on, including a note taker. Plan
a 5-minute presentation (10 minutes at the most) and stick to the point.
Introduce members of the group, but have one member do most of the
talking. Make important points in a clear and succinct manner, and
let the opinion leader know respectfully, but clearly, what he or she
is being requested to do.
Leave something behind.
Develop an information packet to leave with the opinion leader. It
should include a short (one or two pages) summary about the group,
the issue, the action requested, background information, and any other
materials or fact sheets that may be useful to the leader. Avoid loading
the packet with too much information. Leave out long publications,
detailed reports or research, and unrelated materials, unless the opinion
leader expresses an interest in seeing this information as well.
Case
Study—Partnerships
to Eliminate FGM in Kenya
The Maendeleo Ya Wanawake
Organization (MYWO) is Kenya's oldest and largest women's organization,
with three million members. Its grassroots network reaches throughout
Kenya. Since the 1950's, MYWO has been advocating for changes in laws
affecting all aspects of women's lives. The Forward-Looking Strategies
for the Advancement of Women, adopted at the 1985 World Conference
to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade
for Woman, called for a focus on female genital mutilation (FGM), also
known as female circumcision or female genital cutting.
Thus mobilized, the
women of MYWO seriously examined the issue. They conducted quantitative
and qualitative research in four districts and found that almost 90
percent of women had undergone the procedure, and that it was performed
anytime between shortly after birth to just before marriage. Because
FGM affects large numbers of women of all ages, MYWO sought to encourage
the active participation of all generations of women in carrying out
their advocacy strategy. MYWO recognized that any advocacy campaign
related to FGM first required the support of women themselves. Their
advocacy strategy, therefore, worked on two levels: 1) maximizing the
ability of their grassroots network to educate women throughout Kenya,
and 2) capitalizing on MYWO's status to directly influence members
of parliament to pass laws eradicating FGM. A number of strategies
that MYWO used are described below.
Public Education
In 1992, with support
from the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health and
Population Action International, MYWO began interventions
on the grassroots level,
assigning field officers to educate women and girls and
raise their awareness about FGM. Home visits, dramas, songs,
poems, and organized
community discussions all served as successful techniques
for reaching local women and girls with MYWO's messages
about FGM. They emphasized
that people believe in the necessity of FGM for the same
reasons that people often adhere to other social traditions—to preserve
their culture. However, MYWO believed that it is important
to question traditions
such as FGM, when those traditions negatively affect people's
health and the quality of their lives.
MYWO advocated for preserving
the social importance of a rite of passage into adulthood,
while explaining that FGM leads to harmful health outcomes
that will remain with women
throughout their lives. Trained peer educators—young women both circumcised
and uncircumcised—gave this message directly to other young people.
Field officers lobbied traditional birth attendants and
local FGM practitioners directly, educating them about
the harmful physical and emotional consequences
of FGM and asking them to stop the practice or at least
to adopt less invasive forms of the procedure. MYWO found
that some of their greatest
advocates were local women leaders, women who had been
circumcised, and women who were willing to speak publicly
about why they would not
have their daughters circumcised. Women and girls, coming
forward to share personal stories about how FGM has affected
them and their families,
were persuasive in educating others.
However, when the program
was evaluated in 1995, MYWO found that more was needed to discourage
the practice of FGM. FGM practitioners, often dependent solely on this
traditional practice for their livelihood, needed help establishing
alternative sources of income. MYWO also needed to offer an alternative
rite of passage which would protect the ritual and educational aspects
of FGM while eradicating the harmful cutting. By mid-1997, several
hundred girls had participated in alternative rites of passage which
continue the traditions of gift giving, providing education, and otherwise
marking a girl's transition into womanhood.
MYWO found that videos
were extremely useful advocacy tools for reaching large
numbers of people—Rite of Passage, which chronicles an alternative rite
of passage ceremony, and Secret and Sacred, an educational
film which highlights the FGM situation in Kenya. Secret and Sacred looks
at FGM in a sensitive way and includes a broad range of perspectives.
It acknowledges the importance of FGM as a tradition, while systematically
pointing out the negative physical, psychological, and social consequences
for women and girls. The video was designed for a diverse audience
so that MYWO can use it for advocating to women and girls as well as
local and national opinion leaders.
National Policy
Work
On a national level,
MYWO targeted parliamentarians directly with educational campaigns.
MYWO found several vocal supporters of the cause and even more silent
supporters who oppose the practice but do not wish to say so publicly.
Resistance from a powerful leader held up MYWO's work in one district
for an entire year. After many meetings during which MYWO sensitized
the leader to the consequences of FGM, he appeared in Secret and
Sacred stating that the practice is harmful and revealed that
his daughters have not been circumcised. MYWO members are now receiving
training to prepare them to lobby parliamentarians individually. MYWO
also plans to launch civic education programs for women, so that women
will know about the candidates running for office and can choose leaders
who are supportive of women's issues.
Working in Partnership
Since 1991, the Family
Planning Association of Kenya (FPAK) has been working in collaboration
with MYWO in Nyambene District, Meru, a region identified as having
one of the highest rates of FGM in Kenya. MYWO recognized that, as
a large organization with experience in programs, advocacy, and service
provision, FPAK had expertise that complemented MYWO's efforts to eliminate
FGM.
FPAK began by organizing
Project Advisory Committees (PACs) which consisted of influential community
leaders and at least one youth representative at each of the 16 sites.
PAC members were educated about FGM in workshops and became local authorities
on FGM. They worked with FPAK to create advocacy messages sensitive
to the needs and beliefs of their own communities. FPAK also recruited
16 volunteer community gender educators (VCGEs) and trained them to
mobilize and educate their communities and to develop appropriate information,
education, and communication materials. VCGEs and PAC members relied
on their communities for assistance in developing and testing brochures,
posters, and booklets in English and local languages.
The program was designed
after a survey found FGM to be a major obstacle to the empowerment
of women. Community members who had increasing concerns about FGM-related
problems in their communities also recommended the program. With financial
assistance from International Planned Parenthood Federation and Plan
International Meru, FPAK expanded its pilot project to a total of 16
sites in Meru District. After PAC activities were in place, FPAK created
a national technical steering committee composed of national and international
NGOs interested in gender issues, giving them an opportunity to share
advocacy experiences and ideas.
Through work with PACs
and VCGEs, FPAK was able to develop appropriate messages for traditional
law-making bodies (councils of elders), local churches, teachers, local
government officials, and men's, women's, and youth groups. VCGEs arranged
frequent meetings and educational seminars for local FGM practitioners
to educate them about the harmful aspects of FGM. The persistence of
these advocates has resulted in four practitioners giving up the practice
of FGM and becoming outspoken advocates for the eradication of FGM.
FPAK research has shown
that in 89 percent of cases, it is the girls' relatives, rather than
the girls themselves, who decide if and when a girl should be circumcised.
FPAK has encouraged girls to organize into discussion groups that give
circumcised and uncircumcised girls a forum in which to openly discuss
FGM and learn strategies for coping with family and community pressures
to be circumcised. As a result, several girls reported attempted forced
circumcision to local authorities; others have sought refuge in churches
or requested assistance from FPAK.
While it is still too
early to measure the long-term impact of the project, FPAK has observed
a number of promising trends, including:
- Public
discussion of FGM and people willing to speak out condemning
the practice;
- Promises
from circumcised women not to circumcise their daughters;
- Commitment
from two area chiefs to ban FGM in their regions;
- Community
praise for girls who remain uncircumcised;
- Commitments
from young men to seek uncircumcised wives, and public
discussion of FGM by adult men;
- Written
requests for more IEC materials;
- Parents
referring their daughters to VCGEs for counseling; and
- Requests
from the Catholic Church for FGM sensitization seminars
for church members.
Lessons Learned
and Challenges Remaining
- A
grassroots, community-based approach was the most successful
for conducting advocacy campaigns about FGM.
Once a foundation of community support is established,
communities pressure local and national leaders to
speak out against FGM and create policies that will
help eliminate it. However, even when national decision
makers are sensitized to the issue of FGM and despite
their personal feelings on the issue, they may have
difficulty speaking out against FGM. Yet with encouragement
from the community, leaders should find it easier over
time to work actively to eliminate FGM.
- Continuing
changes will only come about through slow social change
and sensitization. Change may perhaps take
generations. Advocates should not expect immediate
results. Some communities may begin circumcising their
girls again in a few years when sensitized community
leaders have retired. Community support networks must
remain in place to continue raising awareness about
FGM and assist girls who are being pressured to be
circumcised.
- Punitive
measures, such as threats of arrest, only encouraged
practitioners of FGM to work in secret and made FGM
even more difficult to address openly. MYWO
and FPAK have found that advocating directly to FGM
practitioners, rather than threatening them, caused
them to change their attitudes, and has even turned
some into advocates for eliminating FGM.
- The
reluctance of leaders to address FGM comes largely
from difficulty in discussing sexuality issues in general
and women's sexuality in particular. The myths
underlying FGM cannot be entirely discredited so long
as gender bias and widespread misconceptions about
sexuality and sexual relationships remain. Raising
awareness and concern about FGM gives advocacy groups
an opportunity to address other sexuality issues as
well and to link sensitized communities to educational
resources and service providers.
Source/Citation:
Shannon A. Advocating for Adolescent Reproductive Health in Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington, DC: Advocates for Youth, 1998.
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