Advocacy Training

Advocacy Workshops at Radboud International Model United Nations 2008

On April the 15th the UNOY Advocacy Team conducted a series of workshops on advocacy and political lobbying at the Radboud International Model United Nations (RiMUN) in The Netherlands. RiMUN is a joint initiative launched by United Netherlands and the Soeterbeeck Programme and is held annully. The topic of this year was United Indifference. More than two hundred and fifty international students from a various range of academic backgrounds and nationalities participated.

The purpose of the workshops was to both introduce the students to the processes of effective advocacy and lobbying, and also to provide them with tangible skills that they could then apply in the model assembly the following days.

Each student was assigned to a specific sub-committee within the United Nations broader framework and consequently student had task oriented questions with regards to lobbying and issue focused negotiations. The UNOY team was able to engage the students in dialogue concerning lobbying techniques and strategy and project specific tactics and approaches.

Following the seminars we were also able to engage in some organisational outreach at the university’s auditorium lobby during the registration. All in all the RiMUN seminars were a rounding success. We were able to facilitate the transfer of advocacy and peace building knowledge to other youth who will be able to productively apply in professional and personal contexts. The UNOY Peacebuilders Advocacy Team is grateful to have been able to participate and to work with both the staff and the students at Radboud University in Nijmegen and we hope to be able to attend future events.

Simulation game, Lokeren Belgium

UNOY team: Lillian, Saskia, Andrew, Myrthe.

On Sunday 10 February 2008 the advocacy team, consisting of Lillian, Andrew, Myrthe and former UNOY team member Saskia went to Lokeren in Belgium to give an advocacy training to a group of fair trade activists. The youth group consisted of 40 volunteers within the European Fair Trade movement.

The morning session consisted of a presentation about UNOY Peacebuilders and advocacy. The presentation was followed by a simulation exercise about the fair and not-so-fair trade of bananas, where the participants had to play different roles! The roles were played enthusiastically and some intriguing debates came to the table. The participants were able to apply what they learnt during the presentation. During the afternoon session our team gave a presentation on analysing a problem by using the so-called Problem Tree. The afternoon session was concluded with a live conflict mapping exercise where the participants had to position the various fair trade actors in relation to one another.

Afternoon session 'Live Conflict Mapping'

The advocacy team felt the day was a definite success. The main goal of the training was to raise awareness on advocacy. What is advocacy, what are the necessary advocacy skills and how does one plan and implement an advocacy project? These were the main areas of focus of the day and the team felt these answers were correctly interpreted by the participants.