Advocacy Communication and Social Mobilization (ACSM)

Advocacy Communication and Social
Mobilization (ACSM)

ACSM
Advocacy
•   A combination of individual and social actions designed to gain political commitment, policy support, social acceptance and systems support for a particular goal or program.
•    Advocacy is taking action to help people say what they want, secure their rights, represent
their interests and obtain services they need.
•     It promotes social inclusion, equality and social justice.
•      Advocacy is speaking up, drawing attention to an issue, winning the support of key constituencies in order to influence policies and spending, and bring about change.

Communication
•     The process of transmitting and receiving messages for the purpose of sharing information and ideas.
•      All communication involves a channel through which a message is transmitted from the sender to the receiver e.g. conversation, television, newspapers, radios, written messages and electronic media.newspapers, radios, written messages and electronic media.

Communication channel 

Characteristics of Communication Process 

•       Communication involves people, therefore for effective communication one has to understand people. 

•       Communication can be verbal or non-verbal. 

•      Verbal communication includes spoken words. 

•     Non-verbal includes body gestures, signals, symbols, posters and others. 

Social Mobilization 

•       Social mobilization is the process of bringing together supporters to: 
o Raise awareness of and demand for a particular programme 
o Assist in the delivery of resources and services 
o Strengthen community participation for sustainability and self-reliance 

•       Groups which can be engaged in social mobilization include:

o Policy makers 
o Opinion leaders 
o Extension workers 
o Professional groups 
o Faith based organisations 
o Business people 
o Communities 
o Individuals 

Functions of the Groups 

•       Policy makers 

o Creates supportive framework for decision making and resource allocation to empower communities e.g. village council, village chairperson, village executive officer 

•       Technical people 

o Provide technical guidance 

•       NGOs and partners 

o Provide funding and technical support 

•       Community 

o Main beneficiaries and participate in the implementation of programmes 

Goals and Importance of ACSM

Goals of ACSM 

•         Create awareness on health issues 

•         Motivate people to learn 

•         Increase awareness 

•         Influence social norms 

•        Create behavioural change among selected individuals or subpopulations in the public 

•        Promotes trust and transparency among various actors in health 

•        Facilitates community participation through advocacy and dialogue 

•        Enhances and sustains effective networking and consultative process 

•       Encourage individuals or groups to take actions to improve their health through

o Modification of behaviour 

o Change in social conditions 

•           Motivate people to learn 

•           Change attitudes 

•          Encourage individuals or groups to take actions to improve their health 

•          Modify behaviour 

•        Change social conditions 

•       Enhances feedback on the health service delivery 

Importance or Roles of ACSM 

•        Influence changes in policies, programmes, and environments. 

•       Mobilising resources and opinions to support the changes. 

•       Increase the power of people and groups and to make institutions more responsive to human needs. 

•      Widen the range of choices that people can have by increasing their power to define problems and solutions and participate in the broader social and policy issues. 

•      Influencing decision makers to adopt policies that improve public health. 

•      Facilitate the capacities of communities and vulnerable populations to make their needs and interests known. 

•       Increase peoples participation in the processes of allocating societal resources and values among its members. 

•      Creates a supportive environment among people. 

•     Combats stigma and discrimination, empowers people living with HIV and TB/HIV. 

•     Strengthens community involvement in programme planning, implementation and evaluation. 

•     Mobilizes political commitment and resources for HIV and TB prevention and control. 

•    Changes individual and community behaviour. 

•     Improves case detection, treatment and adherence. 

Barriers to ACSM 

•     Powerlessness is a key barrier to ACSM 

•    Lack of law and code of ethics act as barriers to advocacy role 

•    Time constraints

•    Limited communication is viewed as an important barrier to ACSM 

•    Lack of motivation when people are working with frustration and reluctance affects quality care and advocacy 

•     Knowledge and skills are essential to advocacy. Clinical knowledge and some skills are crucial factors to effective advocacy 

•     Inadequate resources (money, human, materials,) 

Steps in ACSM

•       Conduct community assessment 

•       Develop action plan for ACSM 

•       Implementation, monitoring and evaluation

Community Assessment 

•    Make a plan of action by participation and involvement of the target audience 

o Setting goals 

o Setting objectives 

o Setting strategies and activities for implementation 

•    Implement the plan through effective communication based on sound educational principles relating to identified needs 

•     Monitoring and evaluation using objectives set and re-planning where necessary 

•     Community assessments are used to: 

o Determine important community needs 

o Identify methods to collect information 

o Design assessment tools 

o Questionnaires, community maps, patient registrations and attendance, common problems at the clinic 

o Collect information 

o Analyze data, stakeholders, political situation, legislation and legal framework 

o Ask community members how they think changes could be made 

√ What other groups are able to provide support? 

√What resources are available for ACSM? 

o Report findings on what the community wants changed/or achieved? 

ACSM Plan of Action 

•    Set goals and objectives that are: 

o Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound 

o Identify target audience which can include: 
√ Parliamentarians, local officials, ministry officials, community groups 

•    Choose approaches: what approaches will work for each? What is your message for each? 

o Develop messages 

•     To influence changes in policies, programmes, and environments 

o Mobilise resources and opinions to support the changes 

o Increase the power of people and groups and to make institutions more responsive to human needs 

o Enlarge the range of choices that people can have by increasing their power to define 

problems and solutions and participate in the broader social and policy arena 

o Influence decision makers to adopt policies that improve public health 

o Facilitate the capacities of communities and vulnerable populations to make their needs and interests known 

o Increase peoples participation more substantively in processes allocating societal resources and values among its members 

o Consider the five elements: language, source, medium, time and place 

•     Identify channels of communication which can include: 

o Radio, meetings, televisions one to one talks or group talks 

•     Build support through forming alliances with groups, individuals, organizations (government and NGOs) 

•     Mobilize funds for advocacy by identifying and attracting resources

o Money, equipment, supplies, donations, volunteers 

Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation 

•     Implement ACSM plan/carry out the planned activities 

o Develop ACSM messages 
o Select communication channels 

o Deliver messages to target group using information, education and communication(IEC) 

strategies 

•     Monitor and evaluate ACSM continuously 

o Measure progress: what new events have occurred to affect the issue 

o Note successes and failures to be addressed, do you need to change your approaches? 

What improvements are needed? 

Approaches of ACSM

•      Involving leaders 

•     Building partnership 

•     Mobilizing the community groups 

•    Capacity building 

•   Working with mass media 

Involving Leaders

•    Leaders refer to those who are extremely influential in facilitating changes in national issues of population and reproductive 

•    Law makers: Those who make laws 

•    Policy maker: Those who make policies 

•    Decision makers: Those who implement policies 

•   How to reach leaders 

o Formal settings: meetings, seminars, conferences, 

o Informal settings: public gatherings, festivals, sport events, at home 

o Directly: meetings, letter, media 

o Indirectly: through their colleagues, friends and spouse 

Mobilizing Community Groups
•  Purpose 

o To draw attention of the leaders to key population and RH issues and to encourage them to take action 

o Provide feedback on community needs and feelings 

o Help planners to collect data, testimonials and other information in support of a given 

issue 

o Disseminate information among public and create public support for a given issue 

o How to organize and mobilize community groups? 

√ Involving community leaders, influential and religious leaders 

√ Identifying key existing community groups 

√ Identifying existing community channels for information dissemination 

√Organizing the group (identify group members, group leader, terms of reference)

√Mobilizing the group through village meetings, group discussions, folk and 

traditional media, live entertainment etc. 
Capacity Building

•    Capacity building approach is used to: 

o Leadership development 

o Expanding network of advocates 

o Maintaining high level of knowledge and skills 

o Keeping up with new trends and new challenges 

•   Requirements for an ACSM person 

o Academic background and experience in communication 

o Work experience in population e.g. health, family planning 

o Experience in group organization/mobilization 

o Ability/skills in public speaking and group facilitation 

o Ability/skills in speech writing, writing articles 

o Experience in working with media (media relations) 

o Orientation on research, capability to translate research-based information to advocacy messages 
o Personal qualities 

√ Understanding, good listener, good communicator 

√Interested to work with people at different levels 

√Willingness to be trained and open for further professional growth 

√Committed to the programme 

Working with Mass Media 

•   Media advocacy means using the media to promote good policy 

•   This is an important part of more general health advocacy, which also includes: 

o Political lobbying 

o Consumer participation in decision-making 

•    Reasons for dealing with media 

o Enhance visibility of your programme and/or organization (name recognition) 

o Inform the decision makers and the public about your activities 

o Stimulate discussion on issues you are promoting 

o Promote a good media coverage 

√ Invest in building media contacts 

√ Keep up with media trends, techniques and technologies 

√ Facilitate journalists’ access to relevant information and data 

√Treat journalists and other media professionals with respect 

√Be guided by the ‘Five Fs’ of media relations: Fast, Factual, Frank, Fair and Friendly 

√ Establish a channel of regular communication with media gatekeepers 

√Thank and reward deserving journalists and other media professionals through awards and other motivators. 

√Develop a media strategy

Developing Media Strategy

Two critical elements: massage and audience

•   Message
  o Briefly tell journalists what your organization stands for and does: Central message
  o Ensure everyone in your organization shares the same message: Consistency

•    Audience and appropriate media

o Identify the information needs of target audience
o Identify media they use and trust
o Determine for what purpose you want to reach them:

√To stimulate discussion

√ To inform them on new issues

√To educate them on values

√To help them form opinions

•    Choose your media accordingly based on the above

o Printed media

√Tends to be an elite medium

√ Appropriate to reach influential people, politicians & policy makers

o Radio

√Tends to be a medium for a very broad audience,

√ Remains in places where TV has arrived

√ Appropriate for information dissemination, e.g. news, interviews

o Television

√ Tends to be a medium for entertainment
√Entertainment function but useful for information dissemination

Universal Principles of ACSM

•    Decide what you want to change/ achieve, or want them to do
•    Decide who you need to target with your message
•    Decide how you are going to reach them
•   Decide why they should support you and when you want them to do it

Advocacy Communication

   

Major prevention and control
Campaigns Related to HIV and TB/HIV in
Tanzania

•   ACSM in HIV and TB can be used to:

  o Influence behaviour change in the community
√Prevention of HIV and TB
√Encourage HIV testing

o Improve utilization of services
√ Getting more people into care and support

o Lobby or advocate for TB and HIV services
√Improved services
√ Funding for TB and HIV care

Major HIV/TB Prevention and Control Campaigns in Tanzania

•     President Jakaya Kikwete’s campaign on HIV testing (see figure 2)

   o Tested in public with his wife

   o Increased the number of clients for testing

   o Reduced fear and stigma among the public

•    HIV campaigns continued at regional and district levels

o Increased number of clients for testing at these levels

•     Global and national programmes on TB/HIV Prevention and Control

o Lead to global and national strategies for TB/HIV co-infection prevention and control

• When doing ACSM on TB and HIV, be sure to

o Disseminate accurate information

o Address myths about TB

o Encourage people with TB and their family members to understand TB

o Encourage support for TB treatment completion

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