Making your voice heard: How to
influence the post-2015
development agenda
1.15-245
Tuesday 17th of February
Room 27/26 UN Secretariat Building, ​New York
www.sd2015.org
www.beyond2015.org
www.tellus.org
Major Groups and Other Stakeholders
Jeffery Huffines
NGO Major Group Organising Partner
UN Representative, CIVICUS
(Jeffery.Huffines@civicus.org)
Naiara Costa
Advocacy Director
Beyond 2015
(ncosta@beyond2015.org)
How to influence UN processes
Felix Dodds
www.felixdodds.net
3
Who is Felix Dodds
• Twenty years Executive Director of Stakeholder Forum
• Set up global stakeholder coalitions at the UN CSD, UN
Habitat, WHO and IRENA
• Co-Chaired the NGO CSD Steering Committee 1997-01
• Co-directed the Water and Climate Coalition
• Chaired the 2011 UN DPI NGO Conference
• Written or edited 11 books on sustainable
development
• Advisor to the UK and Danish Government and EU
• Now advise Ford Foundation, Communitas, WSPA,
Article 19 on SDGs
4
Defining Non-Governmental Organisations
How do you describe an NGO? One survey found 48 different
terms and acronyms. Here is a sample:
BINGOs
Big International NGOs
BONGOs
Business Organized NGOs
CBOs
Community Based Organizations
CSOs
Civil Society Organizations
ENGOs
Environmental NGOs
GONGOs Government Organized NGOs
MONGO
IPOs
Indigenous Peoples Organizations
GROs
Grassroots Organizations
GSCOs
Global Social Change
Organizations
NPOs
Nonprofit Organizations
Vos
Voluntary Organizations
NGI
In short, there is no agreed terminology for describing the NGO sector.
In some ways, it is easier to describe what NGOs are not, rather than what they
are. It is generally agreed that NGOs are not:
• part of government, or
• organized primarily for private profit.
NGOs, civil society, or major groups?
–
–
–
–
–
–
women
children and youth
indigenous people
NGOs
Local authorities
Workers and trade
unions
– business and industry
– the scientific and
technical community
– farmers
“Major Groups” is a
term that was
introduced in Agenda
21, agreed by
governments at the
Rio Earth Summit. It
describes nine sectors
of society identified as
having a significant
role in sustainable
development:
Stakeholders in Intergovernmental Processes
FOUR important functions:
• Setting agendas
• Negotiating outcomes
• Conferring legitimacy
• Implementing solutions
What is left to influence?
• 19-21 January (3 days) — stocktaking
• 17-20 February (4 days) — declaration
• 23-27 March (5 days) — sustainable development
goals and targets
• 20-24 April (5 days) — means of implementation and
global partnership for sustainable development
• 18-22 May (5 days) — follow-up and review
• 22-25 June (4 days) — intergovernmental
negotiations on the outcome document
• 20-24 July and 27-31 July (10 days) —
intergovernmental negotiations on the outcome
document –
• 28-30 September (3 days) SDG Summit
8
Declaration?
• Look at the following for ideas:
– Rio Declaration (1992)
– Millennium Declaration (2000)
– 2005 World Summit Outcome (2005)
– 2010 High Level Plenary of the UNGA (2010)
– The Future We Want (2012)
Elements Paper: an example of what to do
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
A collective vision
What we must do to get there
How will we do this
Follow up and Review
Our Commitments – common principles
Final Call to Action
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sustainable development goals and targets?
• New Goals?
• means of implementation and
global partnership for sustainable
development
• New Targets?
• Follow up mechanisms
• What about Indicators?
Hard and Soft Law – SDGs are soft law
Hard Law
Soft Law
▪ Legally binding
▪ Non-binding
▪ MEAs that conform to the ▪ Global or regional instruments
1969 Vienna Convention
that do not strictly conform to
on the Law of Treaties
the Vienna Convention but
could play positive role in
▪ Enforceable in law
national policy-making.
▪ Important influence on
international and national
policy
▪ Can lay the groundwork for
multilateral accords
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SWOT analysis
1.
Strengths
a. What is the unique
nature of the
campaign?
b. What does the team do
well?
c. What do other people
see as your strengths?
2.
Weaknesses
a. What can you improve?
b. What are your resource
limitations?
c. What do you do badly?
d. How do others perceive
your campaign?
e. Do you know what all
the key governments
think of your
campaign?
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SWOT analysis (cont.)
3.
Opportunities
a. Where is the campaign’s
support?
b. What academic evidence
is there in support of
your campaign?
c. What are the key media
chances you could utilise
in the future to support
your campaign?
d. Who is seeing key
government officials in
the short term
4.
Threats
a. What are the obstacles
facing the campaign?
b. What funds do you
have to support the
campaign?
c. What are the views of
other stakeholders?
d. Which of the key
country blocks oppose
your campaign?
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National Preparations Timelines MOI
• March - means of implementation and global
partnership for sustainable development
– Read SDG 17 and MOI under each SDG
– Read the Earth Negotiations Bulletin on Financing
for Development
http://www.iisd.ca/download/pdf/enb2307e.pdf
– Read Zero draft of the FfD process when it comes
out http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/overview/thirdconference-ffd/drafting-sessions.html
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National Preparations What Can You Do?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
What do you want?
Have a briefing paper no longer than two pages
Have some paragraphs ready
Know the government officials in charge of the
MOI discussion in capital and meet with them
Utilize parliament to raise the issue to the
Minister
Write article for national newspaper
Town Hall Meetings – Citizens Charter
Follow up – start a conversation with government
now
Projects to implement
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Traditional Media
Traditional media tends to be one way where you
read an article, listen to a radio programme or
watch a TV news item. You have a very limited
range of engagement with traditional media you
can write a letter to the editor and sometimes join
a phone in for a radio programme.
• Press releases
• News items
• Fact sheets for the media
• Video news releases
• Opinion articles – which could be syndicated
• Editorials
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Social Media
Social News: Twitter, Digg, Propeller, Reddit. Interact by short messaging, voting
for articles and commenting on them.
Social Networking: Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn (which now enables blog
placements too) Hi5, Last.FM, MySpace. Interaction by adding friends and
colleagues, commenting on profiles, joining groups and having discussions.
Social Photo and Video Sharing: YouTube, Pinterest, Flickr. Interact by sharing
photos or videos and commenting on user submissions.
Wikis: Wikipedia, Wikia. Interact by adding articles and editing existing articles.
Website: Easily accessible explaining what the Coalition is doing
Blogging : A regular blog posting where Coalition members share the responsibility
to do this over the year – possibly with a blog every month to start with.
E-newsletters – These now can be created very easily with Coalition members
generating content
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Why attend UN meetings?
• To influence the text that will be negotiated;
• To build and cultivate alliances for future
work;
• To show case studies of successes that your
organization has achieved;
• To learn about how intergovernmental
negotiations work;
• To raise funds for your work.
www.tellusorg
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Understanding the countries
• European Union Latvia (Jan-June 15), Luxembourg (Jul-Dec
15)
• G77 (134) and China Chair: South Africa (http://www.g77.org/ )
• Key G77 countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Brazil,
Bolivia, Colombia, China, Cuba, Egypt, Guatemala, India,
Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa,
Tanzania
• Key EU countries: Denmark, Germany, Lichtenstein,
Netherlands, Sweden
• Single decision countries: eg Australia, Canada, Japan,
Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Monaco, Russia,
Switzerland, Ukraine’United States,
• AOSIS (43 countries) Chair: The Republic of Nauru
Ambassador Marlene Moses – Vice Chairs: Ambassador
Antonio Lima, Cape Verde, Ambassador Janine Coye Felson
Belize
www.tellus.org
20
Understanding the countries
• Regional Blocks
– Africa (chair Egypt 2015-17) 54 countries UNGA
President 4 and 9 – Uganda President of the
UNGA from September 2014
– Asia (53) UNGA President 1 and 6)
– Latin America and the Caribbean (33) UNGA
President 2 and 7 –
– Eastern Europe (23) UNGA President 3 and 8
– Western Europe and Other Group (28) UNGA
President 05 – Denmark takes over President of
UNGA in September 2015
21
Know your delegates
www.stakeholderforum.org
22
Key people in the secretariat
• The NGO or Stakeholder relations person
• The Executive Director of the Convention or
secretariat
• The “fixer”
• The person in charge of the text section you
are interested in
www.tellus.org
23
Before the meeting
Government
Strong
For
Capital
New York
Other
Venues
For key governments
Weak
For
Not yet
declared
Weak
Against
Strong
Against
The world of brackets
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Alternative brackets
Contentious brackets
Suspicious brackets
Tactical or trading brackets
Uncertain brackets
Waiting brackets
Weary brackets
www.tellus.org
25
Brackets
 Who put the bracket in?
 When you know who put it forward, ask
why.
 The ‘why’ may not be clear to other
delegations and you can play an important
role in highlighting the ‘why’ in your
lobbying.
www.tellus.org
26
:
Why have they bracketed?
?
• If it was because they are waiting for instructions
from the capital, then phone your colleagues in
the capital and get them to raise the issue with
relevant civil servants or ministers. This only
works if you are completely on top of the
negotiations and can act immediately.
• If it involves trading brackets with somewhere
else in the text, then you need to be able to work
with the stakeholders who are trying to lobby on
that section.
www.tellusorg
27
Why have they bracketed?
• If it is because of exhaustion brackets, then
make some text suggestions. This can be a
very opportunistic time as officials are tired
and looking for a way through the darkness –
or even to go home for the night!
• If there are suspicious brackets, then it is
important to work out why and try to help
build trust.
www.tellus.org
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What participation and influence mechanisms
should stakeholders employ ?
 Game plan for the whole negotiation – Coalition should
be asking national partners to before you arrive at a UN
meeting
organize several meeting in capitals with key
governments
 brief the media, place early stories in the media
Meet with key parliamentarians before leaving –
initiated a debate in parliament
Set up a rapid response mechanism in the capital in
case you need it
Try to get an NGOs on delegation and allowed to attend
pre inter-departmental meetings before the event
www.tellus.org
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What participation and influence mechanisms
should NGOS employ ?
 At the UN event a coalition should:
 have a photo booklet of key negotiators and UN staff
so they are easy to find www.iisd.ca
Designate point contacts for all key people eg G77, EU,
US, key countries, Bureau members, UN officials,
There should be floor managers in each negotiation
room
Use coffee bar diplomacy, receptions
Use any informal possibilities drinks/dinner/dancing
If you are spending more than 20% of your time with
other Stakeholders you are not doing your job.
www.tellus.org
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What levers of influence do they have in the
negotiation stages ?
 Much less as the process moves to end game
 Offer to support smaller states eg FIELD helped AOSIS in the
climate change negotiations
 Organize side events
 Talking with your own government daily
 Be there until 4am to offer text changes
 Key G77 countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Brazil,
Bolivia, Colombia, China, Cuba, Egypt, Guatemala, India,
Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa,
Tanzania
 Key EU countries: Denmark, Germany, Lichtenstein,
Netherlands, Sweden
 Single decision countries: eg Australia, Canada, Japan,
Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Monaco, Russia,
www.tellus.org
Switzerland, Ukraine, United States,
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What are the conditions needed for a coalition
to succeed ?
 Know Your Own Goals
 Know the Decision-making Process in Your Country
 Know When To Work at What Level
 Know the Decision-making Context
 Know the Tools at Your Disposal
 Know When To Make Your Position
 Know the Government Officials
 Know the Key UN Officials
 Know Your Allies
 Know Your Adversaries
 Know Your Limits
 Know Your Brackets and Terms
www.tellus.org
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Some books to help
you understand the
intergovernmental
process
SD2015 Resources
SD2015 has produced an Advocacy Toolkit and Media Guide for civil
society and other stakeholder organisations, coalitions and
individuals that want to influence the post-2015 development
agenda, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Both are available in four languages:
• English
• French
• Spanish
• Portuguese
All versions can be found on our SD2015 website.
www.SD2015.org
Advocacy Toolkit: An Introduction
‘Influencing the Post-2015 Development Agenda’.
Part 1: The Post-2015 Development Agenda: What Is It and How
Can You Engage?
Provides a full background on the post-2015 processes and
identifies key entry points for engagement and influence.
Part 2: Developing a Post-2015 Advocacy Strategy
Guides you through the necessary steps for developing your own
post-2015 advocacy strategy, building on the information and
opportunities identified in Part 1.
www.SD2015.org
Advocacy Toolkit: The Purpose
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Understand key post-2015 development agenda processes, including the
proposed SDGs and the distinction between goals, targets and indicators;
Identify opportunities to influence the agenda at national, regional and global
levels;
Identify key post-2015 stakeholders and decision-makers, and their relative
influence at national, regional and global levels;
Decide on your post-2015 advocacy priorities;
Develop a comprehensive action plan to influence your government and/or
relevant intergovernmental bodies;
Engage with the Major Groups and other key stakeholders for mutual
advocacy benefit;
Apply the adopted post-2015 framework to your national context and identify
the national indicators to be adopted by your country;
Monitor and evaluate the results of your advocacy; and ultimately,
Hold your government and others to account to deliver their post-2015
commitments.
www.SD2015.org
Top Tips and Useful Info
Throughout the Advocacy Toolkit you will find:
TOP TIPS: Snapshots of ideas and hints to help you build an effective
advocacy strategy.
TOOLS: Planning exercises, workshop activities and templates to help
you to work through the toolkit content in practice.
CASE STUDIES: Helpful examples of how others have developed and
implemented advocacy strategies around the world.
FIGURES: Processes or ideas that are displayed clearly in illustrations or
flow charts for easy reference.
www.SD2015.org
Interactive timeline
http://www.sustainabledevelopment2015.org/index.php/timeline
www.SD2015.org
Build Strong Foundations
To deliver a successful advocacy strategy you need first build strong
foundations:
• Understand the Agenda: Do your research and gather your
evidence
• Understand the Agenda From National to Global Level
• Work in partnership
• Be aware of timeframes
You can now begin to develop the content of your advocacy strategy
in 8 steps.
Note: These 8 steps do not have to be taken in sequence - advocacy planning is a
cycle, rather than a linear process. You can choose which steps you focus on,
depending on where you are in your current advocacy planning and activities.
www.SD2015.org
8 Steps to Advocacy Success
1. Select your post-2015 priorities;
2. Identify your target audience;
3. Develop your message(s);
4. Choose your messenger(s);
5. Identify opportunities and activities for delivering
your messages;
6. Take stock and identify gaps;
7. Manage risks;
8. Monitor and evaluate progress and impact.
www.SD2015.org
Action
ActionPlan
PlanTemplate
Template
www.SD2015.org
Tools and Worksheets
Each step introduces a practical tool / set of
tools that you can work through, which will
help you to develop the different parts of your
advocacy strategy.
Many of these tools can be adapted for a workshop
setting and require gaining group inputs, to ensure your
colleagues and partners can work with you collaboratively
in developing your advocacy activities.
Find all the worksheets in the toolkit Annex and they can be
downloaded from our SD2015 website.
www.SD2015.org
Media Toolkit
The aim of this guide is to help you get your message
across to a wider audience when talking about
sustainable development and the post-2015 development
agenda.
The media can help to convey your messages to a
targeted or simply wider audience, and to help hold
decision-makers and governments to account.
This guide helps you to understand why journalists and
media outlets behave as they do, what they are looking
for, and how you can get your voice heard.
www.SD2015.org
Topics Covered
1. What is your message?
9. Photos and photo calls
2. Targeting your audience
10. Editorials and advertorials
3. Understanding journalists 11. Social media
4. Approaching journalists
12. Dealing with a crisis
5. Working with journalists
13. Jargon-busting
6. Press releases
7. Media interviews
8. Events and press
conferences
www.SD2015.org
12 National SD2015 Partners
Africa
Caribbean
Malawi - CONGOMA
Mauritius - ANPRAS
Tanzania - TANGO
Dominican Republic- ALIANZA
ONG
Latin America
Latvia - LAPAS
Portugal - PLATAFORMA
PORTUGUESA DAS ONGD
Brazil - ABONG
Colombia - CCONG
Venezuela - SINERGIA
Asia
Europe
Middle-East
Egypt - RAED
Nepal - NFN
Philippines - CODE-NGO
www.SD2015.org
Add slides…
- Future SD2015 workshops and opportunities,
particularly on media
engagement/communications
- Sign up for SD2015 newsletter to be kept
informed
Thank You