On 28th – 30th March 2021, Urur Kaab (Technical Assistance to Civil Society Programme implemented by FCG Sweden) held Advocacy and Policy Analysis Capacity Building and Planning Workshop for 17 Somaliland civil society organizations; the participating CSOs have operations all across Somaliland while their offices are in Hargeisa, Borama, and Burao.
The advocacy capacity building program is part of the efforts of Urur Kaab in developing the capacity of CSO’s in Somalia and Somaliland to increase their reach and impact to deliver successful programs for their constituents and communities. The advocacy and policy analysis training builds upon the mapping of Somali CSOs and the capacity assessment carried out by the Urur Kaab technical team at the initial phase of the programme.
Through the training, Urur Kaab sought to equip the participants with skills to design and implement advocacy and policy influencing interventions in a variety of focus areas including human rights, good governance, anti-corruption and inclusive development. During the training, the facilitators highlighted the difference between advocacy and other development approaches such as Behaviour change Communication (BCC), service delivery and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief.
Amongst the topics covered during the training included identification of advocacy issues, developing advocacy results (goals and objectives), identifying advocacy stakeholders (including allies and those opposed to the identified results), developing advocacy messages and approaches to effective advocacy/development communications.
The three day workshop, which was co-facilitated by Urur Kaab Team Leader (Henry K. Karanja) and Deputy Team Leader (Feysal Osman) adopted participatory and experiential learning approaches which included presentations, experience sharing, group sessions, feedback in plenary work and developing actual/real-life advocacy/policy influencing plans.
At the conclusion of the workshop, participants had developed draft advocacy and policy influencing plans on areas relevant to their programming and to the needs of the communities served by the CSOs including inclusive/participatory governance, sexual and gender-based violence as well as on anti-corruption and good governance. Subsequent to the training, the Urur Kaab team will work with the CSOs to fine tune the plans in readiness for implementation.
The workshop concluded successfully on March 30th 2021 with an award of certificates to all the 28 participants drawn from the 17 civil society organizations who partook in the workshop.
