25 public activists from all over Ukraine now have even better theoretical knowledge and practical advocacy skills and are ready to apply them for the purpose of positive changes in the country. From December 7 to December 18, the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law held the Advocacy School, an educational project for civil society organizations that already have some basic experience in advocacy and are interested in deepening their knowledge and further work in the field of advocacy.

This is the fifth time that CEDEM has held such a school, despite the fact that this year the training took place online due to quarantine restrictions.

Advocacy, the promotion of important public decisions in government through the efforts of the public, is one of the key activities of the public sector. After all, to implement key changes, for example, launch of automatic recording of traffic violations or prohibit smoking in public places, it is not enough to merely convince society of their need. One should also encourage the central state or local government to introduce changes: make appropriate decisions and put them into practice.

Therefore, the participants of the Advocacy School were discussing the specifics of such work in parliament, government and at the local level for two weeks. They started with theoretical lectures, but paid special attention to practical tasks. Thus, the students of the School were divided into groups and worked on developing an advocacy strategy supervised by a coach. They also analyzed a practical advocacy case.

The project lecturers were experts with significant experience in advocacy. In particular, Taras Shevchenko, Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Olesia Kholopik, Director of the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law, Hlib Kolesov and Petro Korol, lawyers of the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law, Olha Hvozdik, National Expert of the Project “Strengthening civil participation in democratic decision making in Ukraine” of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, Yuliia Solokha, expert on building effective public campaigns, advocacy (GR) and communications, founder of the NGO Center for Public Health Advocacy.

Another project task, according to the organizers, was to introduce activists from different parts of Ukraine to each other and bring them together in the community of Advocacy School alumni.

Read more about the project at the link.

This project was supported by Sweden