Q:A small nonprofit organization works with small grassroots organizations in Ghana on building their organizational capacity to establish community-based ecotourism sites. However, as part of building the organizational capacity, it is important to include the district government in the process. In this way, as grassroots organizations grow and unify, they can better mobilize their needs and concerns with the government. Without that cooperation, the grassroots organizations have little incentive to really invest themselves in these projects, because they are at the whim of the government which can tax them to no end once a project becomes viable. Are programs that bring these grassroots, nonprofits, and government actors together to debate on the sharing of burden and benefit undertaking "advocacy"?

If so, what kinds of skills are particular to this kind of advocacy?

A:Partnership can be a form, and also an outcome, of "advocacy". This is so, in part, because rather than framing issues and actions in terms of "us" and "them," there really is a focus on the development of sustainable, mutually beneficial relationships that stem from the intersection of common interests (in this case, the government's interest in increasing tourism, and the groups' interest in managing the sites with minimal governmental hurdles).

Though not often mentioned, the other product of "partnership as advocacy" modes of thinking is the emphais on creating real opportunities for stakeholders who are traditionally excluded, under-utilized, or hard to engage in substantive roles. These can be smaller groups or groups on the "fringe" that feel they have no voice by themselves, but can be an active participant in a coalition.

Sometimes groups, institutions, and other vested interests in any issue area simply discuss things in terms of "public sector", "private sector", "public interest" and the nebulous set of things in-between-- all in the name of speaking out on behalf of some stakeholders. Often this is done without much input from the stakeholders.

But one must actually get to not only hear from the stakeholders, but work with them, and develop their capacity to become experts, and leaders, and decisionmakers around their own needs. Ideally, stakeholders do not have to be invited or asked to come to the table, and it's simply a given that there is always a place for them there when deliberations are made. This is where true power of a strong coalition working with an interested government is shown.

Getting all the interests together to work on something in common can yield good things. The real challenge of "partnership as advocacy" is building the capacity of the stakeholders themselves-- especially those who are traditionally left out-- and effecting positive change through everyone involved for the long haul.

This can require several different sets of skills, and more than likely will combine all the advocacy skills that one has. Because you're including government officials, there has to be some lobbying or government advocacy work to make initial contacts with them, and to keep them updated on your activities. You will also need skills that are less often thought of as advocacy skills, such as coalition building and management, especially if all of the grassroots must speak with a common voice.

For more information and tips on all these different kinds of advocacy, see NPAction's Advocacy Means and Methods articles.