Critical Webs of Power and Change. Resource Pack for Planning, Reflection and Learning in People-Centred Advocacy

This booklet is intended for development practitioners and activist organisations and their supporters. It pulls together practical ideas and experiences from organisations involved in social justice and advocacy work in four countries, and builds on the experiences of other groups around the world. Between 2002 and 2005, ActionAid International, an international NGO working in more than 42 countries, supported action research by community groups, coalitions, NGOS, and social movements in Brazil, Ghana, Nepal and Uganda. Issues included land rights, women’s rights, housing rights, and, in Nepal, Dalit rights. The research was initially aimed at developing better ways to monitor and assess the impact of people-centred advocacy. But as it progressed researchers began to realise that in order to do this effectively they could not look at monitoring and impact assessment in isolation from planning – and that effective planning for advocacy requires better understanding of how change and advocacy happen in different places and circumstances, as well as how planning, monitoring, and learning processes can better support advancing the rights and leadership of the poor and marginalised and transforming power relations.