Part 3: Who has the power?

Once you have a clear aim and objectives, it is much easier to identify your advocacy targets and allies. This section will focus on step 4 of the advocacy strategy.

Most organisations have limited resources available for doing advocacy and therefore it is important to focus your advocacy on those people that are best placed and have the greatest opportunity to take action towards the desired change. Understanding the decision-making system is an important part of advocacy at all levels, as that helps you to identify early on who is reachable and evaluate what is possible. For example, such an exercise might reveal that the most obvious target is not accessible, and that it is necessary to work through others to reach him or her. For example, a highly placed minister might be really busy and hard to reach, but his/her personal assistant might be much more accessible. It is good to keep an eye on ‘those who can influence those with influence’ and who have sympathetic views, rather than targeting the decision-maker directly. These people are called indirect targets, instead of direct targets. Both categories are equally important targets.

A power analysis is an exercise to assess who has power in relation to the change that you are trying to achieve (step 4), so it is related to your objective. The power analysis is focused on the advocacy targets (decision makers) as well as stakeholders that have the same interest as you/allies (partners).

There are three stages in making a power analysis:

  1. Listing
  2. Mapping
  3. Categorising

Go to Assignment 9.9: Power analysis exercise (optional)

Why conduct a Power Analysis?

It is useful to do a power analysis, as it helps us to:

  • Explore who our allies and opponents are, and who is neutral.
  • See the hierarchy of where we need to focus our work.
  • Plan strategically
  • Tailor our messages to allies and opponents
  • Tailor our messages to allies and opponents
  • Choose the most appropriate methods and activities

After you have conducted the power analysis (step 4), you decide who your targets (6) are and who your allies/partners (5) are.