Understanding Advocacy and Campaigning

The Education Youth Ambassador is an individual with an eagerness to bring about a permanent change in his or her community, by promoting the cause of learning and in doing so, orchestrating the spirit of progress in Pakistan. Every machine requires a number of different gears, clicking and whizzing in complete harmony so as to make the whole device function to its full capacity. In much the same way, the fight for education in Pakistan has to be fought by myriads of people from all walks of life, bringing new ideas to the fold and working together to achieve a common goal. Under the banner of ITA we aim to do just that: designing a smooth running system which channels the zeal of many individuals to churn out a revolution that may create consciousness in our communities, our country, and the world at large.

But all of this is easier said than done! Unless we equip all our EYAs with the proper tools to propagate their cause, we cannot fully succeed in our lofty endeavor. The ‘Advocacy and Campaigning Tool Kit’ is one such premier tool that each EYA must be armed with so as to really know their way around their goals. Basically this tool kit revolves around helping EYAs recognize a potential problem and resolve it to the best of their abilities. This ideology is best depicted with the help of a tree whereby the roots represent deep seeded social, cultural, political, and economic influences that happen to be the reasons why problems may exist at all. The trunk symbolizes the institutional policies that have hardened those problems over the passage of time. And finally the leaves signify the many issues that people ultimately have to bear the brunt of.

What this advocacy tool kit aims to do is help EYAs recognize said problems and evaluate them as critically as possible. One must scrutinize just how those problems go on to affect people, how many people share the same concerns and wish to raise their voices, how to mobilize those people in a streamlined manner, and finally how to come up with a feasible solution that may resolve these issues forever more.

For this an EYA must be aware of the plethora of strategies that can be utilized to seek the light on the other end of the tunnel. Generating awareness responsibly, mobilizing response vigilantly, organizing movement enthusiastically, using resources efficiently, and basically leaving no stone unturned is what a capable EYA must be willing and ready to do. After all, and one Sun Tzu would agree, that fighting the war for education requires an art just as much as any other war.

The CLF sessions for EYAs revolved around this venture: educating the selected EYAs and giving them a heads up for what lies beyond. With overwhelming response and a fervor that vibrated through the room, the session proved to be very productive indeed. We sincerely hope that that together we shall see this fight all the way through.