Advocacy in Cambodia: Increasing Democratic ... - Pact Cambodia

Short-term and long-term implications of advocacy campaigns should be carefully
considered. When NGOs advocated for a government crackdown on logging, illegal
small-scale logging was interrupted while concessionaires continued their activities
unchecked. In some cases, owners of small firms who were not affecting the
environment as much as concessionaires (like the one which cut the logs pictured
below in Kratie province) lost their livelihoods. Therefore the expressed goal of
sustainable forestry management was not attained.
goals, for example, when the U.S. Embassy insists
that the Royal Government address the alleged
arbitrary dismissal of union leaders or the World
Bank insists that the government must have a
consultative process for policy reform in order to
receive a loan. Although this type of advocacy is
important and may affect some immediate
changes in behavior, these changes are unlikely
to be sustainable and this type of advocacy fails to
increase advocacy skills within civil society.
Setting Appropriate and Feasible
Objectives
Once an advocacy agenda is determined and
support identified, specific and realistic objectives
should be set to avoid creating unreasonable
expectations and eventual disappointments. With
few exceptions, objectives have not been well
articulated in NGO advocacy campaigns as
profiled in this study. The absence of specific
objectives is an indicator of weak networking and
highlights an important capacity weakness for
NGOs.
The notable exception in this study is the
Commune Council Election Law lobbying. When
election monitoring coalitions decided to start the
campaign, at least twenty possible objectives were
identified. With the benefit of technical assistance,
the coalitions were able to narrow the list to the
three most important issues. Even within these
three primary objectives, the Commune Council
Election Law lobbying players understood that
they had an ambitious agenda. From the start
advocates understood that the short-run
objectives were not likely to be achieved.
Therefore, advocates prepared a fallback position
for one of the objectives:
if the government was not
willing to make the
National Election
Committee an
independent agency, then
all parties represented in
the National Assembly
should be invited to sit on
the committee.
Short- and longterm
objectives set by
advocates are a good
indication of the strength
of that sector and its
advocacy campaign. A
strong sector will have
good networks and be
able to set higher
objectives than minimum
international standards.
A weaker sector will aim for the minimum
standards or will not have any articulated
objectives. To illustrate, labor unions in Cambodia
currently seek to obtain the minimum labor
standards set by the ILO and they have not
bargained with employers for better conditions
beyond the minimum standards. Similarly, the
child rights movement simply aims to hold the
government accountable for the provisions of the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
In setting their objectives, advocates need to
understand what people will receive in exchange
for concessions and propose alternative solutions
if the campaign obtains the concessions. If a law
is passed to ban logging, for example, advocates
need to think about how people who no longer
generate income from logging can earn their living.
Advocacy cannot be fully successful unless the
system allows people ways to earn a legitimate
living; some voices question whether civil society
organizations have always considered the entire
picture which includes the impact of a potentially
successful campaign (see above box). Advocates
must place themselves in a context of negotiation
and be aware that the outcome must be something
that all sides can live with. When proposed
changes are threatening to a particular group, it is
best to proceed with small steps that will gradually
sensitize affected stakeholders to the issue.
Identifying Decision-Makers and
Pressure-Makers
Once an advocacy agenda has been selected
and objectives set, advocates need to research and
identify key individuals and organizations that can
influence the outcome of the campaign. Most
Increasing Democratic Space
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