Comm and Media Advocates Shape Their Advocacy Comm Skills Through LSIG’s 2-Day Training

Manila, Philippines -- Various government agencies and civil society groups see effective advocacy communication as a step towards increasing participation in political reforms and strengthening democracy.

Held on March 25–26, 2023, at the Hotel Benilde Maison De La Salle, Malate, Manila, Making Your Messages Matter: Training on Effective Advocacy Communication in the New Media Landscape aimed to amplify the advocacy communication skills of the 25 participants.

Organized by the La Salle Institute of Governance (LSIG) in partnership with PARTICIPATE, the event featured prominent speakers who shared their expertise and insights on various topics. 

Developing Advocacy Messages and Good Visual Storytelling

DLSU Communication Lecturer Carlo Figueroa gave a talk on media advocacy and truth-telling. He emphasized that the media helps organizations create a reliable and consistent stream of publicity for their issues and other activities, which can lead to more responsive public policies.

"You’re writing as the voice of the organization," he added, highlighting the importance of writing as the voice of the organization.

Figueroa also stressed the importance of having good writing skills to effectively convey advocacy messages to the media and journalists.

"Think like a journalist, including the traditional 5 Ws and 1 H. Practice, and follow the acceptable style and standard that professional news outlets do," he said. 

ABS-CBN News Chief Reporter Jeff Canoy shared tips and reminders on developing effective advocacy messages from a journalist's perspective. He highlighted a good visual story, timeliness, visuals, providing opportunities, scheduling, and accessibility as key elements to incorporate in writing advocacy messages.

Canoy also pointed out the value of putting context when writing a good story. "The difference is we put context on everything because things don’t happen just because they happen. There’s always a reason behind it, and it’s for the journalist to figure out what that reason is."

In developing compelling visual storytelling, Canoy emphasized the show, don’t tell rule. "It’s more effective if you put images side-by-side rather than just me telling you in one paragraph or one text. The composition is always important; essentially it’s like a song…you don't think about those (technical) things."

Jimmy Domingo, Chairperson of the Photojournalists Center of the Philippines, also talked about applying visual communication to shaping advocacy messages from a photojournalist’s perspective.

"Framing, composition, design, and perspective. Visuals are constructs... It implies that a picture shows a thousand words. With the aid of captions, the message of the photo can be explained easily." He added, mentioning the visual composition and caption as vital elements in photography.

Maximizing Social Media for Advocacy and Fact-Checking

In the discussion about the disinformation landscape and the basics of fact-checking, DLSU Communication lecturer Jake Soriano pointed out the proliferation of information disorder in social media.

"Social media is a big part of our lives. And with that, is a problem of mis and disinformation because social media sort of amplifies these problems."

He also explained the consequences of online disinformation. " They harm our health, they shape our politics, and they have impacts on democracy in the Philippines."

Figueroa also added during the discussion the need to look at the platform’s accountability with online disinformation.

"We should not depend fully on fact-checking. So, we should look at platform accountability as well. Everything is hyper-advertising, and they’re not very forthright in how they tell us, in how they bump algorithms, and in how they use platform accountability," he said.

On maximizing social media platforms for communicating advocacy, Multimedia production start-up Lyf Solutions President Voltaire Tupaz stressed the need to utilize the presence of the latest technologies to share advocacies.

Tupaz mentioned the changes in the framework of advocacy campaigns and the roles of advocates with the rise of social media. "Advocates today are becoming storytellers and digital citizens. You have to adjust your content plan depending on people’s internet use, " he said.

           In terms of strengthening the NGO’s social media presence, he emphasized the importance of social media auditing. "Through it (auditing), we can measure the effectivity (of the campaign), we can also monitor the social media insights and engagement, and new opportunities to grow and engage your audience."

In the end, Tupaz encouraged the participants to share and discuss their opinions and find like-minded communities and reminded them to think as content creators in leveraging their advocacies.

Participants gained valuable insights and skills to help them communicate their advocacy messages more effectively in the new media landscape.

Experts Equip Advocates to Push for Political and Electoral Reforms

"We can make a difference; we have stopped a lot of discriminatory, unjust, and failed legislation because of our voice."

Manila — Policy analyst, women’s rights advocate, and lead facilitator Dr. Socorro L. Reyes emphasized in her discussion the framework for lobbying (advocacy) and power mapping during a 2-day capacity development training entitled Strategic Advocacy for Political and Electoral Reforms, held last February 8–9, 2023.

This capacity development training is intended to gather representatives from various political stakeholders, youth organizations, women's and LGBTQIA+ groups, civil society and non-government organizations, and the media and increase their capacity in lobbying for political and other electoral governance reforms.

La Salle Institute of Governance (LSIG) Director, Dr. Ador R. Torneo, acknowledged and thanked the resource speakers and participants from various civil society groups in his welcoming remarks. He also stressed that the training is meant to help us (advocates) review practices and basic concepts and implement policy agendas more effectively.

During the program overview, various participants mentioned specific topics, such as approaches and strategies in political and electoral reforms and knowledge in political communications, that they expected to learn from.

Through the Advocacy Process
In Session 1, Dr. Reyes tackled the framework for lobbying (advocacy) and power mapping: player, process, products, and impacts. A workshop was conducted where participants presented their quick assessment of the sources of their target advocacy, including influence and power.

Dr. Jean Encinas-Franco, an associate professor at the Department of Political Science at UP Diliman, discussed the advocacy process of understanding the dynamics of the policy process. She highlighted that civil society groups must be involved in every policy and legislative process.

The discussion continued with RAPPLER Head of Regions, Ms. Inday Espina-Varona, in which she presented the advocacy process of political communication and negotiation. Ms. Varona highlighted that there must be short-, intermediate-, and long-term goals in the advocacy process.

"Our most important public is our partners. The first step to empowerment is giving space to people’s voices—their voice, not ours." She added.

In her discussion about the advocacy process of networking and coalition building, GABRIELA Vice Chairperson Ms. Joms Salvador said that "advocating for political reforms is not easy. It involves challenging and structurally upturning norms, social biases, and economic interests.”

She concluded that networks and coalition building are essential parts of advocacy and that movements create and sustain change.

The Products and Their Impacts

Day 2 began with the recapitulation of the Day 1 discussion. Mr. Lito Averia, NAMFREL National Chairperson, discussed the laws and policies accessible electoral process and improving electoral rules, including voter registration, accessible voting, especially for marginalized groups, campaign finance, substitutions, fair and reflective of democratic values, party subsidies for women candidates, and automated and hybrid voting mechanisms.

Ateneo de Manila University instructor Mr. Arjan Aguirre tackled political party development laws and policies, focusing on party development's practical and strategic elements. While Mr. Jess Paul Pasibe, PARTICIPATE Election Oversight and Reform Specialist, presented the laws and policies for electoral system reform,

At the end of the discussion, participants developed and presented a result-oriented action plan for their respective reform agendas. The training ended with a closing remark from PARTICIPATE Information Specialist, Mr. Christian Esguerra.

There were an estimated total of 16 participants from the National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS), Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO), Coalition for Bicol Development-Naga City People’s Council (CBD-NCPC), Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG), Philippine Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas (PHILDHRRA), Alternative Planning Initiatives (PHILSSA-ALTERPLAN), Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), Samahan ng Kabataang Boluntaryo ng Pilipinas (SKBP), Hirayang Kabataan, Now You Know, and iDEFEND, who attended and participated in the training.

This event was organized by the La Salle Institute of Governance in partnership with PARTICIPATE.