Through advocacy, civil society organizations (CSOs) influence public policies and drive changes. Changing public policies, practices, patterns and procedures in which society functions creates much needed space for a change that will build more transparent and accountable society. Civil society organizations are indispensable actors in the process of public advocacy, whose actions should encourage dialogue between decision-makers, the business sector, citizens, striving to defend and preserve the public interest. It is not uncommon for civil CSOs to stay out of the space for dialogue with institutions or decision-makers, which is why it is important to educate and inform civil society representatives which advocacy strategies and tactics to apply in order to achieve their goal.
In addition to strategy and tactics, it is important to know what tools are available to civil society representatives so that the advocacy process involves all relevant actors equally. It is also necessary to inform CSOs about the available instruments for participation in policy making and highlight all the possibilities that exist, in order to ensure transparency of the whole process while ensuring public participation. Therefore, it is necessary to know the process of decision-making, adoption of laws, it is necessary to be familiar with the Law on Planning System and how the Republic Secretariat for Public Policies functions.
Advocacy, systemic changes and the adoption of new legislation are realized in partnership with civil society, public authorities, and often with representatives of the business community. That is why it is important that the partnership is based on common values and for the same goal.
If we want the idea that we are advocating, to reach as many people as possible and inform the public about the change we want to achieve, it is necessary to communicate our key messages in the right way. In order for civil society organizations to improve the visibility of their activities and achieved results, and reach as many people as possible, it is necessary to be present in the public sphere and successfully communicate with the audience, trying to broaden it as much as possible. That is why social networks are a basic tool that, if used efficiently and in the right way, can address in key places the key messages are sent to the public.
The usage of social networks is a creative process, which requires a lot of effort, in order to obtain substantial and satisfactory results. Developing strategies for using networks should be the first step towards increasing the visibility of organizations, and in order to achieve that, it is important to get acquainted with the way social networks work and use their various opportunities in the best possible way. Each of the social networks has a certain algorithm or principle, according to which it works, as well as options that will longer keep users on the content that is placed to them. In addition to staying on the given content, it is important to engage new users so that the content and message we share can be seen and supported by as many people as possible.
A workshop on social media and advocacy, held on May 25-27, with the participation of 10 partner organizations. The workshop was organized by the Belgrade Open School within the project "Civil Society for Improving Serbia's Accession to the European Union", which is implemented with the support of the Embassy of Sweden in Belgrade
