PETITION AS A TOOL FOR

ADVOCACY
DENIS KONGERE & EMMANUEL OYIER
 OVERALL PURPOSE OF THE TRAINING
Share experiences and results using petition as form of
advocacy.
Create common understanding on how to develop
comprehensive sexuality education
Develop an action plan for submitting the petition to
relevant duty bearers

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What is your expectations from
the training?
 For your personal
development
 For your program
improvement

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 POLICY ADVOCACY
• Different forms of advocacy are suited to
different contexts
• About making changes to policies and
practices that will improve the lives of the
population/constituency you are advocating
for or on behalf of.
• Telling your story to a decision maker,
persuading someone about why it is
important to advance a particular course 4
POLICY ADVOCACY What advocacy does
• Advocacy usually offers
credible positive alternatives
• Advocacy aims to change
specific policies affecting
people, create political space
• Directed at those who have
the power to influence other’s
lives: the goal is institutional
change
• Requires clear goals and
measurable objectives
• Is a long-term process
rather than a one-off
event, and is not an end in
itself
• Is based on evidence from
your work and experience
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CONTEXT IS CRITICAL
xt
nt e
o
• What is the situation/problem?
ofc
e r
• What’s the magnitude? w
e po
• How are communities feeling about the Th
problem?
• What solutions do they have to the problem?
• What power/resources/strategies do they have
at their disposal to create change?
• Who are the decision maker?/power
holders/influencers?
• How can they be
reached?/influenced/convinced? 6
 IDENTIFYING A POLICY ISSUE

YOUR COMPANY NAME 7

 WHAT IS A PETITION
A formal request for action written to a
governmental authority or individual public
office holder in respect to a particular cause

Petitions usually relate to a single political issue

and originate from one or multiple concerned
members of the public.

It is a means for the general public to

participate politically by seeking to influence
the government of the day by mobilizing mass
democratic support for a particular policy.

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Group work directions

• Form small group

• Using cards provided, identify the advocacy issue you want to
petition on.
• Based on your context analysis write 3 main reasons why you
want to petition the issue identified
• Present group work
• Plenary discussion

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 ORGANIZING A PETITION
• State clearly what you want to change/changed-
identify the right topic to your petition
• Direct the demand to the right person/public office.
• Include accurate information and evidence
• Make sure it’s a clear record of people’s opinion
• Be precise and clear in your writing
• Should be supported with as many signatures as
demanded

YOUR COMPANY NAME 10

STRUCTURE OF A PETITION

• A petition has two parts –

• (a) the statement- also called a prayer
• Title
• Introduction i.e we the undersigned, residents of Uzima
village…
• The context
• Prayers
• (b) the signatures of people who support the statement, along with
some identifying information about them. i.e full names, ID No,
contact details
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DEFINING STAKEHOLDERS AND ASKS…

High
High
Influence,
influence,
High
low interest
interest
(Latens)
(promoters)

Low Low
influence, influence,
low interest high
(Apathetics interest
) (Defenders)
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Group work directions

• Form small group

• Using flip chats, and based on the identified advocacy issue;
• Come up with the title of the advocacy issue identified
• Identify relevant laws/policies that speaks to the identified policy issue
• State how the current state of affair violates the aforementioned
policies/legislations
• State your prayers
• Seek signatures
• Present group work
• Plenary discussion
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SUBMITTING A PETITION

• There are many ways to deliver a petition to the relevant decision-

makers:
• Set up a personal meeting to hand over the completed petition
sheets to the relevant authority.

• Hand over the petition during a public demonstration or at a

public event which can attract media coverage.

• Lodge the petition in an online portal

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THE POWER OF TIMING

• Petitions are more likely to have an

impact if they are used at a time when
it is not too difficult to make the change
you are asking for.
• For example, if you are petitioning
against a new development, submit the
petition before the budget plans are
approved. You are less likely to have
success if the financial year budget has
been passed.
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 • Petitions to ministries: Address •
your petition to the Permanent
CONT… Secretary of the Ministry in
question.
• Petitions to regional councils
or local authority councils: A
petition on a regional or local
issue should be addressed to
the relevant council and given
to the council’s Chief Executive
Officer (CEO).
• Other groups: Address your
petition to the person with
authority over the issue in
question.
Petitions to National Assembly:
should be addressed to the NA
and sent to the Secretary of the
NA. The Secretary will forward it
to the relevant Parliament
committee for consideration. The
committee will make a report on
the petition to the Standing
Committee on Rules and Orders.
If the petition meets all the
requirements in the NA’s rules, it
will be tabled in the NA.
• Petitions to National Council:
should be addressed to the
Chairperson of the National
Council and given to the
Chairperson or Secretary of the
National Council.
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POPULAR SITES FOR HOSTING PETITIONS

• Change.org
•  GoPetition
• iPetitions
• RallyCall

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 WAY FORWARD
ACTIVITIES & OPPORTUNITIES:
Refine the two petitions by 2nd Nov
1. 16 days of activism against 25 Nov-10 Dec
• Publicize the petition
2. Map like minded partners - done
3. Mobilize and give feedback to allies and networks at home
Girls’ Summit -Launch the petition Nov Week of 20th
• Online spaces to address the agenda in the petitions e.g., twitter spaces, FB live the week of 11 th
• OpEDs, Letter to the Editor articulating aspects of petitions
4. During release of research and evidence
• Statistics of pregnant girls ahead of KCPE/ KCSE examinations
5. Review of CBC Curriculum
• Champion CSE agenda to the CBC task force
6. Consultative meeting to review the petition with the partners
7. Girls summit 18
POTENTIAL PARTNERSHIPS LOCAL/NATIONAL
1. Bela rafiki foundation
2. Rapado
3. Elimu yetu coalition
4. Amnesty
5. SRHR Alliance
6. CSA
7. AYAREP
AGIP (adolescent girls investment plan)
8. SDG Kenya
9. Akili Dada
10. Making a Difference (MAD sisters)
11. Superb challenging inequalities
12. Kariabangi Soacila justice centre 19
• Mapping out the problem

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THANK YOU
kongere@gmail.com