Module 6 - ADVOCACY IN THE FIELD OF YOUTH

Within the Erasmus+: Youth project “Strengthening leaders to support youth work” the module 6 ”Advocacy in the field of youth” will be available for anyone online shortly.

Module 6 ”Advocacy in the field of youth” is designed to equip the leaders - managers and directors in youth work (hereafter - the leaders) with the knowledge and skills necessary for effective advocacy in the field of youth, focusing on empowering young people and addressing the challenges the young people face.

This module gives the possibility to:

• gain a better understanding of advocacy's role in promoting youth rights and development;

• learn how to identify the key challenges impacting youth (such as education, health, employment and others);

• explore the policies and frameworks that shape youth development;

• dive into the heart of the world of negotiations and consensus decision-making;

• better understand the role of the stakeholders in the advocacy process

• create one of the best advocacy plans for your organization ever.

Key topics of the module include understanding advocacy, youth policy and rights awareness, negotiation and consensus-building techniques, mapping stakeholders and building strategies for collaboration, and designing and implementing impactful advocacy campaigns.

The training module emphasizes the importance of inclusive representation of youth voices and provides the understanding to organize decision-making processes that reflect the needs and aspirations of youth.

The training module includes some presentations (readings and pictures) describing the topic, some videos to watch, some individual tasks for a better understanding of ourselves in the framework of advocacy and provides external readings and videos to get to know the advocacy better, incl. provides the links to modules where you can acquire additional knowledge related to the module “Advocacy in the field of youth”.

For maximum results from this module, it is desirable that the participant:

• is familiar with the goals and objectives of their organization;

• is already committed to an advocacy issue and wants to work towards the development of solutions around the issue;

• comes to the training module with their own personal experiences, areas of focus, and existing skills in advocacy to apply;

• is willing to participate in practical tasks during the module

to create their unique advocacy journey.

By the end of the training module, the participants will be prepared to apply the knowledge and skills to create meaningful change for youth at local, national and international levels:

· Define advocacy and its role in youth empowerment

◦ Explain the importance of advocacy in addressing youth challenges and promoting rights

◦ Identify key challenges affecting youth (e.g., education, health, employment)

◦ Demonstrate how to ensure inclusive representation of youth voices

· Analyse policies and the legislation relevant to youth development

· Practice negotiation and consensus-building techniques

◦ Organize the appropriate decision-making process

· Map stakeholders and develop strategies for collaboration

· Design an advocacy campaign, including goals, target audience, and communication strategies

◦ Use digital tools to create awareness and mobilize support

◦ Practice framing messages for specific stakeholders and platforms

· Develop indicators to evaluate advocacy impact

· Reflect on case studies of successful youth advocacy efforts and lessons learned

You can ask fort additional information on the context of this module by contacting: Inese Subevica, NGO Youth leaders coalition – Latvia, subevica.inese@gmail.com (LAT, ENG, RUS).