2021

ADVOCACY SKILLS AND

LGBT ACTIVISM

A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM

RIGHT SIDE HRD NGO, TBILISI PRIDE NGO, HPLGBT NGO

Yerevan | Armenia – Tbilisi | Georgia – Kyiv | Ukraine


1 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


RIGHT SIDE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER NGO

Right Side is a community based, democratic, human rights defender

NGO, founded in January 2016 by trans activists in Armenia. It is the
first and leading NGO run by and for trans people and sex workers in
Armenia and in the South Caucasus region. The NGO strives to ensure
the well-being, protection and equality of the trans community and sex
workers in in the region by achieving social-cultural and legal changes
through cooperation with the state bodies, civil society and international
organizations.

TBILISI PRIDE NGO

Tbilisi Pride NGO being founded in 2019 represents the union of

LGBTQI people and allies in Georgia. The goals of the NGO are:
 Empowering and mobilizing LGBTQI people.
 Promoting LGBTQI human rights.
 Raising public awareness and sensitivity on LGBTQI issues.
 Increasing the visibility of LGBTQI people through the
realization of the right to peaceful assembly and demonstration.

HPLGBT NGO

HPLGBT NGO being founded in 2014 in Ukraine aims to build all the
conditions for a full, high-quality, free and non-discriminatory life for
transgender, queer, intersex and asexual people, as well as for lesbians,
gays and bisexuals and to ensure that every member of the Trans and
LGB communities be free from stigma, discrimination and violence, and
be an equal member of society.



2 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


Published by the Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO, Tbilisi Pride
NGO, HPLGBT NGO in 2021.
Printed in English, Armenian, Georgian and Ukrainian on 100%
recycled paper.

Project Coordination: Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO

Production: Right Side Human Rights Defender NGO, Tbilisi Pride
NGO, HPLGBT NGO

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors alone.
They do not necessarily reflect the views of the Black Sea Trust for
Regional Cooperation (BST) | the German Marshall Fund of the United
States.

This publication has been realized with the financial support of the Black
Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation (BST) | the German Marshall Fund
of the United States.

This publication can be got for free at the Right Side Human Rights
Defender NGO – Yerevan | Armenia, Tbilisi Pride NGO – Tbilisi |
Georgia, HPLGBT NGO – Kyiv | Ukraine

E-mail: rightsidengo@gmail.com | tbilisipride@gmail.com | ukraine@hplgbt.org

Web: http://rightsidengo.com/ | https://tbilisipride.ge/en-US/Home/About |
https://www.hplgbt.org/



3 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


CONTENTS

RESEARCHING AND IDENTIFYING LGBT ISSUES .....................................................4

PLANNING THE ADVOCACY STRATEGICALLY AND TARGETING THE
AUDIENCE. MOBILIZING HUMAN AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES FOR
ADVOCACY .........................................................................................................................8
REALIZING GENDER ROLES ON ADVOCACY .......................................................... 12
DEVELOPING TARGET GROUPS’ SKILLS FOR BECOMING INFLUENTIAL
COMMUNICATOR ............................................................................................................15
DEVELOPING MESSAGES AND BUILDING COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES...17
IDENTIFYING BARRIERS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADVOCACY .................... 19
ONLINE AND OFFLINE ADVOCACY ............................................................................ 22
MONITORING AND EVALUATING THE ADVOCACY OUTCOMES ....................... 24
PLANNING FOR FURTHER ADVOCACY ACTIVITIES .............................................. 27




4 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


RESEARCHING AND IDENTIFYING LGBT ISSUES

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only caused significant losses for the global financial and
economic systems, but it has also had a considerable adverse impact on human rights and gender
equality. In early 2020, the first cases of COVID-19 were registered. The governments of the
Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries faced the issue of introducing restrictions to curb the
pandemic. However, not all of them were justified and proportionate to the emergency faced by
the states, which made it impossible to find a balance between the objective need to counter the
pandemic and the countries observing their commitments to protect fundamental human rights and
freedoms.
According to the interviews with LGBT community members carried out within the framework of
the "Activism Building among LGBT People in the EaP Countries" project, it is necessary to
implement regular activities to study and identify the issues faced by the LGBT community. Often,
community members change their behaviors and lifestyles depending on their current situation. It
is clearly illustrated with the example of sex workers and the challenges they have faced during
the COVID-19 crisis. Key population-led organizations should quickly respond to the new
challenges, but they do not always fully understand the situation, that is why research studies are
urgently needed to analyze the emerging issues. Th interview participants underlined that the PDI
(Peer Driven Intervention) model could be very effective in identifying the weaknesses, which
would break the chain of service delivery and which, if eliminated, could help strengthen the links
among the members of LGBT communities, including cross groups. The PDI model has been
developed by sociologists as one of the methods to prevent the spread of HIV. The model is based
on using the “snowball sampling” and “peer-to-peer” approaches. It is an effective tool to reach
new populations when implementing HIV programs as it can help to achieve bigger coverage of
the interventions.
Current situation shows us that a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic can have significant long-
term consequences for younger people. In the times of crisis and uncertainty the voices of young
LGBT people are ignored and can be easily overlooked when defining the agenda. They face the
biggest challenges in the following three areas: employment, education and professional training,
and mental health. Such kind of circumstances are likely to further aggravate the situation of young
LGBT people as this group used to be more vulnerable even before the pandemic.
It has also turned out that in the context of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), the
gap between the LGBT community members and service providers has not been eliminated yet.
Within the monitoring conducted to assess how human rights are observed in relations to the trans
women engaged in sex work, three “secret clients” representing the trans community were referred
to each of the non-governmental organizations providing HIV services in Kyiv and Odesa



5 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


(Ukraine).1 Unfortunately, organizations are still to a certain extent not able to provide quality
services to the trans community members in EaP countries, in particular with a mandatory focus
on their cross groups, such as: trans sex workers; trans people who use drugs (in particular those
in remission, including stable remission); and trans people facing stress and depression. The issues
of sexual and reproductive health and rights play an important role in the health of LGBT people.
At the same time, those issues greatly depend on the actions of governments, stakeholders and
communities, and can be also regulated with government policies. Thus, SRHR challenges can
have social routes and, in such cases, structural improvement of health among the marginalized
community members requires changes in society. LGBT people constantly report lower levels of
sexual, emotional and mental security as compared to heterosexual/cisgender people. Currently,
there are still restrictions and denial from the side of decision makers due to the lack of
understanding that sexual and reproductive health and rights should be viewed as an integral part
of the fundamental human rights and freedoms. Thus, ensuring sexual and reproductive health and
rights for LGBT people will require the community members to implement intersectoral activities,
uniting key population-led organizations with health, education, gender, population, and
development sectors.
The LGBT community members, vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, as well as those engaged in chemsex
and/or sex work pointed out that they face various forms of abuse and violence on a daily basis,
with a recent focus on economic violence from the side of government, as well as psychological,
physical and sexual violence in addition to criminalization of sex work and drug use. Economic
violence from the side of government means the existing sanctions in the format of excessive fines
for sex work and/or drug use with no intent to sell. For the community members, who find
themselves in crisis and difficult life circumstances, it is not just very hard, but almost impossible
to pay such fines.
Studies conducted to identify the issues of community members within the project 2 activities
showed that there is an urgent need to take steps to mitigate the consequences of COVID-19 for
the LGBT community. Due to psychological challenges, fears and other negative consequences,
related to the conflict situation in the region, the LGBT community members have lost a significant
part of their income and found themselves in a situation when they are not able to cover their basic
needs, e.g., pay for rents and communication services (internet, telephone), utilities and make other
mandatory monthly payments. Loss of income and lack of access to communication services forces
trans sex workers to go to the streets and engage in street sex work, which makes their risks of
exposure to HIV significantly higher.


1
Human rights monitoring of transgender women engaged in sex work: https://www.HPLGBT.org/publish/TG-
Monitoring_2019/report_en.pdf
2
http://rightsidengo.com/news/regional-cooperetion/



6 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


There is a big demand for psychological support as the levels of anxiety in the community remain
high due to daily concerning news in mass media. Emotional stress among MSM and trans people
is an additional driver of drug use. Often, trans sex workers use psychoactive substances to relieve
their stress, which makes them even more vulnerable to stigma and discrimination. In general,
stigma and discrimination towards the understudied cross groups of LGBT people are widespread
which, in its turn, can lead to self-stigma and other consequences for their mental health.
It becomes evident that COVID-19, conflict and indifference of state bodies are promoting the
spread of violence, stigma and discrimination among the LGBT community members, while
psychological factors and poverty contribute to the practices and behaviors, which concentrate
HIV inside those communities and endanger their health and the health of their sex partners. Highly
motivated LGBT community members are the key to the effective responses to the COVID-19
pandemic. With due support, members of the LGBT communities are able to monitor the responses
and their local impact and inform government authorities and service providers about the emerging
challenges. However, for this purpose the LGBT community members should have access to the
information, which can be received from community-based surveys.
EaP countries poorly implement gender dysphoria treatment protocols, while in some of them such
protocols are absent. The protocols of the Ministries of Health on prescribing hormone therapy for
trans people are also poorly implemented. Such situation creates not only the grounds for stigma
and discrimination against trans people, but also challenges in their access to the gender-affirming
surgeries. However, there are also country-specific factors, which have to be considered when
looking at the EaP countries. It is unlikely that the developed tools to implement human rights-
based policies can be extrapolated to all the countries.
Taking into account the mentioned LGBT issues in the EaP region, it is recommended that key
population-led / based organizations and initiatives:

R Be constantly mobilized and supported in their activities aimed at research studies to

identify the existing challenges.
R Use more inclusive data collection methods to better record the data on cross groups
within the LGBT community.
R Increase the sustainability of the organizations to be able to effectively respond to the
new threats, such as pandemic, earthquake, war, etc.
R Contribute to the abolishment of the punitive government policies, leading to the
devastating consequences for the LGBT communities, depriving them of their right to
choose and increasing social stigma, further marginalizing the LGBT community
members and increasing the prevalence of tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, STIs, hepatitis and
COVID-19 among them.
R Create and implement Roadmaps to ensure sexual and reproductive health and rights for
LGBT people in the EaP countries.



7 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


R Contribute to reforming the drug policy, which should be based on non-discriminatory
approach, social comfort, protection of health and lives of people who use drugs as well
as human rights and access of people in need to the required health and social services.
R Contribute to reforming the laws to de-penalize/decriminalize/legalize sex work.
R Study and develop advocacy activities to overcome systematic/institutional barriers
faced by the LGBT community members.
R Use the data obtained from community-based studies and prepare recommendations for
the government/public officials.
R Create conditions and favorable environment for a closer interaction among the
community members and government/public officials to raise their awareness on the
existing gaps and problems and to build and maintain open dialogs, not only taking into
account the information provided by the community members but also adequately
responding to the reports of key population-led organizations.
R Contribute to the development and implementation of epidemic response measures and
practices, which do not deprive people of their work, shelter, food and means of survival,
including measures and practices, which, even if they limit the freedom of movement,
do not contradict any other fundamental human rights and freedoms.



8 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


PLANNING THE ADVOCACY STRATEGICALLY AND TARGETING
THE AUDIENCE. MOBILIZING HUMAN AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES

The planning process should aim to ensure that the LGBT communities are able to be engaged in
decision-making, management and monitoring processes within all the existing programs and
interventions related to the LGBT interests based on the principle of meaningful engagement
“Nothing for Us Without Us”. Ensuring community engagement is an important function of the
government as community participation is an integral part of democracy building. In some cases,
human resources can be partly mobilized through joining efforts with the organizations directly
providing services to LGBT people in the countries as the reports on the achieved targets and
indicators show that such organizations have good links with the communities and are able to reach
the key populations.
While mobilizing the community, it should be taken into account that multiple dimensions of the
LGBT personalities may lead to situations, when LGBT people face discrimination based on
different grounds or several grounds at the same time in different circumstances. Thus, when
planning programs and interventions it is necessary to consider multiple discrimination cases
against the LGBT people. To the same extent, planning also should take into consideration direct
and indirect discrimination, structural discrimination, including the roles of bias and stereotypes,
and forms of intolerance within such types of discrimination. In the human rights area, multiple
discrimination is not a new concept, and it can manifest itself in two ways. Firstly, there is “additive
discrimination,” which is discrimination based on several separate grounds. Secondly, there is
“intersectional discrimination,” which happens when two or multiple grounds operate
simultaneously and interact in an inseparable manner.
The following steps can be taken to mobilize resources:
Organize and conduct training for the LGBT community members on writing project
proposals. Such project proposals should properly describe and justify the expected needs
in funding to prepare, launch and maintain project activities.
After the training, provide technical and expert support to the initiative groups and
individual representatives of the LGBT community.
When projects are completed, organize consultations to assess the capacity as well as the
financial and human resources mobilized.
The government should be viewed as an important partner, so it is necessary to conduct
consultations with relevant government departments on the process of creation and funding of self-
organizations, which in particular engage in advocacy activities.



9 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


Implementation of the advocacy strategies should closely correlate with the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs).3 However, it is expected that communities may not achieve the
targets by 2030. Countries committed to achieving the key changes in sustainable development by
2030.4 As members of the LGBT communities, we are waiting for those changes every day.
Governments committed to scaling up access to services, including key population-led services. 5
Such commitments stipulate providing people-centered health services through strengthening
social protection and health systems, in particular for the populations with proven high risk of
transmission of infections by expanding key population-led interventions so that the share of key
population-led services is at least 30% of the total scope of services provided by 2030. Despite the
commitments and recommendations, examples from our researches show that barriers are often
related to disproportionate or even inadequate support and mobilization of human resources. All
the partners should pay attention to the fact that human resources are important as it allows
implementing non-discriminatory policies, respecting, protecting and promoting human rights, and
creating favorable conditions for the empowerment of civil society organizations.
Mobilization of human and financial resources is crucial for any organization due to the following
reasons: it allows maintaining advocacy-related training activities; supports organizational
sustainability; allows improving and scaling up the advocacy activities currently implemented by
the organizations; allows key population-led organizations to generate new ideas and new
approaches to achieve their advocacy goals in cooperation with the government and intersectoral
partners.
People responsible for the operation management in key population-led organizations regularly
face the following two key questions related to mobilization of resources: they need to decide
which financial and human resources can be aimed to achieve a certain advocacy objective and
they need to understand the sources of such resources, i.e., they need to know where they can get
necessary resources in the required amounts.
Engagement with risky partners means ineffective allocation of financial resources as well as
bureaucratic barriers, which lead to a situation when funds aimed for communities are not actually
received by communities, and sometimes it costs human lives. In other words, the weakness of
community systems is not considered, while the requirements of financial donors are excessive
and too risky. In this case, organizations have to refuse to cooperate with such partners as a
significant part of their human resources have to be aimed at interacting with donors instead of
effective achievement of their advocacy objectives.

3
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-
goals.html
4
Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda
5
Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: On the Fast Track to Accelerating the Fight against HIV and to Ending the
AIDS Epidemic by 2030: https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/2016-political-declaration-HIV-
AIDS_en.pdf



10 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


When developing advocacy goals and programs, it is important to keep in mind that the needs and
problems of community members can change rapidly. It is important to remember that advocacy
goals and activities should be defined as clearly as possible in order to achieve them effectively,
taking into account all the specifics. Meanwhile, innovative approaches should be introduced and
developed together with new partnerships, innovative approaches must be developed and
introduced that can help implement our projects more effectively. If due to some circumstances an
organization is not able to build the necessary partnerships, recommendations should be prepared
and made accessible for a wide range of stakeholders. In the absence of sensitive interventions, we
need to focus less on local programs and services, instead develop and implement special actions
and programs aimed at protecting the interests of the community.
In general, based on our experience, it is recommended to implement more focused advocacy
activities, taking into account not external asks, but the needs of LGBT communities. As local
(national) funding streams are overloaded and access to such funding is rather an exception for us,
the recommendations for the initiatives and organizations to expand their activities to the regional
level are:

R Create and develop a network of LGBT people in all their diversity in the EaP countries
to build an effective international strategic cooperation and operation planning.
R Contribute to building cooperation with the organizations providing direct services to
LGBT people.
R Openly speak at high-level meetings about the needs in human and financial resources
to implement key population-led advocacy activities.
R In terms of diversification of resources, key population-led organizations should engage
different partners and use various sources of funding, which will support them during
their advocacy efforts and will enable the implementation of new projects.
R Inform people responsible for the project management about flexible funding
opportunities only from those donors who are aware of the needs of the LGBT
community and are willing to support those organizations.
R Create an advocacy coalition (network), which will facilitate successful advocacy
activities based on the methods and approaches used to change policies and practices,
reform institutions and change the balance of power, views and attitudes. Advocacy
projects implemented by such network will have a stronger impact on the legal
protection of LGBT people in the EaP countries. Besides, it can be expected that joint
activities will help to put the advocacy asks and the LGBT community needs in the
agenda to ensure resolution of those issues and prevent them in future.
R Contribute to the mobilization of human resources to ensure support of the government
and public in the EaP countries in resolving essential and strategic issues of the LGBT
community. Mobilized human resources will help to successfully apply best advocacy
practices of the EaP countries which can be implemented in Eastern Europe and Central
Asia as most effective.



11 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


R After proper mobilization of human resources, LGBT community members should aim
their efforts at achieving the required legal changes in their countries. They can plan
such activities both at the national and international level depending on the political
climate in their countries. Such activities will help LGBT leaders from different Eastern
Partnership countries to systematically conduct major interventions to improve the
visibility of community, which can be expected to have a strong influence on decision
makers. In this regard, activities of the LGBT activists should be aimed at addressing
relevant policy requirements, in particular criticizing the existing situation and legal
barriers, while offering viable alternatives.
R Mobilization of human resources should contribute to empowering the LGBT
community members and build their skills in developing counter-strategies and
generating alternative points of view.



12 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


REALIZING GENDER ROLES ON ADVOCACY

LGBT people are treated differently in the conservative societies of the Black Sea region.
Typically, they face various forms of discrimination that limit their ability to develop capabilities,
access resources, enjoy freedom from violence, direct their life course and enjoy equal social
status. Creating both equality of opportunity and genuine equality of outcomes often requires
affirmative action measures such as advocacy and campaigning.

Gender plays a crucial role in advocacy for LGBT rights as it is one of many social factors (such
as age, education, origin) and each of us live somewhat through a gender identity reflecting on the
roles we play socially and living a sexuality that shapes our relations to others in our surroundings.

Thus, LGBT activists should always ask themselves what kind of role gender has in their own
advocacy work and how gender is received and dealt with during their activities impacting on the
larger society. Considering gender thoroughly means empowering the impact we are going to have;
however, it also means putting advantages and privileges under question which is important for
achieving success in the South Caucasus region, as we are not a gender-neutral society.

For being sure that there is a powerful gender perspective in our advocacy work, there are
particular things that we should think about during our journey. In order to organize a gender-
oriented and gender sensitive advocacy work, we should:

refrain from gender discriminating language, materials and issues,

reflect on gender issues as much as possible, such as gender-based violence and
discrimination,
ensure that every person in your surrounding is equally represented,
challenge gender stereotypes and avoid exclusionary forms.

As gender is inextricably linked to social and economic justice; thus, we should work within a
framework that challenges systemic oppressions and is gender sensitive by which people are made
aware of how gender plays a role in life through their treatment of others.

If we want to achieve success in our advocacy work, we should:

listen to LGBT people' stories,

talk to people who exclude LGBT people from the society,
seek out ways to involve LGBT people in our work,
increase the number and visibility of LGBT leaders,
mentor and sponsor LGBT people's initiatives,



13 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


promote accountability metrics,
model alternative work strategies,
make discussions of gender less dangerous,
reach out to formal and informal LGBT groups.

The fundamental rules for equal gender participation and the tool of gender mainstreaming are
included in most of the advocacy activities and programs, as gender balance is a guarantee of
success for many initiatives of LGBT rights protection. Our traditional society by seeing LGBT
fighters on the frontline for the same issues start to realize that their issues can be solved through
LGBT people' voice too, they can realize that LGBT people are able to change conversations,
culture, practices and laws which have been ignored for many years.

For getting LGBT people into our advocacy work and activism for establishing equality in our
society, we should:

Be dynamic and enthusiastic in creating good relationships with LGBT people and
promoting them to join the work, organizing an internal discourse on the possibilities for
LGBT people´s empowerment.
Organize trainings on gender identity and sexual orientation for the new members,
volunteers, and activists in order to give them the chance of being accurate in the process
of information sharing.
Obtain some budget for assisting participating LGBT people to initiate their own activities
and realize their own ideas for positive changes.
Organize activities specific for LGBT people's rights, such as discussions on topics which
are concerning to LGBT people´s interest.
Ensure that there are opportunities for caring about children during different campaigns
and activities for advocacy.
Follow time management of the meetings and consult with all the participants to choose an
appropriate time for all, limit the speakers and give voice to everybody in order to develop
an inclusive group of activists.
Give opportunities to and exchange your knowledge with the newcomers.
Present best practices and discuss the best version for your activism, implement a feedback
structure for improvements.
Learn from your previous mistakes and never stop in the middle of your journey.

During the recent years regional NGOs and CSOs have tried a lot to remove the systemic
barriers holding LGBT people back from equal participation in all aspects of life, whether in
public or private. We have been advocating for a gender goal that would end all forms of



14 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


discrimination and gender-based violence, guarantee LGBT people' basic human rights and
their sexual and reproductive rights, ensure their rights to and control over property and
productive resources and their economic independence, recognizing their role in the care
economy and ensuring their rights to social protection, decent work and living wage and the
equal distribution of paid and unpaid work, and their rights to participation in leadership and
decision-making at all levels. However, there is still much work to do in this field.

As we have experienced, LGBT people are more concerned about social issues affecting their
day-to-day life than any other member of the society, they strive for inclusion in the labour
market and equal payment, appropriate attitude by the employers, they fight against
unemployment and for being registered workers, they also make great efforts to achieve equal
access to education and health services. Thus, we need a gender-affiliated and diversity-related
communication and we should deal with the issue of gender-related public and private relations
by developing a gender sensitive phrasing and non-discriminatory language free from hatred,
sexism and reproduction of gender roles in words or pictures. The idea of including LGBT
people in the society should not just be to maximize the impact of the work, but for the reason
of trustworthiness and even opportunities. This engagement can and should take place at every
level. Thus, it is necessary to identify each person's sphere of influence. Ways of engagement
include:

Aiming to change laws, policies, law-enforcement practices that violate LGBT people’
rights or deny them their human rights, that are used to harass and abuse LGBT people.
Linking with local, national or regional LGBT and human rights defender groups for
being involved in advocacy for equality.
Countering stigma and discrimination against LGBT people and promoting their social
inclusion and participation.
Building institutional accountability for existing laws and policies upholding the
human rights of LGBT people.
Being involved in developing national action plans or national sustainable development
plans.
Contributing to the consultation processes on indicators, national reviews, national
planning, civil society participation, etc.
Participating in reporting for the national-level reviews, making suggestions (if needed)
and being change makers in the society.



15 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


DEVELOPING TARGET GROUPS’ SKILLS FOR BECOMING
INFLUENTIAL COMMUNICATOR

Being an influential communicator is crucial for the civil society organizations that work towards
changing public attitude, including LGBT organizations, as well as individual activists and public
figures. There are multiple publications that summarize the principles of effective and influential
communication that the organizations can take into consideration. World Health Organization has
developed the Strategic Communications Framework for effective communications. All the
principles are identified to fit the needs of specific target groups and these principles can easily be
applied to the work of LGBT organizations as well. Having accessible, actionable, credible,
relevant, timely, and understandable communication strategy will improve the effectiveness and
the overall result of individual or organizational campaigns. Communication must meet the needs
of the target group – the messages should be sent through channels that the audience has access to,
in the language they speak, and in ways they will be able to receive it.

It is important for LGBT organizations to understand that their target groups are of different
nationalities and backgrounds, physical abilities, with different access to the internet or other mass
media platforms. Another important principle is actionability. Most of the times, LGBT
organizations are calling their target audiences to action, or they discourage specific actions. In
this case, the audience must clearly understand what is it that they are encouraged or discouraged
to do. They must be shown the benefits of taking certain actions. Simultaneously, the organizations
that use these forms of communication must be confident and take responsibility for the
consequences of requested actions. Risks must be analysed, and decisions should be made to
reduce harm. In many developing countries, LGBT people and allies face violence based on the
cause they are supporting and, in this case, calling them to participating in rallies or coming out
publicly can lead to certain risks. The decision-makers must evaluate the possibilities and be
confident while endorsing actions. Being confident is an important aspect of influential
communication. The audience is inspired and drawn to communicators who are comfortable and
confident, relaxed, and compelling.

Besides confidence, Forbes also identifies additional characteristics of an influential

communicator – being credible and trustworthy. Especially for LGBT organizations and activists,
who work with marginalized groups of people, it is important to build trust between themselves
and their audiences. A lot of times, awareness on certain issues can be low among the target groups
and it is the communicator’s responsibility to be credible, not to incite doubts and distrust.
Communication must be precise, technically correct, based on evidence, studies, or other up-to-



16 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


date data. For this cause, organizations have various tools for implementation. They can use trusted
influencers and public figures to deliver messages to the audiences. Having role models that the
audience trusts increase the effectiveness of communication. Real-life stories, relatable content is
another way to create bonds between the storytellers and the audience members. Transparency is
important while building trust. The audience should be able to clearly see the links between events
and the information that the communication is based on. For LGBT organizations, this also means
being quick, alert, and responsive.

Communication can be influential and effective if it is relevant and timely. This also goes back to
knowing the needs and interests of the target groups. Since the society is diverse, it is important to
understand the socio-economic factors, age groups of the audiences, their geographical location,
religious or cultural beliefs, and other problems or challenges they might be facing simultaneously.
Another aspect is knowing and understanding educational backgrounds and readiness of the
audience to receive certain information, or discuss specific topics, especially when some LGBT
related issues are still tabooed in many communities and countries. A relevant and timely
communication ensures that it is not lost before it even reaches its audience, and it is understood
thoroughly to have proper response and result. Even if mistakes are made while communicating,
the feedback allows communicators to change and adapt. That is why influential communicators
learn from the feedback, listen, and analyse how the audience reacts and responds to messages.

At the end, one of the simplest pieces of advice for influential communication is being clear and
easy to understand. Being clear and concise relates to the rest of the principles of effective
communication. Some of the great examples of simple yet understandable communication
methods are personal stories, photo stories, storytelling videos, simple visuals and infographics
that break down information into simple data. Developing a detailed communication plan can ease
the process and help organizations or individuals to improve their communication and make sure
the information reaches the target audience.

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17 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


DEVELOPING MESSAGES AND BUILDING COMMUNICATION
STRATEGIES

There are lots of disinformation and stereotypes about the LGBT issues in the EaP countries, as
well as the whole world. That contributes to the increasing level of homophobia and transphobia,
resulting in discrimination and violence against LGBT people. It is vital to develop key messages
and build communications strategy effectively.

Key messages are the main points of information you want your audience to receive, acknowledge,
and remember. They are bite-sized summations that show what you do, why you do it, how you
are different, and what values you highlight to stakeholders.

Good key messages have several important aspects and characteristics. First, they should be
compact and tactical. It is not a good idea to have more than three to five key messages per topic.
The smart way is to balance the whole information and the information that the target audience
needs to hear and know. Good key messages must be simple yet compelling. Since you want to
increase the size of the audience your campaign reaches, it is better to use simple and everyday
language, instead of advanced phrases and acronyms. Key messages are easy to remember if they
are catchy, therefore long, and complex sentences must be avoided. It is also proven that using
active voice while communicating key messages have bigger impact and influence on the audience
than using passive voice. It is worth mentioning that while developing key messages, the
organizations must adjust according to specific smaller groups of their target audiences as they
might have different backgrounds, interests, abilities, and so on.

There are several steps to be taken while developing key messages for communication. The process
can be initiated by brainstorming concepts within the LGBT organization or an activist group.
While organizing the brainstorm session, it is smart to include other decision-makers and
stakeholders, like donors, or supporting civil society organizations. Taking notes helps developing
the process and builds further ideas on the existing ones as a continuous chain of messages. There
are several aspects to define – what is the goal of the message and does the message achieve that
goal? What are your needs and how can the message address them short or long-term?
Additionally, think about the audience and how you want to approach them. If you have more than
one target group, adjust messages to each of them.

Answering the mentioned questions will help the organization develop unique, memorable, catchy,
and effective messages. Additionally, considering the principles of effective communication, the
messages must be proven by the evidence and supporting information to be trustworthy and



18 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


credible. Using data, charts, statistics, quotes, and personal testimonies can be very helpful in
achieving the credibility. As mentioned earlier, after developing no more than five key messages
with supporting evidence, the development process can continue to the next step, which implies
filtering and narrowing down the options.

Narrowing down must happen to ensure that the organization can take ownership of the message,
to make sure it is friendly, uses simple language and has a clearly articulated call to action that
will encourage or discourage the audience.

After narrowing down the options, the messages must be tested to see how they will work during
a real campaign. As mentioned above, learning from the feedback is an important step towards
becoming an influential communicator, therefore incorporating feedback will help the organization
finalize the key messages and get the approval from stakeholders. Despite this thorough testing
process, the messages should be tested repeatedly to make sure that they stay timely and relevant
and are adapted to the changing circumstances.

In addition to the key messages, it is helpful to develop and build the communication strategy.
There are several steps to this process that the organizations can take. First, the creators need to
understand the current situation and circumstances. Challenges must be identified, and priorities
must be set. Even though the LGBT community faces discrimination and violence daily in most
of the countries, the needs and challenges they face cannot be the same every day. This is related
to being relevant and timely, so that your communication strategy is adapted to a current situation.

The learning process about the target audiences has been discussed already and it remains an
important aspect of building a communication strategy. LGBT organizations can have multiple
target audiences – community members, supporters and allies, parents and friends of the
community members, LGBT youth, or even the other side – the oppressors. The strategy must
reflect on how the target audience thinks and reacts to the provided information.

The big part of building a strategy is the development of the key messages which has already been
discussed above. This step is followed by choosing options of which communication methods
should be used to achieve certain goals within specific target audiences. Developing a
communication strategy can take up from several weeks to several months, depending on the scope
of the project and number of actors involved in the making. Creating a strategy is usually followed
by a detailed action plan that discusses specific activities planned according to the strategy that
will address the issues, methods, and desired outcomes outlined in the strategy.



19 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


IDENTIFYING BARRIERS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADVOCACY

To reach the target group, advocacy goal and objectives effectively, LGBT activists should
propose concrete solutions to the issues they face and want to change or solve.

In many development projects the success or failure of an intervention activity is greatly dependent
on how well you understand the target group's behaviour and the planning or design processes of
the activity you intend to implement. Unfortunately, pertinent decisions such as who to access,
what messages to use and how many people to target continue to be made during big events instead
of small meetings and discussions which could promote the aim and make the process of success
easier for all.

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION PROBLEM

IDENTIFICATION

OBSERVATION / RESEARCH OBSERVATION /

RESEARCH

POLICY DEVELOPMENT POLICY

DEVELOPMENT
COMMUNICATION COMMUNICATION

EVALUATION
EVALUATION

Problem identification helps to pick out and target the specific social issues of the areas on
which LGBT people are going to make changes.
Observation / research serves for identifying and collecting reliable information on the
current issues which LGBT people aim to solve in order to extend the concept of and
response to the problem by concentrating on the advocacy outcomes.
Policy development promotes the successful and effective response to the issues the
community face and wants to solve by assessing all the possible methods to settle the issue,
evaluate the available human and financial resources and define the target groups that will
be influenced.
Communication is essential for transferring accurate and effective information to the target
groups and stakeholders which will contribute to achieving initially planned objectives
within the context of the advocacy.



20 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


Evaluation is an integral part of any advocacy and it is necessary for assessing the outcomes
of the implemented activities, such as changes in public policy. Advocacy strives to
influence a program or policy either directly or indirectly; therefore, the influence is being
evaluated, rather than the results of that influence.

If you know your target group very well, their way of working, their ideas about the issues you
want to solve, people who hinder your work or are against the change you want to achieve and if
you realize your capacities, it becomes much easier to reach your goal and objectives. Advocacy
becomes successful if you are aware of the prevailing ideas in the society. The examination and
monitoring of target groups, opponents or competitors are a major tool of a strategy to develop a
good advocacy plan. There are leaders who think that there is no need for observations, data
collection and data-based researches and they are sure that only positive image of the people who
are on the table to discuss the problem is enough for convincing people to stand by them and for
their rights, but the constant observation of publicly accessible information is an integral part of
any policy and program change. These observations define the progress of your activities from the
very beginning; besides, it detects your faults, conflicts and contradictions and gives opportunity
correct your mistakes. It is vital to get acquainted with the full information you are going to use
during your communication and advocacy for change.

Observation and research help to identify the possible obstacles, hindering factors and predict
future failures. It is very important to acknowledge own possibilities in actions and be prepared to
respond your weaknesses in correspondence with them by bringing grounded arguments or
counter-attacks.

As it is mentioned, advocating for a purpose or an idea, especially for promoting human rights in
conservative societies requires a full analysis of the sphere, observation of the environment and
data documentation. The following activities should be considered for advocacy:

Observe strategies of the target group for developing your concrete activities.
Identify the theories and narratives that are used against your goal and objectives.
Analyse the causes and results of failed communication and advocacy in the sphere you
want to achieve changes.
Learn the specific communication strategies of your target group.
Monitor the media to understand the profiles of your target group.
Gather materials and develop precise messages for effective communication.
Observe networks, possible allies and / or sponsors.
Select, document and use your information which is necessary for achieving your goal, be
open to discussion and debates, have relevance for future discussions and changes.



21 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


For removing the challenges and barriers from your way to success, you should be ready to face
rejection or uninterest towards your ideas or suggestions, but also you should be able to learn from
your failures and integrate persistence into your schedule, organize different activities, campaigns
by systematically collecting appropriate information and competences. Successful advocates get
rid of barriers and increase the benefits by determining the conditions and changes they want to
see, promote their ideas by considering the conditions an individual may face when trying to realize
that changes. Trying to understand people and they behaviour individually gives you the
opportunity to get a true sense of how they feel and how they can react. This method is particularly
effective when you want to learn about someone’s full opinion on your goal. By getting into the
mind of your target group, you can better understand why they have not been engaged in the
changes you want to achieve till today.

You should always remember that change happens slowly, step by step and achieving any policy
or behaviour change through advocacy and activism will most likely be a gradual process that will
take your time, energy, persistence and tenacity. In reality, the process of change can never be
considered totally completed. When you achieve your first advocacy goal through overcoming all
the challenges on your way, another one is waiting to be achieved.



22 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


ONLINE AND OFFLINE ADVOCACY

Advocacy campaigns are strong tools for fighting for and achieving equality on a local or
international level. If an organization or an NGO is running an advocacy campaign, they are clearly
dedicated to the mission behind their goals. Once there is a plan in place, NGOs will need to
employ a selection of best practice to maximize their efforts.

There are several best practices for running an advocacy campaign and especially during the
pandemic, it’s important to remember the connection between online and offline activities since
both of these can advance the impact of the activities. The first thing to understand is uniqueness
since the campaign must bring a perspective to the advocacy that no one else does. Goals of the
advocacy campaign must be realistic and achievable, focused on specific targets and objectives.
Objectives are the steps towards an overarching goal of the campaign. They should be detailed and
smaller, and relevant to the bigger goal. As mentioned before, a strong advocacy campaign needs
a strong strategy, which analyses the context, challenges, methods, and target groups. Sometimes,
organizations bite more than they can chew and aim at reaching every possible target group with
their campaigns, which can result in failure and insufficiency. It is smarter to think strategically
and prioritize the topics, target groups and methods which will bring effectiveness to a higher level.
The specific objectives must be reached separately and sometimes taking small and precise steps
are better than overestimating your own capabilities.

A good advocacy campaign offers the audience a chance to get involved and a specific instruction
on how to do so. The campaign tactics should be customized to meet the needs and offer
meaningful ways to be engaged.

To think ahead, one must prepare to measure the success of the campaign to reflect on the best
practices and the subjects of improvement. Knowing how to measure the success of each objective,
and an overall campaign is a good way to make the implementation smoother.

Both online and offline advocacy are critical to the success of the organization’s efforts. They fulfil
each other and provide the guarantee that the campaign will cover the most it can cover.

Since most of the communication is happening online, it is smart to run a campaign utilizing online
mediums, but it can be smart to supplement the online activities with in-person events from time
to time, as the circumstances allow it. There have been successful examples of online campaigns
that normally are expected to take place physically, such as celebration of May 17 – the
International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia. For instance, an online
conference organized by Tbilisi Pride for in 2020 has been viewed more than 120,000 times and



23 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


broadcast by major social media outlets on Facebook, increasing the reach of the advocacy event
drastically. In the best-case scenario, online and offline advocacy actions should coexist. Using
online platforms, it’s easy to keep track of the involved people, stakeholders, and share information
with them quickly, while offline advocacy brings the additional personal element that raises the
importance and significance of a campaign. It is additionally challenging to inspire more and more
people to join your efforts if you are not speaking face-to-face, which is why offline advocacy is
crucial. Meanwhile, online advocacy allows the messaging to be easily shareable within seconds.
The campaign can grow and appeal to a much wider audience than intended. Despite the easy
communication methods, the internet provides, it is also important to remember the security
measures of the cyberspace and ensuring that the campaign activities are not oversharing with
content that’s not worth spreading.

Online advocacy can be overwhelming as the internet provides multiple ways of spreading the
word. Organizations or individual activists must realize which way is the best to contact their
intended audience – through email, on social media, on the phone, or using other means. Online
spaces are a great tool to engage and keep your current supporters updated, while growing the
network and targeting the right people for the campaign activities. The supporters always want to
be in the loop and know about the results of their involvement. It is additionally effective to show
appreciation for their work and offer further steps they can get involved. Tbilisi Pride has a
successful practice of engaging a team of volunteers/supporters who are always interested in the
campaign activities and offer their resources for different causes – even during the pandemic.

Online advocacy simplifies the process of advocacy by providing the opportunity to sign petitions,
make donations, share knowledge and personal stories in the matter of minutes. Sometimes, the
resources that are required to take on some big challenges are not available offline, which gives
the online advocacy more importance. Viral media content, open letters to public officials, large
fundraisers and other activities are a great example of having a large-scale reach using online
platforms, which would not be so easily available offline. With additional funding, targeted ads
are also available to increase the impact of the campaign. Some of the greatest advocacy campaigns
began or escalated with a viral video (Black Lives Matter) and bringing both aspects of advocacy
(online and offline), bringing the communication strategies into action can maximize the results,
efforts and drive positive change in the community.



24 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


MONITORING AND EVALUATING THE ADVOCACY OUTCOMES

Advocacy is a continuous learning process of planning, reflecting and acting. Hereby, instead of
merely seeking for a policy or a piece of legislation improvement or change, it may have a number
of or even changing goals and objectives. Thus, your activities should be planned so that they are
sustainable over time. Continuity means developing long-term goals, mobilizing functional
resources and adjusting advocacy methods and steps as situations require. That is why advocacy
steps and efforts should be evaluated in the same way as any other project or campaign ones. As
advocacy results are often difficult to achieve fully, advocacy initiators should monitor the
accomplishments constantly and impartially and what to see more remains to be achieved.

Monitoring is a process through which you measure your progress towards the achievement of
primarily set goals and objectives, noting which activities have a positive impact and which do
not. Evaluation is a process through which you can understand why some actions went well and
others did not work, why some activities had the positive impact and why the others did not. Both
process monitoring (how you worked) and evaluation (what changed through your actions) need
to be carefully considered.

There are a number of methods to monitor and evaluate your advocacy work. It can be carried out
through:

R Quantitative indicators (number of meetings and participants in these meetings, statistics

of case studies and researches, number of conducted surveys, interviews, filled in
questionnaires, etc.).
R Qualitative indicators (feedback, recommendations and suggestions, comments, etc.).

Monitoring methods should be selected on the basis of the indicators that you have chosen to
evaluate the impact of your activities. These methods can be comprised of:

R Taking minutes of meetings, discussions or conversations with target groups and keeping
records of their opinions or responses.
R Following your target groups (decision and policy makers, CSOs, Ombudsman, key
influencers, media representatives, etc.) actions to identify when your key
recommendations, messages or remarks are applied.
R Conducting surveys and interviews to identify the impact of your actions.
R Monitoring the media and social media accounts and getting an insight about the positive
and negative coverage of your topic.



25 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


In order to evaluate the impact of your activities, you can take into account the following questions:

R What was the impact of the meetings you have organized with your target group?
R What actions have been taken by your target group and what changes has happened?
R Is the current situation better than before and if yes, how much it has been improved?
R If there is no improvement or change, how could you arrange your advocacy tools and
methods?
R Does your advocacy have a positive impact on your community and is your community
happy with the results?
R Have you achieved your goals and objectives?
R What steps do you plan to take to sustain or reinforce your desired change?

Very frequently, when your advocacy campaign is over, you, your group members or activists start
to think about the results, future activities. Sometimes, you think that there is no work to do
anymore and you can have a rest for a while after your achieved success or failure after which
many people consider about continuing their journey by trying to be engaged in new activities or
give up totally. And often you fail to remember that the most essential things are not achieved yet,
you need to periodically evaluate and monitor the results of your actions and try harder to achieve
your objectives.

Constant monitoring, evaluation and adaptation of your advocacy plan and effort is the best way
to ensure success. The idea behind assessment is not to attach a numerical score to your results,
but to get practical feedback and alter your strategies and/or goals if necessary. Adaptability,
creativity and determination are characteristics of experienced and successful advocates; if one
strategy does not work, they try other ways until they reach their final goal.

The monitoring of your implemented advocacy should be a continuous process from the beginning
of your activities; you should have a planned evaluation and monitoring plan in order to assess
your performance and, in case of failure, change your steps. Monitoring can be considered as a
process of formative evaluation. This is an essential responsibility for an advocate or advocacy
initiator. For evaluating your success, you have to be profoundly aware of the aim and objectives
of your advocacy, and a strategic plan may be used as a principal document for the monitoring and
evaluation of your activities. Formative evaluation is a procedure of continuous feedback on your
advocacy activities.

A pre-planned schedule of your advocacy at different phases (for example after identifying your
target group or after determining the specific activities), is a helpful method to analyse with your
staff which targets have been met on time, what has not been achieved so far and why it has gone



26 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


wrong, what can still be corrected and how. In order to oversee and monitor your advocacy
skilfully, you should determine your objectives precisely which should be SMART (specific,
measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound). The monitoring and evaluation should be
comprised of both quantitative and qualitative indicators which could be based on the feedback
provided during your activities. Moreover, the final evaluation being comprised of the midterm
monitoring supports the acknowledgement of the larger trends in action and assess the final
outcomes.

To assess the whole success of your advocacy work, it might be beneficial to evaluate your
advocacy effort after the end of your defined cycle (e.g., after the range of meetings with the
relevant stakeholders). It can be also beneficial when your entire advocacy effort is evaluated by
an outsider who is not so closely involved with your effort because an outsider can assess the work
you and your team are doing more fairly. As a result of the evaluation, you can create more targeted
messages, reach the audiences and undertake policy efforts that can change the whole environment
by helping you achieve your objectives.

For the final evaluation, you may need an expertized person in the field in order to put all the
information together with the support of the advocacy initiators and activists involved in the
process. The developed document can be used in the future for initiating more successful steps.

Though monitoring and evaluation are usually concentrated on the past, their main goal is
primarily looking forward as the learnt lessons and recommendations improve your steps in the
future. Moreover, evaluations are sometimes used to generate new ideas for changes, initiate steps
to get assistance from governmental and non-governmental bodies, raise funds from public or
private institutions and inform the mainstream society on your objectives. Thus, you should pay a
big attention to this stage of your advocacy and make efforts for developing a profound evaluation
paper.

After all, effective monitoring and evaluation during your activities and after the end of your plan,
have an essential role in increasing the success of your developed programs. They help you learn
from your past failures, successes and challenges and be aware of the value of decision making
and good planning. Through evaluation and monitoring you can improve your capacities and
competences in the future and increase your choice and opportunities for making changes in your
society.



27 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


PLANNING FOR FURTHER ADVOCACY ACTIVITIES

Considering that advocacy of the rights and interests of the LGBT communities is not possible
without strategic information, efforts should be aimed at collecting and analyzing information
regarding negative impact of stigma, discrimination, violation of fundamental human rights and
freedoms, including structural and legal barriers, to build further advocacy activities based on the
strategic information collected. LGBT key population-led organizations should conduct
quantitative studies in Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia to define further advocacy activities.

When working on advocacy campaigns, all the participants should understand that advocacy is the
process of promoting the rights and interests of LGBT people through positive changes in relevant
government policies, legislation, governance, social phenomena and processes through targeted
influence and an advocacy campaign is a set of advocacy interventions with a common goal.
Advocacy campaigns should have pre-defined advocacy targets and fit in the legal framework, i.e.,
they should be based first of all on the constitutions of the countries where such campaigns are
implemented. There may be two types of levels of such advocacy campaigns: in terms of territory
(regional/ interstate/ national, etc.) and power (interstate organizations/ international agencies and
their offices/ local governmental institutions/ local authorities).

Advocacy campaigns can take the following forms and use the following methods: political
lobbying; working within the corporate community and engaging with the business sector;
activities with participation of advocacy “targets” (or their representatives) and target audience;
working though intermediary organizations (not representing the target group); wide public
campaigns; working with media (publishing messages at the organization’s own information
resources, distributing press announcements and press releases, conducting press conferences with
post releases, web conferences, and interviews for mass media – television, radio, press, websites);
social advertising; group activities; mass public events (marches, processions, etc.); cultural events
(exhibitions, charitable gatherings, etc.); distributing documents related to the advocacy issue;
social studies; appealing to the international institutions.

The following tools can be used to conduct advocacy campaigns: formal correspondence with
authorities; legislative and regulatory initiatives; open letters; petitions; using ‘celebrity voice’;
building networks/coalitions.

Self-organizations in the EaP countries still need to strengthen their capacity, though such
organizations play a key role in planning and achieving advocacy objectives. Government is the
main guarantor of human rights. However, when it fails to perform its duties in protecting



28 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


fundamental right and freedoms, key population-led organizations as community representatives
often can take actions as they know the situation from the inside and can catalyze positive change.
Considering that community self-organizations are still weak, it does not make sense to develop
ambitious and hard-to-achieve strategic plans with no sustainable funding to support such self-
organizations. Instead, it is recommended to focus on small and achievable advocacy goals and
objectives.

The key to achieving zero discrimination is active participation of the LGBT community members
in monitoring and evaluation of the efforts to reduce stigma and discrimination. Thus, even
informal self-organized key population-led groups play a vital role in effective monitoring and
evaluation to reduce all forms of stigma and discrimination.

A helpful strategy would be to institutionalize preliminary preparations (e.g., with a focus on HIV-
related stigma and discrimination as well as human rights) for professionals and public officials.
Thus, it is recommended for self-organizations to engage decision makers in their awareness-
raising activities to demonstrate that communities are open to dialog and joint initiatives. Such
activities can be helpful to build the dialog on the most pressing issues, especially if they relate to
the most marginalized cross groups within the LGBT community, those who are criminalized by
the government due to their lifestyles or behaviors. Decision makers should understand that
criminalization is not a solution and brings more harms than benefits. Based on the HPLGBT data,6
hatred and fear towards people engaged in chemsex are widespread. Such situation can be observed
in all the Eastern Partnership countries and is associated first of all with criminalization of people
who use drugs, negative messages in mass media and low awareness of decision makers and the
general public about the problems of people who use drugs.

The starting point in planning further advocacy activities should be building capacity at the
international arena by creating and developing a network of LGBT people in the EaP countries.
Such international cooperation may be built organizations and leaders of other discriminated
communities which have common advocacy goals with LGBT people, including their cross
groups. At the same time, it is important to take into account local and regional specifics
considering that the situation may be totally different even within one country as decentralization
allows local authorities to apply certain rules and practices in different ways.

R The recommended tool for planning advocacy activities should include:

A clearly defined objective with a detailed description.
Description of the target group for certain advocacy objectives.

6
A survey on the use of psychoactive substances among transgender, non-binary, queer and intersex people:
www.HPLGBT.org/publish/HIV-CHEMSEX_survey/Drug_Report_en.pdf



29 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


Specific activities (including proactive activities).
Indicators (both quantitative and qualitative), which will facilitate monitoring and
evaluation of advocacy activities, including interim evaluation to make any
necessary corrections.
Timeframe.
Responsible parties, which would not only be eager to implement advocacy
activities, but would also be ready for it (able to perform tasks within the given
time), considering their resources.
Monitoring of advocacy activities/campaigns.
R Strengthen the influence of the regional cooperation in the Eastern Partnership countries
through writing and submitting shadow reports to the UN committees and other
international human rights organizations, including monitoring of compliance with the
recommendations.
R Raise the awareness on stigma and its harmful consequences through campaigns in mass
media (e.g., radio, television, information and entertainment activities), contact
strategies (e.g., successful cooperation between LGBT people and general public or
public officials) and interaction with religious and public leaders.
R Mobilization of advocacy partners to improve health and protect human rights.
R Make sure that governments of the EaP countries recognize at the highest-level
vulnerability of trans people to HIV as well as violations of their fundamental human
rights and freedoms.
R Organizing and conducting rapid focus group discussions on developing, implementing
and evaluating advocacy objectives.
R Define strategic countries in the EaP region to implement more effective advocacy
activities considering local specifics.
R Strengthen and support community-based organizations with a specific focus on the
meaningful involvement of community members in the management of organizations.

IF WE ALWAYS STAY TOGETHER,

IF
IF WE
WEALWAYS
ALWAYS STAY
STAYTOGETHER,
TOGETHER,
WE WILL BE STRONG ENOUGH TO BE THE ONES
WE
WE WILL
WILLBEBE STRONG
STRONG ENOUGH
ENOUGH TO
TO BE
BE THE
THE ONES
ONES
WHO
WHO CHANGE
WHO CHANGE
CHANGE EVERYTHING!
EVERYTHING!
EVERYTHING!



30 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


Advocacy is defined as an act of publicly representing an individual,
organisation, idea or speaking in favour of, recommending, arguing
for a cause, supporting or defending, or pleading on behalf of others;
it is used as an umbrella term for many intervention tools for
changes. Activism is defined as taking direct action to achieve a
political or social goal.

LGBT activists strive for creating a world where all person's rights
are respected independent of their gender, sexual preference or
transsexual identity, origin, religion or social status, where people
are equal and feel as full members of society at home, at work and
in every corner of the society.

This handbook guides the reader to be involved in advocacy and

activism for LGBT people' rights and freedoms - from the strategic
vision of what should be accomplished, how to manage challenges
in order to achieve the set goals and objectives, how to assess the
gains and losses of the implemented activities and how to develop a
more equal society free from stigma and discrimination.

This edition of the book on "Advocacy Skills and LGBT Activism" is

developed to address the current issues of LGBT rights and respond
to the latest shifts in practices in the South Caucasus region.

All the information is provided based on the NGOs LGBT activists

best practices, long-life experience and achievements. The
information is contextualized to the Armenian, Georgian and
Ukrainian reality.



31 A HANDBOOK FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTIVISM


The Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation (BST) is a grant
making initiative based in Bucharest, Romania. It was created in
2007 by The German Marshall Fund of the United States.

For over a decade now, BST has been strengthening regional

cooperation, civil society and democratic foundations in the
countries of the Black Sea region. In particular, BST has been
focused on building trust among citizens and in the public
institutions, affirming the value of citizen participation in the
democratic process, promoting the involvement of civil society in
conflict resolution, and fostering regional cross-border ties in the
public, private, and non-profit sectors. In this regard, it organizes
regular study tours to countries in the region and other events of
interest to the regional political climate and coordinates research.

Address: Blv. Primaverii, nr. 50, corp 6 “Casa Mica”

Sector 1, 011975 Bucharest, Romania
E-mail: BlackSeaTrust@gmfus.org
Phone: +4 021 314 16 28
Web: https://www.gmfus.org/program/black-sea-trust-regional-cooperation