Ghana
Using the budgetary process to work for equity and social justice
The Centre for Budget Advocacy (CBA) is a program operated by the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) in Ghana. ISODEC works in a variety of advocacy areas to improve the lives and livelihoods of Ghanaians. As part of ISODEC’s Social Justice and Rights Programme, the Centre for Budget Advocacy examines how national and local budgets impact the human rights of Ghanaians, particularly the poor and vulnerable, and seeks to influence these budgets and the general allocation of public resources for the benefit of disadvantaged groups in the country. The CBA views access to necessities such as food, shelter, and potable water, and to basic social services such as education and health, as rights to which every citizen should be assured. After examining budgets within a framework of human rights, the CBA uses workshops, public forums, and the media to disseminate its proposals and to engage others in discussions of budgetary policy.
Dialogue: Seven Tips for Respectful Persuasion
"The essence of the communication strategy is to recognize that people are very sensitive not only to what your message is, but to how it is communicated, and, perhaps most importantly, to who is transmitting it."
— Emile Short
Today, we return to the tools of persuasion. This is the last instalment in this blog's trilogy on the super yummy tactical notebook, Powerful Persuasion, by Emile Short.
Persuasion is an inexhaustible theme in human rights and social change work, because it is such a needed skill. After exploring more in depth the "What" and the "Who" of persuasive communication, we now turn to the "How" in the delivery of your message, especially in face-to-face encounters.
In his notebook, Emile Short shows at length how much effort went into setting up respectful encounters that would allow change to really work its way in. As Short says: "It was essential to avoid taking a moral high ground. We could not be too critical, because in the end we knew any change of mind had to be voluntary."
In this spirit, I offer you the following tips for one-on-one persuasion.- Read More
- 5 replies
Dialogue: Eight Powerful Persuasion Tactics
photo cc Dave Bezaire & Susi Havens-Bezaire
In his tactical notebook, Powerful Persuasion: Combating traditional practices that violate human rights,
Emile Short describes a campaign that allowed many thousands of women
and girls escape religious bondage. This being NewTactics, and a blog
aimed at finding methods behind effective change, I latched on a few
techniques used in this campaign to engage allies and opponents alike
in the successful challenge of an unjust practice.
Here are 8 potent persuasion tactics. I believe their use to be of
almost universal value. See if you can apply these to your current work.
- Read More
- 2 replies
Dialogue: From Motivation to Solution: A Strategy Tool
How do you eradicate an age-old abusive practice so entrenched it has become woven into a people's identity?What if the practice serves to assuage powerful, visceral fears? What if the practice also meets some real needs, such as for food, housework and sex?
Pretending for a minute you could even end the practice, how would you then prevent it from raising its ugly head again?
One of the leading promoters of human rights in Africa, Emile Francis Short must also be a master of strategy. In his tactical notebook entitled Powerful Persuasion: Combating traditional practices that violate human rights, you can study the 10-year campaign he led in Ghana to free thousands of women and girls from religious enslavement.
It is a riveting story. I am especially grateful to Mr. Short for letting us in on the sophisticated design of his highly successful campaign. Somewhere in there, I got a glimpse of a powerful strategizing tool that could be more widely used. I'll call it the Motivation to Solution Strategy Tool.
- Read More
- 2 replies
Refine this list by tactic category
Refine this list with community-given tags
Refine this list by language(s) available
