Objectives:
- Identify a specific human rights-based problem you want to address.
- Narrow your focus to choose a place to begin.
There are many complex problems you face. Creating a strategic advocacy plan is difficult when your problem is too broad. It is necessary to narrow the focus to choose a place to begin. There are many parts to a broad human rights issue. Explore priority aspects of a problem. For example, “illiteracy” might narrow to “female education”. This does not mean your commitment to address illiteracy is no longer important. You want your actions to contribute to making change on your broad issue. A more narrow part of the problem provides a clear starting point. This is the first step of your journey for change.
Your team will likely identify the problem from different starting points. You can narrow the focus of problems by considering root cause areas such as:
- Content – laws and policies, both formal and informal.
- Structure – implementation of regulations or processes by state and non-state mechanisms.
- Culture – beliefs, values, social norms, and behaviors that shape how people understand and act on issues.
It is important that your team gets as specific as possible about the problem. In the example of “illiteracy”, you may choose different starting points to address problems, such as education, labor or health. Different root causes will also emerge depending on the mission of your organization.
Explore tips to identify the problem.
