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Panorama of the UN, East River and New York |
Section 4
How to get the UN disability Convention ratified in your
country!
By the end of Section 4 you should
1. Understand the environment in which
your Ratification Campaign will take place
2. Have a good idea why your government should want to Ratify the Convention
3. Know what areas you will need to draw support from to ensure success
4. Have identified a series of first steps in your Campaign |
Before designing a plan to get your government to ratify
the new Convention, it
will be important to have a clear understanding of the context
in which this lobbying campaign will take place. There are
many ways to do this and your group is of course free to choose
what works best for you. One excellent tool that is widely
used around the world is SWOT analysis. For your consideration
and convenience, a brief outline of this tool is included here.
You can have a look at it before we move to the specifics of
developing your “ratification
campaign!” As you proceed through these activities
we would invite you to use the answers from the exercises completed
in sections two and three to help think things through and
to develop your own information materials.
- Understanding Your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities
and Threats – SWOT
Why use SWOT?
SWOT Analysis is an effective way of looking at your environment
and identifying the Strengths and Weaknesses, and of examining
the Opportunities and Threats your Organization will face in
its efforts to get the Convention ratified by your Government.
Experience has shown that carrying out an analysis, using the
SWOT framework, will help focus your activities in areas where
your group is strong, and where the greatest opportunities
lie. Similarly, it will help you determine areas of weakness
that you may either fix or work around in your efforts to get
the Convention ratified in your country.
How to use SWOT:
To carry out a SWOT analysis, write down answers to the following
questions. Where appropriate feel free to modify questions:
Strengths:
- What are your advantages?
- What do you do well?
- What do other people see as your strengths?
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Consider this from your organization’s point of view
and from the point of view of the people you deal with. Don't
be modest - be realistic. If you are having any difficulty
with this, try writing down a list of your group’s characteristics.
Some of these will hopefully be strengths!
Weaknesses:
- What could you improve?
- What do you do badly?
- What should you avoid?
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Again,
consider this from an internal and external basis - do other
people seem to perceive weaknesses that you do not see? It
is best to be realistic now, and face any unpleasant truths
as soon as possible.
Opportunities:
- What are the good opportunities facing you?
- What are the interesting trends you are aware of?
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Keep
in mind that many useful opportunities will come with the advent
of the new Convention. At this point, it will be helpful to
try and anticipate as many of these as possible.
This
sort of analysis will be illuminating - both in terms of pointing
out what needs to be done, and in putting problems into perspective.
Threats:
- What obstacles do you face?
- Does your group have all the required skills for
the job?
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Downloaded from Mind Tools - more details are available on-line
at: http://www.mindtools.com/swot.html
Areas of support required to ensure Ratification of New Disability Convention
With a good understanding now of your environment, it is
time to consider in some detail how you can work with your
government and other stakeholders to ensure that the Convention
is ratified in your country. There are five areas that your
organization will need to focus on to ensure a successful campaign.
They are outlined briefly in the box below, and then presented
in more detail in a matrix that we hope will be useful to you
as you design your own campaigns.
Note that the details have been provided describing each
tool in the toolbox. Your task is to identify an action, or
set of actions, that will bring this tool to life!
Focus Areas for Ratification Campaign
- Community Support - It will be important to work
through the media and other means to get the larger
community to support the Convention.
- Strong relations with key decision makers - Your
organization will have to identify the political
and community leaders and get their support.
- Cross-constituency alliances - Alliances with other
Human Rights groups will be needed as well. Similarly,
alliances may be sought with others who could benefit
from a new treaty like parent groups or rehabilitation
professionals, senior citizens groups, etc.
- Strong membership base - You will have to have a
strong membership base and your group will have
to be on alert to mobilize if support is not readily
forthcoming.
- Relations with individual decision makers on specific
issues – Many organizations have developed
good relations with the negotiators of the treaty
at the UN, this can serve as a base for continued
dialogue at home.
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Ratification “Toolbox”
Also available separately in  
Focus |
Tool |
Description |
Issues
to consider |
Action |
Building Community Support |
Marketing and Public Relations |
Communicate to general public
the importance of equality of opportunity for persons
with disabilities |
Avoid messages that make
persons with disabilities seem needy – be sure
to set firmly in equality and human rights sort of language |
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Using the media |
Get to know reporters and
editors |
Be careful of those who “think
they understand” but do not – their stories
can be harmful to the equality message you want to get
across |
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Special events |
Used to draw profile to
an issue and portray persons with disabilities as active
participants in the community |
You want to project image
that persons with disabilities are equal members of the
community. Be careful of patronizing |
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“Celebrity champions” |
Can add high profile to
a cause |
Ensure consumer control
of agenda |
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Letters to the Editor |
Can be used to highlight
injustices |
Ill-informed letters can
be damaging – efforts need to be carefully orchestrated |
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Focus |
Tool |
Description |
Issues
to consider |
Action |
Strong
Relations with Key Decision Makers |
Build / maintain credibility
with elected officials |
Educate on disability issues
and ensure that they become a priority |
Politicians have limited
understanding of disability issues so
be careful not to get co-opted or to settle for less
than you can get |
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Appointing community leaders
to advisory boards |
Appoint community leaders
to disability organization board of directors |
You don’t want your
group co-opted by business interests or your consumers
intimidated. Nor do you want the group’s strategies
to be constrained |
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Visible presence of group
members at key debates |
Attend prepared to bring
up disability issues |
Many different groups will
be trying to be heard - be clear and concise with your
message |
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Focus |
Tool |
Description |
Issues |
Action |
Cross-constituency
Alliances |
Development of alliances
and coalitions with other civil society groups |
Working with other equity
seeking groups |
Usually some compromise
is required – get to know the group and what it
stands for and its approach before forming an alliance |
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Informal networking and
information sharing |
Let other sectors know what
is happening on disability issues. Send news letters
and invite others to special events |
Time consuming – be
careful not to get overextended |
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Networking, joining service
clubs, nurturing contacts with influential neighbours,
friends and family |
Working with others in the
community on non-disability issues can be very helpful
for relationship building and creating alliances when
they are needed |
Be careful not to overextend
your members |
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Focus |
Tool |
Description |
Issues |
Action |
Strong
Membership Base |
Good Education |
Members need to grasp the
potential of the new treaty to effect change |
Can be complex and the long
term nature of the process will not appeal to everyone |
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Direct Action |
Protests and similar actions
to be used only when all other tactics fail |
Can create enemies, should
be a last resort |
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Communication strategy
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Need to keep members informed |
Takes a lot of staff time
and energy |
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Fun events
|
Need to keep members enthusiastic |
Can be costly and difficult
when resources are scarce |
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Focus |
Tool |
Description |
Issues |
Action |
Relations
with key decision makers |
Building and maintaining
credibility with key business leaders
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Especially helpful in terms
of promoting employment opportunities and access to goods
and services
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Choose the issue carefully
so your interests overlap or else you may end up rejected
or co-opted |
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Building and maintaining
credibility with key bureaucrats |
Important to ensure that
legislation and policy accurately reflect the issues
of persons with disabilities |
Carefully choose the correct
level of the bureaucracy, so as not to waste time on
people who can do nothing for you |
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Domestic human rights law |
Can be used to promote access
and equality of opportunity |
May lead to discussions
about no need for new Convention |
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International human rights
instruments |
Can be used to influence
and educate domestic decision makers |
May lead to confusion over
current efforts |
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10 Point Advocacy Meeting Checklist
In order to implement your ratification advocacy plan,
you may need to be in contact with a wide variety of
different actors, either to provide them with information
or to persuade them, or both! The following checklist
is designed to help you prepare for a meeting with one
of these actors. Always remember: be professional, polite,
and positive!
- Who do you need to contact, and what do you hope
to accomplish by meeting with them? (Consider specifically
how meeting with this person will further your
ratification advocacy plan.)
- What information do they need? (Different actors
will need different kinds and amounts of information,
so tailor the information you provide to the specific
person you are meeting.)
- How can I reach them? (Especially if you are meeting
with a government official, they may be very busy!
You may need to schedule a meeting far in advance
in order to fit into their schedule.)
- What kind of follow-up can I offer? (The best kinds
of meetings are ones where you make or build upon
a positive relationship with the person you are meeting.
One of the best ways to do this is to build a relationship
where the person sees you as a valuable resource – someone
who can provide useful information and help to
guide them in their decision-making.)
- Who needs to be included in the visit? (Many people
may want to participate in the meeting! However,
having too many people participate can make it hard
to coordinate what you will all do in the meeting.
Think about who really needs to be there.)
- What is your plan; who will do/say what? (This question
is particularly important if you have more than
one person at the meeting to represent your group,
or if this is a joint meeting with other groups. You
do not want your participants in the meeting to provide
conflicting information, or to appear disorganized.
You may want to practice what you will do and say – role-playing
with your colleagues can be a useful way to do
this.)
- What specifically will we ask our contact to do?
(Always be considerate of what your contact can
realistically do, and think about what you can do to
support them in fulfilling your request.)
- What will we leave behind? (Think about the information
that your contact needs. Some of the information
may be conveyed to them when you speak, but more detailed
information could be provided to them in writing.
In this way you can keep your meeting short and focused,
and they can read the other information later.
They can also share your information with their colleagues
if they need to. Don’t forget to make sure
the person knows how to contact you in the future.)
- Do you need to report to someone about this meeting?
(Make sure that colleagues who need to know what
happened in the meeting are briefed.)
- What happens next? (If you have made a commitment
to provide more information, or follow-up with
your contact in some other way, make sure that you
do it when you say you will do it! If your contact
will get back to you, make sure they know how to reach
you.)
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