Module: POL5004-20 The art of persuasion: advocacy for change

Level: 5

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: TBC

Module Tutor Contact Details: TBC

1. Brief description and aims of module:

You could argue that some of the most important changes in the world, such as the end of the slave trade or votes for women, were achieved through advocacy. Knowing how to do it well is crucial for people who want to shape our world for the better. Lucy Drescher1

This module explores the ways in which this happens.

Storytelling

We live by telling stories. We constantly revise and retell the stories of our own lives. We learn through storytelling; we use stories to solve problems, to reconcile differences, and as testimony and record. We win debates, contracts or elections by having the ‘best’ story to tell.

How do we do this, and how do we turn storytelling into advocacy on behalf of a charity, a community or a cause? How do we use advocacy to bring about permanent change?

Evidence

How do we use ‘evidence’ in devising, telling and retelling our story? How do we select the ‘right’ evidence? How do we know?

Audience

Essential to effective advocacy is understanding your audience - those you need to persuade of your case and whose support you need in making it - and and the evidence that will best convince them – which, in turn, relates to what your ‘cause’ can do for them: translating your aims and objectives into activity which delivers benefits for you or for those you represent, and for those whose support you need to achieve them.

Advocacy

Advocacy is a systematic process of making and supporting your case – the story, the evidence that supports that story, and its final presentation. We can advocate for ourselves, or act for other people - exploring options to help them make the best decisions, securing the help they need to do this (and to which they may in any case be entitled), supporting them to become their own advocates. Or we might be working for an organisation: making the case for them, so that they can secure the support they need or bring about a change they want to see.

The contexts in which advocacy take place vary enormously: in politics, but also in professional fundraising, making the pitch for a contract or a project, grant applications and bids, in business, across a wide range of public services (e.g. health, education, social care, housing, planning, the arts, heritage and culture, or work with vulnerable children and adults) and in community-led initiatives and projects, locally, regionally and globally. Advocacy may be intended to change public policy, or to shape its implementation, and at its most political, can help to set agendas or to change them.

2. Outline syllabus:

This is a collaborative, practical module. We will start by looking at examples of storytelling and advocacy in a variety of broadly political contexts, including both historical and contemporary ones, and then work on the creation of advocacy materials for a project or campaign that you have researched and to which you are committed: something that matters to you, and through which you want to make a difference to others.

3. Teaching and learning activities:

This module is usually taught through seminars and workshops, focusing on the analysis and preparation of compelling resources for advocacy, in a variety of contexts.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Context paper (equiv 2000 words)

• % Weighting: 40%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Advocacy Portfolio (equiv 3000 words)

• % Weighting: 60%