Stephen Rosenlund, CAE, IOM, Director of Association Development at the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) in Washington, leads an online seminar on “Advocacy from the American Perspective” as part of CIDC’s Advocacy Academy.
Stephen Rosenlund, CAE, IOM, Director of Association Development at CIPE, Washington D.C., presented an overview of the American Perspective of Advocacy and explored the role of advocacy in shaping public policy and civic engagement in the U.S. This online event was part of CIDC’s flagship initiative Advocacy Academy, developed in partnership with BESCO – The Bulgarian Entrepreneurial Association, and supported by CIPE.
The audience in the event included representatives of CIPE and participants in the Academy, including government, business and civil society representatives in Bulgaria, aiming to effectively implement policy advocacy by acquiring new skills and learning and adapting best practices from around the world.
Rosenlund delivered a comprehensive presentation of how advocacy operates within the U.S. framework, highlighting unique strategies, structures, stakeholder settings and evolving tactics used to influence policy and social change. He explained how to advance the interests of business constituencies through advocacy and lobbying, while delving into the core principles, tools and activities of advocacy and how they are managed by different stakeholders (e.g. associations) at the national, state, and local levels.
Highlighting the critical importance of advocacy in good governance through raising awareness, changing attitudes and bringing people to action with clear evidence and rationale, Rosenlund showcased that advocacy actually occurs every day at different levels, including during electoral processes.
“There is an association for everything in the U.S.,” representing almost every industry and segment of the economy. Various coalitions are also formed, aligned to a single cause, for the achievement of a larger and more efficient and effective impact, which individually may not be feasible and/or too costly.
One of the seminar’s central themes was the critical role of grassroots advocacy in shaping national discourse and how local initiatives may often grow into national campaigns, driving legislative change from the bottom up.
In his presentation, Rosenlund focused also on “lobbying” as a form of advocacy – influencing elected officials on a particular issue – which together are part of effective government relations practices.
In comparison to Bulgaria and Europe, lobbying by associations in the U.S. is unrestricted, although practices are very clearly and well-regulated at both state and federal levels, supporting a transparent democratic process and preventing misuse of funding.
The participants in the Advocacy Academy acknowledged the obvious differences between advocacy practices in the U.S. and in Europe mainly due to their very different political structures, settings, culture and historical backgrounds, among others. However, advocacy takes time everywhere until real and tangible impact is made; thus, the development of short- and long-term indicators is critical to evaluate success and demonstrate progress.
There is no shortcut to implementing an effective advocacy campaign through a healthy participatory process, especially in an increasingly complex and politically polarized contexts.
The seminar offered valuable perspectives for anyone interested in engaging in advocacy work, learning from U.S. experiences and reminding participants that despite all the differences in political systems, advocacy remains a powerful source for social change and an indispensable part of fair and transparent democracies everywhere.
