ASO Center Concludes 2 Workshops on "Community Mobilization and Advocacy Methods" in the Governorates of Raqqa and Al-Hasakah

2021-07-07
ASO - Amouda

ASO for Consultancy and Strategic Studies organized 2 workshops on community mobilization and advocacy methods in the cities of Al-Hasakah and Raqqa, Northeastern Syria.

ASO Center organized both workshops for the NES NGO Platform members and a representative of the Civil Organizations Affairs Commission of the Self-Administration. The two workshops lasted three days.

These two workshops are part of the project "Enhancing Participatory Democracy in Northeastern Syria" supported by the Norwegian People's Aid (NPA).

81 trainees from the NES NGO Platform representatives, from different age groups, males and females, took part in the training, including 42 trainees from Al-Hasakah, and 39 from Raqqa.

The training session in Al-Hasakah governorate was supervised by the trainer, Nalin Asaad, while the trainer, Ali Iskan, supervised the training workshop in Raqqa governorate.

Imad Ahmi, project manager of the project of "Enhancing Participatory Democracy in Northeastern Syria", said in a statement to ASO, "The workshops aim to support and develop the capacities of the platform's member organizations and to encourage dialogue, networking, peace-building and enhancing effectiveness among them."

The working group conducted a questionnaire to assess the training needs of CSOs that are members of the NES NGO Platform, based on which community mobilization and advocacy methods were chosen as a subject for training.

Ahmi added, "Now we have finished the workshops in Raqqa and Al-Hasakah governorates, as we started from June 28 to July 1, there will also be two other workshops in the eastern and western Deir Ezzor countryside in the coming weeks, and the team is now making the necessary preparations for them."

During the days of the training sessions in Al-Hasakah and Raqqa, the trainer provided a set of experiences and skills, which included definitions and basic steps for management, development work, advocacy, campaigns, and their missions, as he discussed how to establish networks and alliances, and gave the trainees a set of observations on effective communication techniques, which is one of the main basics in community mobilization, advocacy, and lobbying campaigns.

Both trainers used the lobby method in training, which is based on learning in accordance with the participants’ experience and knowledge, as it aims to “promote self-esteem and self-confidence and develop concepts positively and realistically, in addition to the formation of several working groups since the first day of the training session, and allowing the trainees the opportunity to implement different activities related to community mobilization and advocacy mechanisms, with the aim of sharing their experiences and ideas and to search for specific patterns to define smart tactics and goals for their current or future campaigns."

Moreover, the training included an explanation of how to develop strategic plans for campaigns and gain advocacy, fund management and its basics, project management in a preliminary manner, and the importance of the role of media activities and social media, with a focus on how to establish a sustainable media strategy and how to market campaign content.

It is noteworthy that the objective of these training workshops is to build the capacity of the trainees and improve their previous experiences in the field of community mobilization and advocacy, to bring about change and an effective and positive impact in the local community.