ADVOCACY ACCELERATOR

Catalysts for Change supported the incubation and start-up of the Advocacy Accelerator at Amref Health Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. The platform supports stronger advocacy capacity across the continent through online and in-person exchange and learning by advocates. Catalysts for Change led community consultations that informed the priorities of the project, supported the hiring and onboarding of local staff, created a community platform, social media presence, and launched advocacy exchanges that jumpstarted the initiative.

AMREF HEALTH AFRICA

Youth Advocacy Project: Catalysts for Change supported the conceptualization and start-up of an innovative advocacy capacity strengthening platform for young advocates across Kenya. The project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is creating interactive mobile advocacy learning and engagement platforms for youth, supporting youth to engage in advocacy with county leaders, and establishing a national platform for youth to pursue a common advocacy agenda. Catalysts for Change conducted youth consultations to inform project design, donor engagement and proposal development, initial start-up, and hiring and onboarding of local project staff.

Corporate Advocacy Strategy: Catalysts for Change facilitated the development of Amref Health Africa’s corporate advocacy strategy and implementation plan to create a new corporate advocacy function. The process included extensive engagement with staff and key stakeholders through online surveys, interviews, and in-person consultations. Catalysts for Change established an Advocacy Advisory Committee that guided the strategy content and priorities, as well as the companion implementation plan.

CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

Catalysts for Change led a three-day advocacy strategy development workshop in Mombasa, Kenya with lawyers and advocates from the frica Reproductive Rights Initiative. Participants from Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda were guided through a process of developing joint advocacy strategies to advance reproductive rights policies in their countries, that they are now seeking to implement with their partners.

Civil Society Innovation Initiative (CSII)

Catalysts for Change supported Counterpart International and CIVICUS in the design and facilitation of six regional workshops with local civil society organizations across the globe. Catalysts for Change led a team of facilitators that guided participants through a co-creation process to identify the challenges and needs of civil society in each region, culminating in recommended functions and priorities for the “incubation” phase of the Civil Society Innovation Initiative  supported by USAID and Sida.

Planned Parenthood Global

Catalysts for Change helped design and lead a global consultation of advocates and thought leaders from around the globe to share experiences and perspectives from their work and local contexts on sexual and reproductive health and rights. The priorities discussed at the consultation, held at the 2016 Women Deliver Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, resulted in the Planned Parenthood Global report Global Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: Diverse Voices Informing a Shifting Political Landscape used by advocates seeking to inform policy priorities in the U.S.

RESULTS

Catalysts for Change partnered with Global Health Visions to conduct research, facilitate engagement and develop and advocate for the recommendations in a report outlining how civil society can have a greater and more meaningful role in the World Bank-led Global Financing Facility for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (GFF). As part of this process, Catalysts for Change led the facilitation of a meeting in Nairobi, Kenya with 45 civil society representatives from 13 countries who helped to shape the minimum standards for civil society engagement in the GFF recommended in the report.

William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Catalysts for Change led a participatory process of engagement with key stakeholders across the globe – with a focus on advocates from the Global South – to research, conceptualize, and implement an East Africa-based Advocacy Accelerator. See the report authored by Catalyst for Change outlining the findings and recommendations from interviews with 90 donors, researchers, and advocates to inform this work.