Advance Family Planning (AFP) held its first dissemination workshop in Washington, DC this month. The four-day workshop aimed to build facilitation skills in applying AFP’s SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound) advocacy approach. Fifteen family planning and reproductive health professionals from ten organizations attended the workshop, which was led by master trainers from the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, PATH, and AFP.
The workshop—the first in a series to be held in different regions where AFP works—introduced AFP’s 9-step SMART process, imparted facilitation techniques, and helped participants plan how to apply advocacy within their programs and organizations.
As part of its supplemental funding, the AFP initiative is working to scale up application of its SMART approach, a ground-tested advocacy tool that helps advocates and their allies focus attention on opportunities for action and develop near-term advocacy strategies to help achieve broad, long-term goals, such as the Family Planning 2020 goal. The AFP SMART approach has transformed the way family planning champions maximize their time and resources to effectively persuade those in power to take action. Within the AFP initiative, the approach has led to more than 450 advocacy wins in 19 countries.
With more programs and organizations applying AFP SMART, the collective efforts of advocates have the potential to be more strategic and effective—and broadly expand the reach of evidence-based advocacy.