Workshop

What’s the difference between “lobbying” and activism? Who “does” lobbying, and can they do it for good? This session was designed to inspire and provide participants with a renewed, strategic and hands-on understanding of lobbying as a legitimate and effective approach to pursue your organization’s mission. The ultimate aim was to inspire youth participants to pursue their advocacy projects and to offer insights and practical tools needed to create compelling, evidence-based, legally compliant and solution-driven campaigns at an EU and national level.

1ST PART: Demystifying Citizen Lobbying. The first module broke the ice and encouraged the participants to rethink their own understanding of advocacy and lobbying, and how they can be used to improve society as a whole and achieve their own goals.

2ND PART: Advocacy Campaigns & Avenues of Participation. This module was drawn upon case studies of successful and unsuccessful advocacy campaigns from across the EU to reflect upon and illustrate best practices. It focused on three key avenues of participation that can influence policy: campaigns, judicial, and political.

3RD PART: Hands-on Exercise. This module focused on an interactive session to encourage participants to be creative and to put their new skills to the test in a fun, experimental environment with a hands-on exercise focusing on a real-world issue they care about. Participants were provided with feedback from their peers and trainers about their ideas.