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Practices and Lessons Regarding Effective Lobby and Advocacy 1 FGG Alliance 2011 – 2015

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Practices and Lessons Regarding Effective Lobby and Advocacy 1 FGG Alliance 2011 – 2015 Practices and Lessons Regarding Effective Lobby and Advocacy 1 FGG Alliance 2011 – 2015 Photos: ActionAid Practices and Lessons Regarding Effective Lobby and Advocacy Reflection from the Fair Green and Global (FGG) Programme Phase 1, October 2015 Report by Fons van der Velden * Context, International Cooperation Utrecht, the Netherlands * The workshop reporters Hachangu Hakalima and Fieke J ägers contributed substantially to the input of this document. Thanks are furthermore due to the workshop participants especially Lillian Matsika (co - facilitator) and Liesbeth van Brink and Kaetlyn Roberts (ActionAid, the Netherlands) Practices and Lessons Regarding Effective Lobby and Advocacy 2 FGG Alliance 2011 – 2015 KEY QUOTES ‘Strengthening the capacity of people is at the centre’. ‘Strengthening communities to advocate on their own, independent from ActionAid is core’. ‘Duty bearers must be held accountable’. Practices and Lessons Regarding Effective Lobby and Advocacy 3 FGG Alliance 2011 – 2015 FOREWORD During the period 2011-2015, AA Kenya, AA Zambia, AA Zimbabwe, AA South Africa, AA Netherlands, the AA IS, and partners through the tax and land campaigns, implemented programmes under the Fair Green and Global (FGG) Programme. This programme was multi-facetted and covered work at national, regional, Dutch and global level on land governance, women and land rights, corporate conduct, communities and extractives and tax justice. During the implementation period, we realized that it was important to share our experiences on campaigning, lobby and advocacy in order to learn about it. In April 2014 a workshop was held with al l FGG partners on advocacy for corporate accountability. This resulted in a trainin g manual. At the same time the 5 implementing countries docum ented cases, the 5 “Stories of Change”. In October 2015, a workshop was held in Kitwe, Zambia to take stock of what was learned on lobby and advocacy for corporate accountability during 5 year of FGG implementation and from other, recurrent work. This document is not a detailed report of the workshop and its sessions, but a knowledge product with lessons learned f rom the workshop that can be used to improve our future work. I want to thank ActionAid Zambia for its hospitality; the Communities of Chingola and Mufulira for receiving us and sharing their stories; the participants for putting their day-to –day-workload on hold, travel all the way to Kitwe and share their insights, hopes, fears and advice; and Fons van der Velden of Context International Cooperation and Lillian Matsika from ActionAid Zimbabwe in guiding us through the process. Liesbeth van Brink March 2016 Practices and Lessons Regarding Effective Lobby and Advocacy 4 FGG Alliance 2011 – 2015 TABLE OF CONTENT Key Quotes 2 Foreword 3 1. Background and Purpose of the Report 5 2. End of Programme Reflection Workshop in Kitwe Zambia 8 2.1 Case Presentations: Eight Stories of Battles and Change 9 2.2 Two Field Visits: Mining Companies in Mufulira and Chingola 10 2.3 Distilling, Prioritising and Clustering the Main Learnings: Concept Mapping Exercise 12 2.4 Major Outcomes of the Joint Reflection Exercise 13 2.5 Lessons Learned 16 3. 10 Major Learnings at Strategic Level 17 4. 10 Major Learnings at Operational Level 25 5. Annexes 31 Annex 1: List of Participants 32 Annex 2: Guidelines for the Presentation of the Stories of Change 34 Annex 3: Report about the Joint Reflection Through a Concept Mapping Exercise 36 Practices and Lessons Regarding Effective Lobby and Advocacy 5 FGG Alliance 2011 – 2015 1. Background and Purpose of the Report Photos: ActionAid Practices and Lessons Regarding Effective Lobby and Advocacy 6 FGG Alliance 2011 – 2015 ‘Learning is a social process and lasting behavioural change is more likely to follow from the re-interpretation of past experience rather than the acquisition of ‘fresh knowledge’ which may have been generated by outsiders. 1 1. Background and Purpose of the Report In the period 2011 – 2015 ActionAid participated actively in the Fair, Green and Global (FGG) Alliance, a Netherlands based coalition which consists of Both ENDS, de Schone Kleren Campagne / Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), Milieudefensie / Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) / Friends of the Earth Europe (FoEE), ActionAid the Netherlands, the Centre for Research on Multinational Cor porations (SOMO) and the Transnational Institute (TNI). The FGG overall objective is to c ontribute to poverty reduction and socially just and environmentally sustainable development by enhancing the capacity of civil societies in the South to: 1) Develop and promote exemplary policies, practices and actions towards socially just and environmentally sustainable development; 2) Achieve effective corporate accountability measures; 3) Reorient trade and investment policies; 4) Reorient financial policies. For ActionAid, the FGG Programme focussed on: 1. Land Governance/women and land rights. 2. Corporate conduct and land grab, notably in extractives. 3. Tax Justice. The programme was implemented at 3 levels: 1. Community empowerment and policy influencing/campaigning in South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Kenya. 2. Support to the ActionAid International land and tax campaigns. 3. Policy influencing in the Netherlands and at EU level. 1 Reg Revans, The ABC of Action Learning , London (Lemos and Crane), 2008. Practices and Lessons Regarding Effective Lobby and Advocacy 7 FGG Alliance 2011 – 2015 At the end of the programme period, in October 2015, a three -day joint learning workshop was held in Kitwe, in the copper-belt of Zambia. The aim of this workshop was to strengthen mutual capacities to strategize and implement effective lobby and advocacy for corporate accountability (especially on issues of natural resources, land and extractives) through reflection and analysis on experiences from the programme and how change happened. The workshop was organised as an experience and evidence -based learning (reflection and analysis) event, devoted to in -depth reflections on the lobby and advocacy work of the FGG programme. During the workshop a structured reflection took place on the basis of storytelling through the presentation of cases, a field visit, a Concept Mapping exercise and group discussions. The workshop was attended by around 30 participants: partner organisations of ActionAid and staff members of the Act ionAid International secretariat and ActionAid Country offices in South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Netherlands. 2 The programme of the 3 day workshop consisted of 3 parts: 1. A presentation by participants of 8 case studies of the FGG programme and lessons learned. 2. A field visit and reflection on it. 3. A concept mapping exercise through with more generic lessons learned were discussed. The lessons learned are summarised on this report as follows: 1. Lessons that are related to the field visit. 2. 10 Strategic lessons learned. 3. 10 Operational lessons learned. The report is meant to be a knowledge product and to be used as a reference for further programming and reflection. 2 For further details reference is made to Annex I: List of participants ActionAid learning workshop. Practices and Lessons Regarding Effective Lobby and Advocacy 8 FGG Alliance 2011 – 2015 2. End Of Programme Reflection Workshop in Kitwe Zambia Photos: ActionAid Practices and Lessons Regarding Effective Lobby and Advocacy 9 FGG Alliance 2011 – 2015 2. End Of Programme Reflection Workshop in Kitwe Zambia 2.1 Case Presentations: Eight Stories of Battles and Change The workshop started with storytelling exercises with regard to eight stories of change in which ActionAid and its partner organisations are involved: 1. Zambia: Canadian FQM copper mine in Musele; 2. Kenya: Dominion Farm in Yala Swamp; 3. South Africa: mining affected communities upheld a mining bill; 4. Zimbabwe: diamond discovery in Marange; 5. The Netherlands: Lobby against EU biofuels legislation These five stories are the Stories of Change that the 5 FGG countries documented during the last year of the FGG. In addition 3 other stories were shared during the workshop. All presentations were prepared well in advance as per a format that had been suggested by the organisers of the meeting. This format is provided in Ann ex II. The additional cases were: 6. ActionAid International: Lobby of illicit financial flows towards the African Union Permanent Representatives’ Committee (PRC). 7. ActionAid South Africa, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe: joint research regarding the women and m ining research. 8. Zambia: briefing on the f ield visit; Copper mining in Mufulira. During all these case presentations the following main questions were paid attention to: a. What was the issue at hand? What did the community aim for? b. What was it that communities, ActionAid and other actors exactly set out to do and what was the assumption of its effects? c. What happened as a result: both expected and unexpected? Practices and Lessons Regarding Effective Lobby and Advocacy 10 FGG Alliance 2011 – 2015 d. How did it happen? e. Up to what degree have there been shifts in power relationships f. W hat have been the enablers and / or constricts in the process of change? g. What are the major reflections and learnings from this case? The lessons learned from this exercise are reflected in the section of generic lessons learned and strategic and operational less ons learned. 2.2 Two Field Visits: Mining Companies in Mufulira and Chingola On the second day of the workshop the participants were split into two groups
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