Create a S.M.A.R.T. Advocacy Objective

WITNESS invites you to use, remix and share this curriculum. All materials are under Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial ShareAlike 3.0 License. 

You can also find more video advocacy training materials at www.witness.org. 

Session Objective

Review why clear objectives areimportant.

Understand how the SMART approach works and ways to evaluate objectives.

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Why is setting clear objectives important?

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Setting Objectives: Considerations

Advocacy = being strategic to leverage power and resources

Set short, medium and long-term objectives

Look to outputs, outcomes and impacts

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Obstacles to Campaign Success

• Unrealistic goals• Unclear objectives• Unrealistic timeline• Not knowing the audience(s) – or

having an unrealistic audience selection

• Failure to innovate• Vague or bland messages • Poor monitoring & evaluation

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Challenges and Solutions

In your experiences, what have been the biggest challenges in setting

clear objectives?

How have you worked to change this?

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SMART = a set of criteria used to define objectives

Why use SMART?

ClarityFocusStronger connection to your goalAccountability and transparencyBetter evaluation and learning

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SMART Defined

• Specific• Measurable• Achievable • Realistic• Time - bound

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Outlining SMART Objectives

Not SMART One Reason Why

We will create a video about accountability for environmental issues in Brazil

Unspecific

Screenings of our video will result in a more positive response from the public

Difficult to measure

The video will make officials ratify the Kyoto Protocol immediately

Is this achievable?

The video will result in a 500% increase in women landowners in 2 months

Unrealistic

We aim for the recommendations outlined in the video to be adopted soon

No time frame

Make it SMARTSMART Why

Provide video documentation training to Brazilian activists to collect filmed evidence of corporate violations of national environmental laws in Southern Brazil and submit this as evidence to national and regional courts.

Specific plan of action

Through screenings of the video, we aim to increase community dialogues by 15% over the next 6 months.

Is measurable

During our advocacy briefing, we will provide a video report with recommendations for interim steps towards ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.

Is more achievable

We aim for a 20% increase in female landownership in the targeted areas by the end of the campaign.

A realistic objective

We aim to have the anti-discrimination law advocated for in our video pass by August 2012.

Is time - bound

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Evaluating Objectives is Critical

To evaluate objectives as the campaign moves along, use indicators:

- to measure progress- to measure impact- to determine how to

adjust to external changes along the way

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Sample Indicators

•Number of government officials publicly supporting recommendations in video•Number of screenings to high-level members of target audience•Statistical evidence of change in actions or behavior toward affected populations in video•A quantifiable change in the frequency and type of media coverage on video & issue

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Keep it SMART

• Make sure your objectives are: • Specific • Measurable• Achievable• Realistic• Time-bound

• Evaluate objectives• Set indicators to measure success

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SMART Exercise

• Review Reference Sheet: The Story of the Communities

• Complete Worksheet: Practice Writing SMART Objectives and rewrite objectives to be SMART

• Be prepared to share with the group

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Create a S.M.A.R.T. Advocacy Objective

WITNESS invites you to use, remix and share this curriculum. All materials are under Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial ShareAlike 3.0 License. 

You can also find more video advocacy training materials at www.witness.org.