Dear [Participant Name],
We hope that this email finds you well.
The Gates Foundation is partnering with the Advocacy Accelerator* to host a two (2) day workshop on 6th and 7th of May, 2019, in Johannesburg, South Africa, to foster a collaborative approach to strengthening grantee advocacy communications capacities. We look forward to your engagement in a series of strategic discussions and skill building sessions.
On behalf of the foundation’s Program Advocacy and Communications teams and Advocacy Accelerator, we invite you to join us in Johannesburg. The Gates Foundation will cover all travel and accommodation costs.
Please RSVP directly to this e-mail as soon as possible, or before Monday April 8.
We recognize this is a short turnaround and appreciate your indulgence; we will follow up with registration shortly to those that have RSVP’d. Due to visa processing times for South Africa, we need to quickly gather all RSVPs and connect all participants to our travel agency for flights and hotel bookings, and then provide an invitation letter for your visa application.
Advocacy Communication: Strengthening for Impact
When: 6-7 May, 2019 | 9-5 pm
Where: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
44 Melrose Arch Boulevard, Office 501G
Johannesburg, 2196, South Africa
For additional questions regarding registration, please reach out to Haley Williams, *******@*****.org
For more context, we are designing the workshop to achieve two key objectives:
– An interactive dialogue between the Gates Foundation and a core group of Africa-based grantees to interrogate and expand how we define best practices for effective ‘advocacy communications’ (communications activities in service of achieving advocacy goals).
– A series of skill building sessions to help grantees build key capacities, such as (but not limited to): message development; communications strategy development; media engagement; and approaches to measurement, learning, and evaluation.
Pending your acceptance, Advocacy Accelerator will be in touch to answer your questions and gather input to ensure the workshop meets your needs and expectations. Among other topics, the team will be inquiring into the following areas, all of which we will delve into in group discussions during the workshop:
How do you define advocacy communications?
How does your organisation integrate advocacy communications into its overall advocacy plan?
What capacity considerations would your organisations need to make to propel advocacy communications across all its work?
In your role, how do you integrate advocacy communications, and how can the organisation better leverage strengths at the portfolio level?
How can BMGF better support advocacy communications for your organisation?
Who/what do you think is missing from your advocacy portfolio or programme to work that would add value to strengthening advocacy communications?
What good practices have you tried, or observed externally, where advocacy communications is used strategically to drive and achieve advocacy results?
*The Advocacy Accelerator is an Africa-focused learning and sharing platform whose purpose is to ensure that country-based advocacy is effective and has a lasting impact. The Advocacy Accelerator acts as a catalyst for change by providing advocacy capacity-strengthening support and alignment through online and in-person platforms.
Best regards,
Haley
Haley Williams 