Advocacy Forum

Capacity building for CSOs in advocacy work

We are making the voice of civil society heard.

Societal problem 

A well-functioning democracy cannot do without active citizens engaged in political parties and civil society.  We are currently facing a crisis of political parties and attacks on the values of liberal democracy.  This makes the role of civil society in defending the public interest more important.  Yet that’s why citizens and NGOs need to know the tools and methods of advocacy and lobbying.  Many NGOs and individuals do not have this necessary knowledge and until now there has been no place to gain it.

Our solution 

That’s why the OSF Prague has, in cooperation with Ashoka Česká republika, decided to found the Advocacy Forum, which wants to develop advocacy work in our country.

The aim of the OSF Advocacy Forum is to make civil society and citizens stronger so that they can promote the public interest effectively and professionally.  The Forum will provide long-term and systematic support to individuals and non-profit organisations in their work and efforts to transform policy rules, i.e. advocacy and lobbying.

What we do: 

  • we help create specific advocacy strategies
  • we provide active citizens and NGOs with consultation and education
  • we hold practical workshops
  • we promote and disseminate best practice examples from the Czech Republic and abroad
  • we connect all those interested in system changes and support advocacy and watchdog work

Impact of our work: 

The Advocacy Forum is so far a new OSF programme, so we will not be able to describe the impacts until next year.  We already have the results of our work so far, though: 

  • we have provided more than 200 hours of consultation for NGOs
  • we have organized 9 events for more than 180 people 

“Our cooperation with the Advocacy Forum intensified when one of our principal issues – increasing care allowances was being debated in the Chamber of Deputies.  We had no previous experience with advocacy there, and regular phone calls, meetings and emails with Štěpán Drahokoupil and later with Peter Machálek gave us confidence, direction and the necessary pace.”  Erik Čipera, Director, Assistance, o.p.s.   

We have provided consultation for: 

If you are interested in cooperation with the Advocacy Forum, please contact the project coordinator Štěpán Drahokoupil: stepan.drahokoupil@osf.cz.