Engaging stakeholders is more about how your excitement and presence in the work of advocacy presents itself to others. How you go about the work of engaging the residents of your community and how they respond to your work of advocacy is a start to engaging others in the work you live. You can draw people and opportunities to participate and live lives of advocacy by your attitude. It is more than advocacy it is the work of seeing a need within your community and placing yourself in the midst of the issues to be addressed. You will draw others who feel that what you are doing is good, right, just and fair. You will meet those we describe as stakeholders and be approached with opportunities to further your calling.

I’ve always found that storytelling is a great way to engage audiences in advocacy. By telling stories (rather than quoting statistics or metrics), the reason for the advocacy is easier to relate to for most people. In other words, it’s far easier to gain buy-in when the object of the advocacy finds something they can personally relate to. This is much easier in reacting to a story than in trying to make sense of a column of numbers, no matter how well displayed.

Firstly, doing away with the colonial term ‘stakeholder’ and recognising people as agents. Advocacy that is generated from within communities has proven to be the strongest when campaigns and projects are led by agents/ communities themselves. Enabling and creating roles for agents to engage in campaigns for the development of the community is a good practice. For example: to advocate for increased participation of girl students in the classroom, including voices of girl students who attend class consistently, alongside voices of mothers who have been able to ensure daughters go to school regularly in the campaign would be an effective strategy

Engage key stakeholders effectively requires to employing blend strategies and effective persuasion: 1. gather information and understand their interest, values and priorities 2. Share common goal and objectives 3. establish credibility and integrity 4. foster coalition building and strategic communication 5. adapt feedback mechanism

Understand where everyone is coming from, build relationships and trust, find common ground. Be clear on your goal, work with allies, and commit to a sustained/long-term approach.

To engage stakeholders effectively, I focus on active listening and clear communication. I make it a point to involve them early in the planning stages, which helps create a sense of ownership. I prioritize building trust by being transparent about my goals and addressing their concerns thoughtfully. I also strive to highlight the benefits of their involvement, demonstrating how their participation can lead to positive outcomes. Flexibility is key, so I’m open to adapting my approach based on their feedback. I ensure to follow up regularly with updates on progress and celebrate their contributions to reinforce their importance. This approach fosters collaboration and keeps everyone invested in the project’s success.

Here's how you can engage key stakeholders without pushing them away, keeping in mind your passion for your advocacy goals: Understand Their Perspective: - Empathy is Key: Before you start advocating, truly understand the stakeholders' concerns, values, and potential objections. - Research and Listen: Conduct thorough research on their interests, priorities, and past positions. Actively listen during conversations to grasp their viewpoints.

Continue to engage! Keep them abreast of the state of issues and any new developments! Gauge people’s support and understanding by impressing on the Y issues under consideration must not be left to progress without intense review ….

In my line of work, advocacy is easy, in the sense that there are always people in need. Most times they do not want help, or embarrassed that they are needing help. So, how do we engage them? We understand their perspective. We build therapeutic relationships. We nurture those relationships until trust is forged. We do that through a non-judgmental empathy and compassion, and authentic approach. We engaged stakeholders the same way. However, they want to help, but most stakeholders I work with are results driven. They want to know that they are doing good and when they see results, they are empowered and engaged. Understand their perspective and goals. Build those relationships. Be empathic to their desires, and show them results.

The first step to enaging stakeholders is to understand them better. Ask questions like 'what are your current beliefs and desires around this topic?' 'What would say are the biggest obstacles any why are they there?' Only once your stakeholders feel heard and understood will you be able to gain any traction in advocacy work. Next, adjust your engagement strategy to a format that tells a story of success (or failure) with clearly stated results of how the desired change (or failure to change) impacted an individual with which the stakeholders can identify.