The 18-Month Course 

What will advocates learn in the Advocacy Learning Center?

The Advocacy Learning Center provides interactive learning opportunities for advocates currently working in the field. The knowledge, experience, skills, and qualities these adult learners bring with them will enhance and bring alive the Learning Center curriculum.

Throughout the 18-month course, new concepts and approaches will be introduced, analyzed, practiced, and reviewed in multiple ways. 

Course schedule & activities
Course content

To make it possible for busy advocates to complete the course, much of the curriculum is delivered through distance learning and self-study opportunities. Course schedule and activities include;

Schedule
It is a requirement for all team members to fully participate in all activities of the ALC 18-month course. If your program is selected for the class beginning June 1, 2012, you and your team must be available to attend and participate in each of the following activities:

a.    Introductory webinar/audio conference sessions on May 30 and 31, 2012,
b.    A four-day advocacy immersion event, in Minneapolis, Minnesota on June 4-7, 2012,
c.    A three-day institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota on November 14-16, 2012,
d.    A two-day community advocacy training in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Spring 2013,
e.    Monthly webinar/audio conference calls,
f.    Quarterly keynote webinar/audio conference lectures,
g.    On-line distance learning course and required reading, and 
h.    One local and one non-local site visit.

In-person events
All learner teams will join a class of 50 advocates who meet in person for a

• 4-day immersion training on core activities of advocacy applied to individual advocacy,
• 3-day institute on institutional advocacy, and a
• 2-day community advocacy training.

Role plays, case scenarios, documentary videos, and article excerpts will spark discussion and inspire learning. There will be opportunities to socialize and network with each other, too.

Distance learning
These activities include

• ongoing audio conferences and webinars
• two self-study tools including an online learning course and a self-study workbook

Site visits
One member of each team will travel to a model off-site organization that is advocating for social change. 

The Core Activities of Advocacy
The central feature of the course curriculum is an advocacy framework that can be used to define, structure, and evaluate our work. Whether we are working directly with survivors, creating systems change, or organizing in our communities, advocacy is characterized by six core activities—connecting, understanding, analyzing, strategizing, implementing, and adapting.

The framework that these activities provide distinguishes advocacy work from other fields, such as psychology, social work, and law, all of which greatly influence advocacy but are distinct from it. By examining each activity and learning the particular skills, knowledge, principles, and qualities necessary to carry out the activity, we can improve both our advocacy practice and the philosophical approach that it is built upon.

The Features of Institutions and the Methods That Institutions Use to Coordinate Their Workers
Course participants will learn to recognize problematic characteristics typical of institutions that process large numbers of cases. Advocates can be more effective in systems change work if they know how to identify features that maintain the status quo. They will also learn the methods institutions use to make the ways workers talk about and act on cases consistent. Changing widespread institutional practice requires changing how these methods are used to coordinate workers’ responses.

2. Advocacy Foundations
This component presents theories and philosophical approaches fundamental to ending violence against women. Learners will examine the scope of the problem, place advocacy in a historical and global context, and connect the everyday practices of advocacy to the wider movement to end violence against women and to other social change movements.

3. Advocacy Applied
Front-line advocates will acquire transferable skills and develop qualities necessary to apply the knowledge, principles, and tools they are gaining through the Advocacy Learning Center. Participating program managers and directors will consider how to restructure and change operations in their organizations to support front-line staff as they apply the knowledge, frameworks, and new advocacy skills they have learned.

Download the complete Course Schedule