Beyond traditional advocacy: activating ecosystems for change with CIVocacy

To achieve the vision of a prosperous Africa that inspires the world, we must tackle complex societal challenges that require fundamental systems change. However, traditional, top-down advocacy is often insufficient for this task.

To create lasting impact, our work demands a more dynamic, human-centred, and ecosystem-wide approach. This is the driving force behind CIVocacy, our proprietary methodology for designing and implementing large-scale civic advocacy campaigns.

What is CIVocacy?

The name is a fusion of ‘Champion, Influencer, and Voice’ with ‘advocacy’, reflecting its core principle: activating an entire ecosystem of stakeholders to build irresistible momentum for change. Instead of viewing societal challenges as simple problems to be solved, we recognise them as complex systems to be shifted.

The power of three

At its heart, CIVocacy is about orchestrating different forms of influence to work in concert. We ensure that a target decision-maker is influenced from all angles by recruiting three distinct advocate personas:

• Champions: These are highly-regarded, politically influential individuals who lend their credibility to the campaign. They act as visible, high-level advocates, engaging directly with key decision-makers to drive reform.
• Influencers: These well-connected partners prefer to work behind the scenes, using their access to shape conversations away from the public eye. Their work is crucial for navigating complex political dynamics.
• Voices: These individuals provide authentic, grassroots ‘air cover’ and build the public narrative. Whether they are beneficiary representatives or technical experts, they ensure the human impact of the issue is consistently heard.

Moving from understanding to impact

Our process begins by mapping the entire ‘problem network’ to identify the most effective ‘change levers’—specific points within a system where targeted interventions can create disproportionately large effects. By leveraging public debate (voices), private persuasion (influencers), and high-level engagement (champions), we create the necessary conditions for policy and systems change.