From 25 to 27 May 2016, representatives of civil society organisations in the countries of the Eastern Partnership having experience in conducting professional organisation of the observation of elections at national and regional levels will have the opportunity to attend a workshop on “Public outreach and advocacy” which will take place in Odessa, Ukraine. The workshop was attended by the Executive Director of the Center for Development and Democracy Archil Khanchaveli.

During the three day event, the participants will receive an in-depth training on communication and advocacy techniques. They will familiarize themselves with different types of communication with regard to different stages of the electoral cycle, will learn how to align messages depending on the target audience and which communication channel and which advocacy tools are more suitable for promoting change.  We recall that domestic election observers may encounter a series of difficulties with regard to communication such as scarce and inaccurate information; limited access to the media for reporting their findings, limited time to process the information, public pressure, criticism and intimidation.

Advocacy activities are sometimes difficult to carry out inter alia due to the lack of access to relevant authorities and international structures and the absence of a systematic approach for the implementation of recommendations formulated by international and domestic observers. The activity is organized within the framework of the Council of Europe programmatic co-operation framework (2015 – 2017).