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Case studies

Related program: Advocacy and policy

Advocacy is one of the many powerful tools that PATH uses to achieve its mission. By influencing the priorities and actions of decision-makers at all levels of the government, in countries around the world, PATH works to create a policy environment that supports global health. The following case studies illustrate how PATH uses a 10-part approach to advocacy to achieve lasting policy change.

  • Market Advocacy to Reduce Newborn Infections and Deaths in Bangladesh
  • Applying a market lens to advocacy for increased misoprostol access in Nigeria
  • Policies and actions for more effective malaria in pregnancy efforts
  • Tracking Effective Vaccine Management Indicators for Continuous Improvement of the Immunization Supply Chain in Uganda
  • Making human milk banking a priority in South Africa
  • Ensuring workplace HIV/AIDS policies for Kenya’s non-military uniformed service personnel
  • Influencing policies to reduce deaths from diarrhea in Cambodia and Vietnam
  • Ensuring government accountability for expanded access to female condoms in South Africa
  • Prioritizing the newborn agenda through policy change in Zambia

case study public policy advocacy

Considerations for Strategic Policy Advocacy

  • First Online: 02 August 2020

Cite this chapter

case study public policy advocacy

  • Sheldon Gen 3 &
  • Amy Conley Wright 4  

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The book concludes by summarizing key points and offering considerations for evaluating advocacy efforts. There is a brief recapitulation of the six strategies and discussion of the use of different strategies depending on the organization’s size, scope, issue area, and targeted level of government. A discussion of the challenges of policy advocacy acknowledges that a policy “win” may take significant time, with success or failure often due to forces outside the advocates’ control. These challenges make evaluating advocacy difficult and require a flexible approach. Developing a logic model can assist with strategic planning as well as monitoring and evaluation of an advocacy effort. Methods used in advocacy evaluation often draw on key stakeholder perspectives to identify if and how advocacy campaigns contributed to outcomes. Popular methods in advocacy evaluation are reviewed, including systems mapping, bellwether methodology, policy maker ratings, intense period debriefs, contribution analysis, and process tracing.

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Public Administration Program, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, USA

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Sydney School of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

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Gen, S., Wright, A.C. (2020). Considerations for Strategic Policy Advocacy. In: Nonprofits in Policy Advocacy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43696-4_9

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