Advocacy & Lobbying
CADRA carries out political, lobbying and advocacy activities, and such activities are only carried out for the sake of, or in aid of, or in furtherance of its charitable purposes.
In this section you will find information on CADRA's current advocacy and lobbying work.
This section is still being built and in the nearest future you will find a lot of information on what constitutes often invisible but one of the most important CADRA's areas of work.
Our Multi-Level Approach
CADRA takes an integrated multi-level approach to the issues it works on and applies such methods as are appropriate to that level.
Whether it be the
- organization of international co-ordination meetings,
- local field research or national campaigning and lobbying of Parliament,
- or some other combination,
the purpose is to gain a positive result on the issue at hand and thereby work towards the elimination of abject poverty.
Our organization seeks to actively engage in this struggle with the aim of alleviating and eliminating poverty in Africa.
Employing a Variety of Methods
As we work on several levels at once, we also simultaneously employ a variety of methods. These methods may be grouped as follows:
- Advocacy and lobbying to bring about legal and policy changes
- Networking
- Action-research & publications.
Advocacy and Lobbying
CADRA forms pressure groups and organizes campaigns of action on national and international fronts to affect legislative changes and ensure that they are implemented. An important aspect of our working method is to create our own alternative and then lobby for its adoption rather than remain merely reactive in our efforts to influence decision-making mechanisms.
We do this by directly contacting the persons responsible for policy-making and engaging the decision-making process, creating publicity through the print and broadcast media, forming pressure groups and organizing joint campaigns with other organizations, and supporting and disseminating our views through our own publications and meetings.
International resolutions and treaties, as well as achievements in other countries, form a significant basis for our efforts. Our work on the national front makes it abundantly clear that government commitments need to be put into time and action frameworks to ensure they are fulfilled.
Networking
CADRA organizes workshops, seminars and conferences aimed at consciousness raising, networking and facilitation of strategies to push for social and legal change in various fields related to the long-term struggle against abject poverty in Africa as well as eliminating global poverty. We work together with different organizations at national, regional and international levels.
At present, we are striving to create a network around the "Make Poverty History Campaign", which dominates the lobbying aspect of our organization.
