Communication is crucial in order to generate more public support for the prevention of gender-based violence, access to comprehensive reproductive health services and safe abortion, sexual health of young people and is needed also to challenge stigma, discrimination, attitudes and laws. Effective advocacy communication is especially important for frontline advocacy actors. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are at the frontline of advocacy efforts; however, they often face challenges collaborating with each other to effectively communicate and strategize on advocacy, since they tend to work as individual organizations rather than as a network. Furthermore, CSOs are typically more familiar with traditional advocacy methods, yet there are other emerging platforms that can be used for advocacy. CSOs reflected on how to effectively communicate and use visibility to advance advocacy on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) from August 10 to 11. The training program brought together 40 communication officers from different CSOs working on SRHR in Rwanda to discuss the communication challenges they face and equip them with knowledge on advocacy messaging. According to HDI’s Director of Communications, Juliette Karitanyi, “the program provided CSOs with space to discuss the importance of communication in advocacy, share their experiences in terms of challenges and successes in communication, and give them the capacity to advocate efficiently, thus expanding the SRHR movement and strengthening relationships between CSOs and other stakeholders.” The meeting enabled CSOs to communicate effectively, provided space for CSOs and NGOs to share their experiences in terms of challenges and successes in communication, expand CSOs activities within current media trends, and increase their visibility and understanding of advocacy and related policy issues. Among the topics covered in this training were principles of written and spoken communication, visual identity and branding, stages of developing key messages for social media and communication materials, and how to disseminate them. Participants also learned about social media management tools for communication and advocacy. They also had training on human rights based reporting when communicating on safe abortion and other SRHR issues. Aaron Clevis Mbembe, the Associate Director of Policy and Advocacy at HDI said that one of the issues being addressed is facilitating dissemination of accurate, science-based information. “There are so many articles on reproductive health issues, but when analyzed, they focus on the moral and religious perspectives. They often don’t bring out accurate information about health and human rights, so this training is part of the response.” “HDI is proposing that people involved in communication are equipped with the right information on human rights, including existing laws in Rwanda, so they can report objective stories,” he added. We still have contradicting information from CSOs that are supposed to advocate for human rights, he said, this is an opportunity to bring them on board and ensure that they start using their platforms to share accurate information. Participants react Divine Ingabire, representing Flavors of Family Planning said the program is timely and important, “Through these sessions I learnt the critical importance of advocacy in communication. I learnt communication skills, especially leveraging other emerging platforms such as social media to reach a larger target audience.” Elyse Byiringiro, Public Relations Officer at Medical Student Association of Rwanda (MEDSAR) said that among many other things he learnt, “formulating key advocacy messages and involving all staff members in the improvement of program implementation.”
