THE PUBLIC POLICY ADVOCACY LANDSCAPE IS NOT CONFINED TO LOBBYISTS

The Public Policy Advocacy landscape does not just include 'lobbyists' as meaning parties paid to have a direct personal communication with government officials with the objective to influence policies and decision-making processes. The reality is that today the public policy advocacy process has become much more sophisticated and often involves large teams of individuals and organizations with various specialties that are not subject to regulatory and transparency requirements. This is the case  for example of Communication and Media Experts, Political Strategists, Coalition Coordinators, Grassroots Organizers etc.. All these parties are paid advocates seeking to influence governmental actions on behalf of their clients. They work in conjunction with those making traditional direct personal contacts to influence official's positions.

As paid advocates they should be recognized and treated as such and, at a minimum, should be subject to comparable transparency requirements as are 'lobbyists'.

Examples:

Communication and Media Experts: They develop an outreach and dissemination media campaign strategy/publicity and operational plan on advocacy and communications; suggest the means to stimulate debate and share resources in internet networks; advise on the identification of stakeholders to be involved and/or targeted by the strategy; recommend programmatic approaches to achieve the goals of the strategy, especially in the area of linkages and relations to governmental institutions, media and civil society; develop and outline criteria for maximizing and measuring/assessing impact of message; plan the preparation of policy advocacy and communication/promotional materials; provide guidance and specific recommendations for improving performance; train people in communications advocacy.

Political Strategists/Political Consultants: They promote the election of certain candidates or the interests of certain groups. They plan campaign strategies, coordinate campaign staffs, and arrange meetings to publicize candidates or causes. Using advertising, press releases, fund-raising drives, and other activities, political consultants introduce politicians and their ideas to the voting public. They function as public relations specialists, sales people and managers. Their goal is to 'sell' the public on the politicians they represent. Corporate lobbyists are also political consultants, although they specialize in representing companies to the government. They try to persuade officials to understand their companies' problems and to sway governmental policy or legislation.

Coalition Coordinators: They are responsible for planning, implementing and evaluating activities associated with the coalition including: general oversight for coalition activities and associated projects; grant development; submission and management; technical assistance to local/regional/national/European/international coalitions and partnerships.They develop and implement strategies that  will lead to long-term involvement of community institutions, organizations and individuals; represent the coalition through professional associations; assist coalition members in conducting annual strategic planning and guide the coalition to develop a comprehensive action plan based on needs assessment and strategic planning. They collaborate and work closely with adminstrators, legislators, academic institutions and community-based organizations to promote the coalition's mission and goals. They direct and assist the coalition to develop legislative action that promotes the coalition mission by: developing position statements; reviewing and recommending endorsement of policies, and advocating for policies/legislation at local/regional/national/European/international levels. They continuously evaluate the coalition effectiveness and coalition strategic plan.

Grassroots Organizers: Grassroots organizers are activists who, in addition to their own participation, work to move other people to take action and help them develop skills, political analysis and confidence within the context of organizations. They build organizations that engage in campaigns. The process is organization building and one of the tools for doing that is action on issues. Other tools are mutual aid, member education, values reflection, internal organization renewal, or building new organizational units. Organizers want to change the relations of power, not simply win this or that issue.