LtCP supported its Country office’s staff and its country based CSO partners including CBOs with a focus on NRM protection, livelihood improvement, and environment to strengthen advocacy capacity and the effectiveness of LtCP, thus WWF regional office commissioned API to conduct a 3-day training workshop on advocacy strategy and capacity need assessment with 45 (20 female) people from five Countries of regional LtCP, on 20-22 June 2023 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

API facilitated a training workshop in English to build capacity in advocacy strategies, methods, and tools, analyse capacity building needs in advocacy of The Leading to Change project (LtC’s) CSO partners (management and program staff) from Viet Nam, Loas, Myanma, Thailand, China, and Cambodia, as recommended in the capacity building strategy for LtC project.

At the end of a three-day training workshop, participants improved their capacity on:

• dvocacy concepts, technical frameworks, advocacy principles,
• Characteristics of a good public policy to advocate for, key advocacy strategies and advocacy tools.
• Practical lessons learned in the context-based advocacy and best practices.
• Advocacy knowledges and practices of advocacy capacity gaps among local/country partners of LtCP and capacity building strategy need.

The Leading to Change project (LtCP) is WWF regional project funded by SIDA implemented in 5 countries in Greater Mekong region: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. LtCP aims to strengthen CSOs and CBOs – Community Based Organization, in Natural Resources Management (NRM). Specifically, it helps to improve capacity for CSO partners and empower CBOs/ CPAs/CFs (CFM) and CFis to enable them to exercise their rights and participate effectively in NRM.

Policy advocacy is defined as one of the main activities which enables CSOs and CBOs to raise their voice with government and policy makers as well as to dialogue with business sector and other stakeholders about NRM related policies and decisions.