Advocacy Incubator

OCIC launched the flagship ‘Advocacy Incubator 2024’ program in partnership with Results Canada to provide tailored, hands-on advocacy training for member organizations. This program was a unique opportunity for selected organizations —Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), Kinvia (formerly known as Canadian Feed The Children), Canadian Friends Service Committee, and World Renewto receive support from the experts at Results. Over four months, they worked on building their organization’s advocacy strategy, strengthening their advocacy capacity, developing tailored advocacy strategies, implementing advocacy tactics, setting measurable advocacy outcomes, and embedding advocacy into their organizations while navigating political changes. The program helped organizations move from ad hoc advocacy to more structured, goal-oriented approaches, including the use of SMART objectives.

The Advocacy Incubator program ran from September 2024 to January 2025. Through this program, Results Canada facilitated and supported engagement through:

  • A one-day in-person retreat in Toronto (which was held on September 27) with 10 representatives from the four participating organizations allowed participants to have some hands-on advocacy skills training, meet their advocacy incubator peers, and work to refine their organizational goals for the incubator.  
  • Four virtual workshopping sessions where participants received hands-on support to progress in the development of their strategy through training and facilitated discussions. These included: 
    • Tactics in Virtual Spaces (Oct 31 – Nov 1)
    • Election Readiness, Campaign Engagement, Global & Domestic Positioning & Strategy Development (Nov 25, 27, 29 and Dec 4)
    • Measuring Advocacy and Updates (Dec 13)
    • Meaningful Collaboration and Incubator Conclusions (Feb 14)
  • Asynchronous support through the Microsoft Teams platform, allowing participants to receive tailored guidance between sessions.

The 2024 Cohort:

Introduction to Advocacy Online Course

Results Canada and OCIC collaboration on the Advocacy Incubator pilot demonstrated the clear appetite for structured, accessible, and confidence-building learning opportunities in advocacy. Based on lessons learned and positive feedback from the incubator pilot, and in alignment with OCIC’s organizational mission to broaden engagement in advocacy and international development, we are partnering with Results Canada to co-create a publicly accessible, online introduction to advocacy course. This self-directed, open-access course will provide a foundational learning experience for individuals and organizations looking to engage in effective advocacy that supports international cooperation for sustainable impact and transformational change.

Objectives

  • Equip a wider Canadian audience with a clear understanding of what advocacy is and why it matters.
  • Serve as a standalone engagement tool to inspire action and awareness of Canadian international development priorities.

The online training will consist of six accessible, interactive modules totaling approximately six hours of self-paced content:

  1. Course Introduction & Expectations
  2. What is Advocacy
  3. Identifying the Problem
  4. Mapping Decision-Makers
  5. Tactics That Work: Tools in Your Toolbox
  6. Getting Involved in Advocacy

Content will be multimodal and include written explanations, instructional videos, frameworks and templates, interactive exercises, case studies from the international cooperation sector (e.g., Spur Change, Global Fund, Charlevoix), and quizzes or knowledge checks to deepen learning.

The course is designed to reflect:

  • Equity-centered, inclusive, and decolonial approaches.
  • Real-world relevance for a Canadian and globally conscious audience.
  • Flexible application across organizational contexts and campaign issues

Past Sessions:

From Action to Impact: The Fundamentals of Effective Advocacy

The Ontario Council for International Cooperation (OCIC) was pleased to offer training on advocacy tailored for staff of Ontario-based member organizations and institutions working in international cooperation. 

In this interactive virtual workshop facilitated by Results Canada, participants built their knowledge of advocacy and learned how to develop an advocacy strategy to accelerate impact. Participants also sharpened their advocacy skill sets with deep dives into effective communication techniques and parliamentary engagement. Participants left the training with the knowledge and confidence to incorporate advocacy into their work. This workshop was relevant for those with all levels of advocacy knowledge from beginner to advanced.

Through the different modules, participants gained knowledge and skills on the following topics: advocacy basics, building an advocacy strategy, communicating effectively, digital tactics and engaging parliamentarians. 

Format and Access:

At the end of the workshop, participants who successfully completed the 2 days received a certificate by Results Canada for their participation.

The training took place over two sessions that will ran online and included interactive activities, discussions, and tools to advance advocacy capacity.  

The training will was delivered in English via Zoom. 

About the Sessions:

Session #1: Tuesday, May 28
1:00pm – 4:30pm EST

  • Advocacy Basics
  • Building an Advocacy Strategy
  • Parliamentary Engagement
Session #2: Tuesday, June 4
1:00pm – 4:30pm EST

  • Communicating Effectively
  • Digital Advocacy
  • Putting it All Together