You will also use your messages in face-to-face meetings. Advocacy meetings are a very important activity to build trust and relationships with your target audiences, present your issue, inform and persuade them to take action.
On page 15 of your
workbook
we have put together a checklist with things to consider before, during and after your meeting.
Before the meeting
- Who are you meeting with (what is their role, who do they work for, etc)?
- What is their position on safe abortion and/or post-abortion care?
- Have they engaged on the issue before? If yes, how?
- What is your objective for meeting with them (i.e. what are you hoping to get out of the meeting)?
- What are the main messages you want to put across?
- What questions do you want to ask?
- What statistics and other background information do you need to have to hand?
- Will you take any materials with background information that you can give to them?
During the meeting
- Introduce yourself (and any others you are with), and explain why you asked for a meeting.
- Ask if it is OK to take notes (if it is not, make sure to note down all you can remember as soon as possible after the meeting has ended).
- Listen attentively and ask follow-up questions where appropriate.
- Clarify points if anything is unclear.
- Make sure to ask the questions you had prepared and/or ask other ones based on the information you receive during the meeting.
- Set out what has been agreed at the end.
- Schedule a follow-up meeting if appropriate.
After the meeting
- Send a short email thanking the individual for meeting with you, summarising the action points of the meeting.
- Follow up on any action points.