I Can Change It! Advocacy Guide for Young Campaigners

This 22-page guide for young campaigners against malaria compiled by Stop Malaria Now is aimed at young activists and teachers who want to play a role in the fight against malaria. The objectives of the guide, as outlined by the publishers, are to: • Provide an entry point to advocacy and campaigning • Explain why engagement around malaria is essential • Mobilise young people in the fight against malaria • Provide a guide to assist with advocacy planning • Share ideas for campaign activities. This illustrated advocacy guide gives simple explanations for terms such as ‘advocacy’, explains the Millennium Development Goals, and outlines facts, figures, and statistics about malaria. It also includes many practical tips and suggestions for anti-malaria campaigns. It explains the various kinds of advocacy work that ordinary people can do around malaria, such as letters to legislators, editorials to newspapers, and awareness raising events. It also explains why advocacy has to be carefully planned. It provides examples of countries where malaria infections and deaths have shown a decline, and also explains how malaria and other treatable diseases undermine social and economic growth. The guide also outlines the importance for young campaigners about campaigning for global health issues. It includes a variety of images, such as photographs, drawings, illustrations, tables, mind-maps, as well as a character called Ed Action, a schoolboy interested in campaigning against malaria. Using Ed Action as an example, it sets out how other youth campaigners can mobilise themselves in the fight against malaria. The guide also iintroduces an 8-step tool (‘The Advocacy Planning Cycle’) to assist campaigners map out a strategy. It then explains why each step is necessary and gives concrete examples of how to execute each step of the planning cycle, including finding the issue, analysing the problem, find the right audience, selecting the right communication tools, and mobilising people to action. It outlines how young campaigners can use both traditional media and new media to promote their anti-malaria work. It includes practical tips on venues, materials, activities, publicity, using mobile phones to recreate the sounds of mosquitoes in anti-malaria flash-mob, etc. The advocacy guide also explains the importance of having a code of conduct and sources of information on malaria.