Fighting indifference: The pains in advocacy assessment

The onset of the academic year saw a University Student Government (USG) that held a strong commitment to intensifying information dissemination, University discourse and advocacies.

Such commitment was seen through the USG’s efforts in disseminating advocacy campaigns through events, social networking sites and mass print media distribution throughout the two trimesters of its mandate.

Advocacy, as a principle, seeks to mobilize action through awareness and from there, influence notable University entities, particularly political groups, in solid reform. Given this context, while the USG’s campaigns may be sound in execution, the actual impact of such efforts are an entirely different affair that is difficult to assess.

The heart of everything: synchronized advocacy

USG President Cabe Aquino stresses that ‘advocacy’ is at the heart of everything the USG does and that research should be the basis for advocacy-based projects. This year’s USG created the office of Research Assembly that formulates different research proposals aimed for execution for the entire academic year, specified by an advocacy calendar designed during the summer.

Aquino admits that such campaigns take considerable effort on their part, with only 90 USG officers struggling to reach 15, 000 students. “[What we want to address] is when [in the past], most of the time, the students in the USG just put up small booths [promoting certain advocacies], and such methods do not seem to be effective,” says Aquino in a mix of English and Filipino.

She relates, “It is difficult to focus our efforts. So our goal with the advocacy calendar was to mobilize all efforts of the USG towards a specific advocacy every month.”

Prime initiatives, low turnouts

Despite the strategic reform in the USG’s advocacy policy and the enhanced social networking by which the USG reaches the student population, factors such as the six-day class scheme impede the maximum utilization of the USG’s advocacy campaigns. Activities such as seminars and conferences are most affected, as all of DLSU’s organizations, student and non-student; compete for the University break time slot every Wednesday and Saturday.

“Inasmuch as we would like to reserve the Teresa Yuchengco Auditorium for 3,000 students, how many will attend? It is always an effort [on the USG’s part to gather people to attend],” shares Aquino.

Advocacy campaign seminars sponsored by the USG often contact partners from outside agencies and institutions, including representatives from the United Nations.

Leanne Castillo, USG Vice President for External Affairs, laments that low turnout is a problem when there are seminars sponsored by such partners, as they try to shy away from class-related incentives as a means of promoting volunteerism.

Castillo recalls, “We had an event, prior to the SONA, organized by the National Union of the Students of the Philippines (NUSP), it was a tie-up with us [OVP-Externals]. You cannot say it was a success because of the turnout, although the subject was good; the turnout was terribly low.”

“We also spearheaded a talk with the UN on its Millennium Development Goals, and the speaker from the United Nations Inter-Agency Project (UNIAP) was good. UN and National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) were also there, [but again] we had a problem with turnout. It is difficult to get people. The initiative is there, but [the opportunity is lost for the students].”

Lost in translation?

In this regard, administrative support for policy formulation is not so latent although awareness is a key aspect of focus in any advocacy. As to institutional (DLSU) advocacies, the Institutional Research, Planning and Advocacy (IRPA) Office is not as pronounced, as advocacy is only a recent addition to the former Institutional Research and Planning Office.

Newly appointed IRPA Director  Rosa Calilung-Teehankee clarifies that aside from the IRPA’s role as conveyor and coordinator of multi-sectoral discussions with the Committee on National Issues and Concerns (CoNIC), the stances on certain advocacies are generally left to the discretion of the members of the community.

Calilung-Teehankee emphasizes that advocacy is not only awareness, but rather, a comprehensive look at the issue by culling out research to make informed responses. “The point of advocacy is to translate knowledge into meaningful action,” she reminds.

Even if such meaningful action may be translated into partnerships and partnerships result in external projects, which make a wider advocacy reach, no strict metrics are set for the assessment of such meaningful action on the part of the University’s stakeholders.

The USG, for its part, is using feedback surveys from College Assembly Presidents, and general comments and interactions with the students. So far, responses have been positive, lauding USG’s efforts. The scope, however, of such feedback may be limited by the lack of manpower from the USG, and student compliance.