Shave precious weeks, months & even years off your learning curve
Dear Activist,
Did you know that just a few years ago, the United Nations has been struggling to keep the number of NGOs seeking to have access at the United Nations down and has been working hard to make sure that only those who really do make “proper use” of their status with ECOSOC can keep their status.
And it’s not just all about the political pull some of the Member States may exert. It’s also about how NGOs go about their work, what they know—and more importantly, what they don’t know and the natural strain that large numbers of NGOs have been putting on the limited resources of the United Nations.
This is all the more reason that in the midst of growing interest of NGOs to engage at the United Nations, the ever-evolving international space means that the NGOs who are going to stand out will need the right tools and core knowledge.
While my name isn’t too famous, I’ve been the behind-the-scenes secret weapon for many challenging initiatives, projects and even General Assembly resolutions. I’ve also helped many regular NGO representatives who don’t have specific global policies they want to impact but do want to better use their organization’s access to the United Nations and the resources it does offer.
Especially if you don’t have years of experience and may even be brand new and hungry to learn—I can show you how to be effective in your particular arena.
If you’ve been around the block before and tried your hand at figuring out how to really impact global policy without much luck, I’m confident with a little clarity and a clear strategy, you’ll be able to finally achieve the level of impact and influence you’ve been hoping for.
And if you already have some work underway, perhaps even have a team of volunteers or interns you would like to help make more effective and you feel like you could be getting so much more accomplished, I can help you too! Here’s why…
Yes, I’m not proud to admit it, but even though I had graduated with a masters degree, when I first started visiting the UN to orient myself, I realized that they were speaking about things I had no idea about (so much seemed to have double meaning) that I felt embarrassingly stupid! How long did that last? Way too long. Part of it was I was embarrassed to ask what things meant (I would have had to interrupt every sentence… often.) And I didn’t have a mentor or anyone to ask for quite some time.
So how is this going to help you become an effective NGO diplomat? I like to think that I’ve made the 4972 mistakes at the UN so you don’t have to. And so you can end up figuring out quickly, which ones WILL matter and which ones you can turn to your advantage! After my first, um, less-than-successful foray, I turned myself into a student of success. I found mentors from whom I learned different aspects of what makes for success. I talked to colleagues and their contacts, sat with Ambassadors and other diplomats listening for what they said… and what they DIDN’T say. I wiped out what I thought I knew about outreach and advocacy and started again, this time with a solid foundation under me.
After working with a team of people on a very challenging topic for the UN and initiating what became a series of UN General Assembly resolutions, I new I’d figured out a number of essential secrets. You see, no one wants to tell you this, there is right way to set out to make changes in global policy, and there is a wrong way. My organization tried the wrong way once and then I had to spend years (literally) mopping up the mess and I’ll never go back again. I’ve spent the last few years showing other NGO activists how to avoid the mistakes I’ve made and I can’t wait to start working with you.
Sometimes our answers are right under our noses. You see, one of the “projects” I set for myself for my doctoral program, was to put together a body of knowledge that would do 3 main things:
- Cover the essentials that an international NGO representative to the UN would need to know to be effective
- Uncover the hidden human undercurrents of many UN interactions that are usually overlooked (and not factored into their outreach strategies) by activists passionate about their programs
- Integrate the main elements of mindset and process so that the flow of information, homework and suggested activities would help any person covering the materials end up “naturally” having a strategic approach if they completed the course.
At the time, I was just thinking about the information I wanted to “get down.” Then I realized I wanted to make this available to as many NGO representatives as possible, not only the ones I had originally served. So I spent weeks putting it all together—and had to teach myself how to record, script, organize, code, upload, convert, and more of the tech side, to actually make it available (and not just on my computer) to everyone.
So now it is available to activists wherever they may be, and especially those who may have to travel huge distances to get to NY or Vienna or Geneva in the first place. By doing this course before they ever get to NY, they can multiply the investment of their journey to New York so that every moment they spend, they are not wasting it (hopefully) learning on the fly, but they will land prepared and ten times more prepared than they every would be. I know how precious money and time is to NGOs and seeing people unnecessarily, if unintentionally waste them is painful.
The Advocacy Algorithm will go over all the essential information about the UN that you will need to get you and your organization soundly on the road to impacting and influencing the diplomats and UN officials critical to your specific area of expertise. It’s packed with information and strategies to make you a savvy advocate for your issue at the UN quickly.
But don’t let the title fool you! Even if you already have spent time around the UN, I bet I can show you a few things that will help you increase your influence, develop working relationships with diplomats and UN officials and get your message in front of more people that matter. Many of the key tips, tactics and strategies covered in this course are things I wish I new earlier in my own work there. They would have saved me hours of time, human resources and heartache.
In this 35 lesson course with accompanying video, audio, downloads and links, I’ll walk you through the same steps I’ve walked many other UN representatives through, holding your hand through the entire process. And you have access to all the materials 24/7 after each is released to you.
It is designed for you to learn all the essentials and not just the more obvious ones. Without the lesser known elements of the advocacy algorithm, you with “holes” in your capacity as an advocate and UN lobbyist and like having a leaky boat, it’s hard to make headway. I want you to be successful. NGO contributions to the global agenda are crucial!
First, we’ll get you clarity on the territory within which you will be working. We want you to get yourself oriented first so that whatever first steps you take, you will have “local knowledge” of the terrain. You won’t be flying blind in your first efforts.
We’ll help you get oriented. And yes, you will hear me repeat one word very often: context, context. It requires a shift in focus, one that when someone is really passionate about a cause, is not always so easy to do unless you are aware of its importance. Walking straight off 1st Avenue and into the UN campus, OK, so there are security measures, but there are loads of not-so-obvious “rules,” code words, invisible borders and no-nos.
I want to get you aware of these so you can next get on with discovering how you can nevertheless, get through the access barriers so you can move, work with and influence the decision-makers. To do this, there are quite some basics to review just so you are not playing catch-up months or years later on these basics that sure, you can get by without them, but it’s like walking around with an extra 30 pounds of ignorance wearing on your pace.
So you’ll get to know a lot of the UN basics, a little about the history of member states and why that impacts NGOs, the UN structure, history, agencies, commissions, they way it get’s its work done and more.
Let me show you what information about the UN you need to know so you’re not wasting countless hours trying to figure it out yourself.
Some days, it feels like I’ve made every mistake in the book and they hurt! I’ve also had my fair share of faux-pas in my day. Plus, UN lexicon is strange and misleading and so full of acronyms that it’s almost impossible to have a conversation with out half a dozen of them stuffed into each sentence. I’ll go over with you in an “Average Jane” approach the essentials of UN structure and decision-making so you can feel empowered, not perplexed.
Getting a handle on how decisions are made formally so you can learn how to target the pivotal informal conversations is one of my favorite hacks to impact and influence.
In this third module, you’ll then learn how to use documents to decode what has already transpired and how you can—and need to be able—to use them as your own “weapon of influence.” I’ll help you understand the variety of resources and tools you have and guide you to get started using one the UN’s most important tools: UN Document System.
No matter your area of expertise, being able to use and research the UN website and it’s document system to get your finger on the pulse of what is happening and to be able to craft elements of global policy you wish to impact is essential. Plus In this section, I’ll show you the secret to decoding resolutions so you can make more informed, strategic decisions about your approach at every level.
Plus I’ll show you my secret checklists that engages your contacts and keeps them willing to meet, talk, deliberate—without black magic! But once they’re ready to give you the time of day, what do you do with them?
The people side of diplomacy is huge. Yes, having the specific knowledge about the content and process of decision-making is essential, as is fully understanding that diplomats are not machines with buttons to push.
If you are at the UN to help shape global policy, you are in this as a change leader. You are there to facilitate change at the global level. That means you need to be aware that there are many pressures that those tasked with decision-making are under. Sometimes the sheer force of timing, expertise, and global events will make what you are endeavoring to do a slam dunk.
Mostly that will not be the case. You will be one who foresees more than most, and you will need to help “lead” the change process. This module in conjunction with the next, provide you with essential components of change leadership.
Now we dig a little deeper into some of the dynamics that surround you in your new communities—the UNHQ diplomatic and NGO communities. While the issue of framing, building social capital and mobilizing your resources my not be foreign to you, this is where we delve a little deeper so you consciously factor in additional elements to your strategies.
This section builds your “impact and influence self-awareness” and ups the chances that you really can make the difference you have only up until now dreamt about.
To accelerate your work, and to put many of those energetic volunteers to work, you will benefit from developing your team. And this is different work than getting yourself out there.
So here we go over how to put your team to work, how to work with them to make the “one” effective team so you are not herding cats, and we look at some of the dysfunctions and obsessions that will help your team become your own organizations “WMD,” your own weapon of massive difference!
While this special lasts.
Remember: There is NO RISK to you.
I understand that I have 30 days to request a FULL refund, no questions asked. That is:
- If “The Advocacy Algorithm” doesn’t prove to my satisfaction that it will help me get up to speed on the UN: its structure, organization, members, history and more.
- PLUS provide tips, tactics and strategies for effective outreach at the UN…
- If it doesn’t take me step-by-step through the training in basic public relations and advocacy skills for use at the United Nations…
- or if it I don’t think that it will continue to provide me the quality training I need to get my organization’s UN relations work on steroids…
then I have a full 30 days to request a full refund. No Questions Asked!
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