Advocacy Toolkit - ENGAGeO ENGAGeO ENGAGeO

Patient Advocacy Guide

Why is patient advocacy necessary?

Nothing is as strong as the real patients’ voice when priorities are being set in healthcare. With patient involvement increasingly recognised as a key component in the redesign of healthcare, the timing has never been better for patient organisations to make the voice of women with gynaecological cancers, their loved ones and those at risk of developing the disease heard among health decision-makers, and those whose cooperation you might need to influence them.

Since healthcare systems, government screening and prevention programmes as well as access to therapies are increasingly under scrutiny in terms of value for money in many countries across Europe, there has never been a time when health policy-makers need more convincing arguments of the patient’s true needs articulated through strong and compelling arguments to help them take the right decisions.

How to use this advocacy guide?

This guide is divided into different sections, which explain step by step how to plan, prepare, conduct and monitor your advocacy efforts. It is important to remember that one size does not fit all, so the guidance and
tips provided should be adapted to your national circumstances, organisational structure and available resources.

If you are creating an advocacy plan for the first time, we would encourage you to go through the manual step by step. If you are, however, an experienced advocate interested in some parts of the guide you should be able to navigate through it easily to focus on those parts you need most without necessarily reading the whole document.

Indeed, for those of you already engaged in advocacy, the guide can help you strengthen your plans. It does not mean that you need to start from scratch. On the contrary, you should build on your work to date to see whether your efforts can be streamlined and enhanced based on the guide.

We hope you find this guide useful and wish you good luck with your advocacy efforts!

Click here for the Advocacy Guide:

'Working with the Media' Toolkit

When you think of working with the media, consider that there are paid media and earned media. Most of this guide will discuss details related to earned media.

Nonprofits and patient organisations often prefer earned media because of cost factors, but also because as news, the public is more apt to believe when it appears as news. It can also create a more compelling case for information dissemination and engagement.

After a brief discussion to help you determine and shape your media approach, we will address paid media first, and then move on to how to build and use relationships to enhance earned media.

This toolkit provides useful tips, samples and how-tos to help non-profit volunteers and professionals work with the media to advocate on behalf of their organisation and mission. For those who are new to media work, this toolkit provides the basics for getting started.

For those who are more experienced, each part of the resource guide can serve as a checklist for your ongoing efforts to keep the public informed through media.

Download your copy of Working with the Media Toolkit.

We are bringing you more detailed tool kit guides:

Factsheet 1 - Identifying your needs

Factsheet 2 - How to start a gynaecological cancer support and...

Factsheet 3 - Confirming your remit and three years plan

Factsheet 4 - Recruiting and managing volunteers

Factsheet 5 - Structure and governance

Factsheet 6 - Membership models

Factsheet 7 - Strategy for growth and impact

Factsheet 8 - Budget and sponsorship

Factsheet 9 - Marketing and Communication

Factsheet 10 - The importance of partnership