This is an advocacy toolkit developed by Gerasimos Kouvaras and Marina Sarli specifically with the purpose of raising the profile of DEAR in Europe at both national and EU-wide levels. Although it uses the terminology of DEAR and its recommendations on developing advocacy strategies and planning are equally relevant for the field of GCE as a whole.
The resource contains four main parts:
A. Explaining DEAR;
B. Making the case for DEAR;
C. Basics of advocacy ;
D. Developing a successful DEAR strategy.
This is a relevant resource for anyone working on advocacy (in GCE or otherwise), especially for newcomers to the field. Parts A and B are good entry points into debates on DEAR of that time (2012), however, they may considered a bit dated for todays contexts, while parts C and D still offer useful insight into the multiple factors to be considered while working on advocacy in general, and GCE in particular. The toolkit was used in several DARE forum member countries and trainings on advocacy were provided by the authors for national platforms.
This toolkit can be used as a reference point for those working on developing advocacy strategies, policy papers and awareness raising campaigns (especially in national contexts, but also internationally). As it is not an educational or content-based resource, it has less value for those working directly on GCE with their existing target groups, but may be of relevance to those seeking to build new partnerships. Like many other toolkits, it is based on a linear, follow-the-steps procedure towards reaching advocacy goals (and corresponding change), which may be considered effective, but it does not particularly fore-ground a critical reflection of proposed and normalized understandings of problems, solutions and theories of change.