Country Profile: USA

The Alliance Academy - 2 weeks of advocacy training

15 participants from 15 countries

The Alliance Academy - equipping advocates with comprehensive skills.

The Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety (also known as 'The Alliance') received a generous grant from FedEx to help further develop the capacity of the 180+ Alliance members in 90 countries.

The Alliance created the 'Alliance Empowerment Program', an overarching program that has the aim to work with NGO leaders to improve their effectiveness and impact. Members of the Alliance identified several key areas for development that would help them in their road safety missions on the ground. This was realized through an Alliance wide 'Learning Needs Assessment' in which members reviewed the skills they need to make real lasting change in road safety. In response to a clear capacity development need, the Alliance developed supportive programs under the banner of the Empowerment Program. These include: The Alliance Academy: which offers trainings such as online webinars and in-person training workshops.

alliance discussion2 The Academy Advocates: is an initiative that results from the Alliance Academy. The overall aim is to increase the quality of work that Alliance member NGOs implement. It builds on key skills such as planning, identify funding, implementing and evaluating effective advocacy activities, community mobilization, press attention, legislative change and more.

We (YOURS), were called in to develop the training curriculum based on our training experience. The curriculum was developed through month-long consultations with the Alliance and informed by the Learning Needs Assessment.

We used our track record in workshop delivery to design, develop and implement the training. Floor Lieshout conducted the training and Alliance Member, National Road Safety Council NGO’s staff, Poghos Shahinyan also provided training inputs directly related to his extensive experience in advocacy. External facilitators, such as Safe Kids and Johns Hopkins, Bloomberg School of Public Health as well as FedEx staff were brought in to provide specific inputs to compliment the training.

"The training was absolutely great"

"My organisation has now been fully equipped to take on advocacy issues a notch higher, which we were not able to do so before because we did not have the know-how. A huge thank you to FedEx and the Alliance for such a wonderful opportunity”

Chiedza-Adelaide Mavengere

Childsafe South Africa - Alliance Advocate

Workshop delivery in USA

Discover our work with the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety and FedEx.

Crossing-over our facilitation experience for a global advocates training...

The first class of 15 Alliance Advocates participated in an intensive training at the FedEx World Headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee from 23 August – 1 September 2016. The Alliance Advocate training program is one part of the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety’s capacity building initiative, the Alliance Empowerment Program.

The Empowerment Program includes three main components: Alliance Academy – offers trainings such as webinars and training workshops; the Alliance Seed Program which offers small grants to small evaluated and replicable road safety projects and the Alliance Mentorship Program – which pairs Alliance members with experienced organizations to grow them in a specific area.

We joined the project as consultants in workshop facilitation. We worked with the Global Alliance of Road Safety NGOs and FedEx to develop a robust agenda to meet the needs of ambitious NGO leaders in road safety. We worked to develop a complete set of training materials to be delivered at the 'Alliance Academy' through our interactive, brain-friendly yet engaging and informative style.

The Alliance Advocates were selected through a strict, competitive, bidding process from among member NGOs. The 15 chosen advocates each came different countries and organizations and will become role models for other Alliance members, governments and their home communities.

‘Inspire and motivate Alliance Members in their region to become actively involved in contributing towards the road safety target mentioned in the Global Goals of halving road deaths and injuries by 2020. This will be done by further developing their knowledge and skills that they need to implement their own effective advocacy campaigns.’

Overall goal of the Alliance Advocates
“The Academy selected and trained 15 Alliance Advocates who will push for and support action in established risk areas. The Alliance Advocates will work together as a team to focus on specific deliverables and outcomes.”

The Alliance Advocates will:

Define and demonstrate all of the skills needed to act as an effective road safety advocate for change.
Identify gaps in road safety policy, action and initiatives using an evidence-based approach.
Build a coalition for advocacy, mobilize key stakeholders and take action together for a defined advocacy goal.
Demonstrate key methods to get your message across and monitor & evaluate progress and impact.
Design a comprehensive strategic action plan, raise funds for its implementation and execute the plan.

Road safety education reinvented for advocates

Alliance Advocates underwent a comprehensive introduction to a range of topics designed to bolster and develop skills to take meaningful road safety action. Advocates were taken through a range of interactive sessions to stimulate group work and personal reflections.

Topics included:

Advocacy in Road Safety
Road Safety Messaging
Strategic Planning for Advocacy Activities
Talking with Decision Makers
Building a Coalition and Grassroots Mobilization
Getting your Message Across
Presentation Skills
Facilitation Skills
Fundraising
Monitoring and Evaluation Skills

As well as specially selected 'Master-Classes' by expert guest presenters on a range of in-field experience sharing.

"Highly interactive, practical and inspiring"

"Conducted at FedEx World Headquarters in Memphis, TN, the training was part of the Alliance Empowerment Program, sponsored by FedEx. The Program is designed to increase the capacity of road safety NGOs around the world to more effectively advocate for road safety and to successfully carry out road safety programs around the world. YOURS delivered a powerful program that resulted in action plans being developed by the participants to carry out in their home countries upon their return."

Shane O'Connor

Communications Advisor, FedEx Global Citizenship

Results and Impact

A workshop is only as powerful as its impact and measurable results. Participants to the training became 'Alliance Advocates' on graduating from the Alliance Academy.

At the end of training, Advocates took the opportunity to evaluate the programme in its entirety as well as offer feedback on the content, delivery and impact. They were asked to rate the Alliance Advocate training course. 87% indicated that the training had exceeded their expectations.

100% of participants said the training was successful in preparing them for advocacy for change upon their return. During the training, the advocate refined and built upon new skills required to make positive change in specific key risk areas.

Some quotes from Alliance Advocates:

“The approach that was used has been phenomenal. It was extremely engaging and participatory.”

“As an NGO that did not have much experience on advocacy, I now have confidence we are/will be better at tackling it moving forward”

"It will definitely help to inform how I facilitate and strategically work on plans.”

“I learned tools that will help me overthrow nervousness.”

alliance graph 2 success Alliance Advocates expressed that the training was successful in giving them the critical skills needed in preparing them to take action in their countries. The training was devised to ensure that Advocates from each country could take the skills acquired and adjust them to a localized setting.

This ensures that the training is adaptable and each participant can make sense of the content in personalized reflections that are relevant to the cultural, national and societal variations that exist between the 15 participants from 15 different countries. 100% of participants expressed that the training was successful in this regard.

Action to Follow...

The findings from the evaluation reports on a very successful training. There is an overall sense that the skills acquired at the training, will contribute to an increase in the quality of Alliance members work, and enable them to raise funds, identify and implement relevant advocacy projects in their country within in key areas, that leads to relevant advocacy projects and relevant law changes. Alliance Advocates also made robust action plans to take their work forward in their countries. Regular updates and progress logs will be undertaken to track progress.

More information about the Alliance Empowerment Program can be found at the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety's website.

"We asked YOURS to take lead on developing an advocacy training course"

They developed the training objectives, content and learning outcomes in consultations with the Alliance and fellow Alliance members. The result is a powerful advocacy training that Floor and fellow Alliance members delivered very efficiently.

Floor is a gifted trainer, who is able to create a great group dynamic and engage participants from start to finish. The training was intensive and required a lot from the participants, but all gave themselves 100% due to Floors infectious engagement and unique ability to motivate and bring out the best in all.

Lotte Brondum

Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety, Administrative Director

Check out our workshops in other countries too!

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