Towards the Ambitious Implementation of the Paris Agreement: A Toolkit for National Level Advocacy
Cover page of the ACT Alliance Toolkit for national level climate change advocacy
ACT Alliance has launched a Toolkit, Towards the Ambitious Implementation of the Paris Agreement. The purpose of the Toolkit is to support the climate change advocacy actions of ACT members, forums and partners at the national level. The Toolkit guides FBOs to develop successful approaches for meaningful climate advocacy to stay at 1.5°C and to operationalise our common vision of shaping our future in ways that take up the call for a strong moral and religious imperative in overcoming the climate crisis.
The Toolkit is divided into three main modules, with a section on each of the instruments mandated by the Paris Agreement, namely; the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and the mid-century long-term low greenhouse gas emissions development strategies or Long-term Strategies (LTS).
Key messages, questions and answers, checklists and lessons learned, as well as diagrams and info-graphics are used as visual elements to ease the learning process. Examples are used to further illustrate the content and various options for FBO advocacy interventions are proposed. The Toolkit is designed so that FBOs can make their own choice on which of the instruments to focus on. All three modules follow the same structure, allowing FBOs to prepare their advocacy engagements step-by-step, before getting involved in the in-country NDC, LTS and/ or NAP processes.
We welcome all of our members and forums to make use of this Toolkit, not only for advocacy purposes but also for capacity building and to facilitate internal discussions and reflections to ensure that specific national contexts are integrated into our global climate justice work.
Protection of Space for Civil Society and Human Rights Defenders – The Case of Israel and Palestine
Civil society organisations in the Middle East and across the globe are actively working on a wide range of issues including service delivery, cultural, social and religious activities, human rights support, development and humanitarian response. Through these organizations, the expressions of people’s concern for their fellow citizens, for the globe and for a better future are raised.
This report is based on a study that was conducted in 2016, and an updated analysis that was carried out in 2017, and identifies a variety of hindrances to CSO operations in the OPT/I.
The ACT Alliance Advocacy Strategy (2015-2018) is available for download in English, French and Spanish.
This advocacy strategy sets out ACT Alliance’s objectives and approaches for advocacy over the coming period, and will guide governance, members, forums, secretariat, advisory groups and other structures in their advocacy agenda.
The Global Strategic Framework of ACT Alliance for 2015-2018 integrates advocacy as a cross cutting strategy in its four aims;
ACT Alliance Climate Change Advocacy Framework Position (2016 – 2018)
The ACT Alliance climate change advocacy framework position paper is designed as a broad outline of the policy areas and approaches that the alliance is working on. It serves as the general vision and guide for ACT Alliance’s climate change advocacy, campaigning, and messaging by providing a political and strategic framing of various thematic areas.
Thematic areas include:
Climate justice
Gender and human rights
Community resilience (adaptation, loss and damage)
Low greenhouse gas emission development
Means of implementation (climate finance, capacity building)
Campaigning and mobilisation for ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement
The ACT Alliance Climate Change Framework Position is available for download in English and Spanish
ACT Alliance is the largest Protestant/Orthodox alliance in the world that engages in humanitarian, sustainable development and advocacy work, with over 140 members present and working in 125 countries around the world.
Together, we strive for a world where all may live with dignity, justice, peace and full respect for human rights and the environment.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015 brings together 17 goals with 169 targets in an ambitious and comprehensive programme to transform the world by 2030. As such, it presents both huge opportunities and challenges. Much has been written about the SDGs, and it is beyond the scope of this paper to analyse the framework itself. However for ACT Alliance, as it moves to develop a strategic approach to its engagement with the framework, as important as the goals themselves, are the set of common principles that underpin it and which parallel ACT’s own understanding of transformational development.
ACT Alliance recognises the importance of enabling the empowerment of its local, national, regional and global structures to raise the visibility of, and engage people in, humanitarian, development and advocacy issues relevant to their contexts under the ACT Alliance brand. Branding under the ACT Alliance brand enables members to show they are part of an international collaboration.
However, ACT Alliance also recognises that social media, regardless of the localisation of the content, has a global reach that can impact positively or negatively not only on those groups involved in social media communication, but also on the over 140 member organisations that associate with the ACT Alliance brand.
This is because the ACT Alliance brand represents not only individual member organisations or groups, but a global network which must be taken into account in all forms of global communication. Social media content and messaging in the name of the ACT Alliance brand that is not in line with the ACT Alliance policies and values risks damaging the ACT Alliance brand for all members of the alliance.
This policy serves to ensure consistent messaging and communication in the name of ACT Alliance across social media channels in line with the ACT Alliance brand. In this way the brand can be managed, protected and preserved. The policy stipulates the requirements and responsibilities with which the ACT Alliance secretariat staff, ACT Alliance structures such as ACT Forums, Communities of Practice and Advisory Groups, and staff of ACT Alliance member organisations must comply when communicating through social media channels under the banner of, on behalf of, or in the name of ACT Alliance.
Call to Action: WCC, AACC and ACT Alliance on overcoming hunger and sustaining justice and peace in the Horn of Africa
On June 28th and 29th 2017, members of the ecumenical family along with national and international organizations gathered at the All Africa Conference of Churches in Nairobi, Kenya for the “Mobilisation of faith communities for overcoming hunger and sustaining justice and peace in the Horn of Africa”. Together, faith leaders developed a ‘Call to Action’.
Civil society organisations in the Middle East and across the globe are actively working on a wide range of issues including service delivery, cultural, social and religious activities, human rights support, development and humanitarian response. Through these organizations, the expressions of people’s concern for their fellow citizens, for the globe and for a better future are raised.
ACT Alliance is the largest Protestant/Orthodox alliance in the world that engages in humanitarian, sustainable development and advocacy work, with over 140 members present and working in 125 countries around the world.
