The guide is also addressed to civil society activists and the civil society organisations (CSOs) through which many of them pursue their goals. In particular, we hope to provide guidance to civil society actors that are willing to adopt a constructive approach towards advocating change vis-à-vis their governments and engage pro-actively in public policy-making so as to increase the impact of their advocacy efforts. Contestation and denunciation are legitimate strategies to check the power of public authorities, but they may also generate distrust on the side of public officials and tend to open a gap between professionals working in the same policy field.
The INSPIRED method bridges this divide by promoting mutual understanding among the many stakeholders affected by a given policy reform – through dialogue, joint analysis of problems and sustained collaboration that is steered towards finding consensual, policy-based solutions to those problems. One of the most rewarding moments of the INSPIRED dialogue processes is when civil society activists and government officials start to see each other as members of the same policy network instead of belonging to diametrically opposed political camps. We are convinced that these kinds of outcomes are actually more valuable in terms of generating lasting change than technical assistance or financial support on their own – without a broad consensus on the purpose of such aid – can ever be.