ranging from national roundtables and regional consultations to targeted advocacy activities. The national roundtables assembled a very broad range of actors around the table to discuss the problem and possible solutions to strengthen procedural rights and develop action plans. It was thus a great opportunity to motivate state authorities to undertake reforms. The Change Formula helped to design the roundtables with a specific end to influence change in mind and resulted in the development of national action plans. The regional consultations specifically added the element of peer-to-peer exchange across EU Member States and allowed exchange between countries with promising practices and those in need of reform (see above, § 2.5). Particularly noteworthy was the regional consultation in Ireland that added the element of a study visit to a police station to witness the practice of AVR. This generated great interest on the part of state representatives. The challenge, however, was that the stakeholders who attended the events were experts, representatives of public authorities, but rarely political decision makers that had the power to initiate structural/ legal changes (see also above, § 2.5). In future projects, it would thus be important to consider how multilateral advocacy meetings can be designed to also engage this target group. One possibility often used is to follow up expert consultations with a public discussion where the results and recommendations are being presented to politicians asking them to take a position. The need to raise awareness and mobilise the public was also discussed at the project’s EU workshop with CSOs, and the participants suggested numerous innovative ways to do this including the development of podcasts or videos or campaigning, putting at the centre storytelling and human stories. For example, in the context of this project four videos with the respective focus on access to information, access to a lawyer, access to legal aid, and AVR recordings were created. It is anticipated that the dissemination of the videos on social media will attract the attention of criminal justice actors in other Member States and also foster dialogue. In the videos, various criminal justice stakeholders, like police officers and lawyers, talk about their real life experiences, which creates a believable and convincing message. Challenges and how to overcome them The general guidance on effective advocacy provided by organisations such as the OHCHR emphasises that advocacy is a tool that should be used strategically and a skill that can be trained. Moreover, advocacy needs to take into account the advances in social sciences and normative change and the advances made in research on the human actor, means of communication and group dynamics.109 Moreover, it has been critically noted that in some CSO advocacy may be internally marginalised and dismissed as an implicit side product of the organisation’s overall objective.110 The ‘marginalisation’ of advocacy is often also caused by a lack of resources.111 Therefore, thorough planning of interventions is highly relevant to use the few available resources wisely. In its comprehensive manual on advocacy with national authorities, the OHCHR laid down a useful step-by-step plan for bilateral as well as multilateral lobbying with stakeholders. Before starting an intervention, it is advisable to determine the target audience of advocacy. For this exercise, stakeholder mapping helps to distinguish between officials who have no power to act and actors who are capable of transmitting human rights messages (see above, § 2.4.1).112 Moreover, the lack of resources can be mitigated by improving the coordination and cooperation of advocacy efforts, using synergies and avoiding duplications (see above, § 2.6). The participants in the projects highlighted the importance of building advocacy coalitions to coordinate and reinforce messages. 109. Ryan Goodman, Derek Jinks, and Andrew Woods, Understanding Social Action, Promoting Human Rights (Oxford University Press 2012)7-8. 110. Chris Stalker and Dale Sandberg, ‘Praxis Paper 25: Capacity Building for Advocacy’ (International NGO Training and Research Centre 2011) 8. 111. Ibid 10. 112. OHCHR, ‘Chapter 31: Advocacy and Intervention’ (2011) 5. 39