One of the most important parts of lobbying is building relationships with people that you are planning to engage, in other words, decision-makers and key role-players.

The stronger the ties of trust, mutual support and credibility between you and the person you are lobbying, the more effective your action will be.

These are some guidelines to building good relationships with key role-players:

• Provide useful, accurate, context specific and truthful information:
• It is important for you and your organisation/network to understand and identify issues of protocol and to raise issues with the appropriate office first. For example, if there is a problem at a clinic, first raise this with the head of the clinic, then the area manager, then the provincial or district authority and finally with the MEC for Health, rather than the other way around. When making a submission to the municipal council, provincial legislature or parliament – it is protocol to take the issue to the relevant decision making body to consider, rather than going to the media first.
• It is important to identify the group/constituency you represent and to have affected persons, community representatives participate where possible in the submission/presentation
• Recognise what the person you are lobbying has done to benefit the community, so start with a positive and encouraging comment
• Offer to help with issues that they care about (so long as it doesn’t conflict with your own interests), for example, helping to spread information
• Establish ways to work together in the future. Promote win-win solutions where the people you represent as well as the decision-makers gain something positive
• Keep in regular contact and don’t be impatient if nothing happens immediately
• Follow up in writing with those you made a petition/submission to, thank them for their consideration, repeat what you have requested/called for and ask, if needed, when you can meet again
• Keep the community or interest groups informed of latest developments
• Ensure that they own the lobbying strategy and can sustain it
• Keep the media informed about any changes or developments that may affect the issue

You want your municipality to test the drinking water of your community.

You believe a local factory has been pumping their waste into the water and it has been making people sick. You will have more chance of someone co-operating with you if you provide them with accurate information, for example, by showing them a record of the illnesses in the last month in the affected area (get these from a clinic or hospital) or providing evidence of the company dumping waste in the water.