Ongoing since 2009

Funded by the Tuberculosis Coalition for Technical Assistance (TBCTA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and created in partnership with the American Thoracic Society and Edelman public relations, the TB Advocacy Toolkit is a content management system specifically designed to assist in researching, developing, and publishing advocacy materials and to inform advocacy agendas. The toolkit outlines TB advocacy methods and steps. TB advocacy efforts attempt to influence the political climate, public perceptions, policy decisions, and funding allocations to bring about TB policy and service delivery improvements.

The kit intends to provide access to publications, tools, and templates produced by TBCTA partners through one centralised location. Objectives of the advocacy toolkit include:

1. Understand the role of advocacy to bring about TB policy and system change;
2. Provide steps for designing and implementing a TB advocacy campaign;
3. Show examples of successful campaigns; and
4. Define key audiences for the campaign and messages.

Features of the website include:

• A "Favorites" function for saving content that’s useful for advocacy efforts;
• A site structure organised by relevant topics, such as "Budgeting", that allows users to browse sections of TBCTA partner resources;
• Executive summaries of resources for quick and easy reference;
• User-accessible templates for press releases, fact sheets, and media advisories;
• A Google-like “search” function that sorts through publications, sections, and tools; and
• A ratings function for users to rank material based on utility and effectiveness.

Stop TB Partnership News, June 2009.