The timeline is yours to define

There is no standard advocacy timeline. A local campaign for municipal budget inclusion might take 90 days. A national policy change could take 12 months. Influencing an EU policy framework might require a multi-year effort. The right timeline depends on your objective, your resources, and the political calendar around you.

Here are three examples at different scales, so you can see what each looks like.

Timing advice: when to act

Advocacy is not just about what you do. It is about when you do it. The best arguments delivered at the wrong moment have no impact.

You have already explored the main policy windows in detail in Tool 4 Topic 4.4 (“Timing your outreach: policy windows”): budget cycles, election periods, EU presidencies and EU sport events, health and inclusion calendars, major sport announcements, local anniversaries. Rather than repeating that content here, take a moment now to revisit your notes and check that your action plan above aligns with the windows that matter most for your advocacy.

Three quick reminders specific to your action plan:

• Anchor each phase of your plan to a real date in your local political or sport calendar, not to a generic “by month 3”.
• Treat windows as constraints first, then as opportunities. If your objective is municipal funding, your plan must end before the budget vote, not after.
• Some windows open unexpectedly (a scandal, a media moment, a political shift). Build flexibility into your plan so you can react within days, not weeks.

Timing advice: when to act

Not every advocacy effort succeeds on the first attempt. Before you start, think about your fallback positions.

• Minimum viable outcome. What is the smallest win that would still be worth the effort? If you cannot get full municipal recognition, could you secure a pilot partnership? If the federation will not agree to 5% solidarity, would 2% be a meaningful step?
• Pivot options. If your primary audience is not receptive, who else could deliver a similar result? If the municipality says no, could the regional health agency say yes? If the federation blocks change, could a direct public funding application bypass the federation entirely?
• Timeline extension. Sometimes the objective is right but the timing is wrong. A 90-day plan that does not succeed might become the first phase of a 12-month campaign. This is not failure. This is learning.

Handbook reference: Complete your action plan in Section C4 of your handbook (the three phases: preparation, mobilisation, negotiation), and your Plan B in Section C5.