Principles of Advocacy: Overview: Getting an Advocacy Campaign Off the Ground
Learn how to actively promote a cause or principle involving actions that will lead to a goal your organization has selected.
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WHAT IS ADVOCACY?
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DOES ADVOCACY ALWAYS INVOLVE CONFRONTATION?
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WHY AND WHEN WOULD YOU CHOOSE ADVOCACY?
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WHAT ARE THE BASIC COMPONENTS OF ADVOCACY?
WHAT IS ADVOCACY?
Before direct action comes planning, and before planning comes an understanding of what needs to be put in the plan. So first, here's a reminder of what advocacy is (as well as what it's not).
- Advocacy is active promotion of a cause or principle
- Advocacy involves actions that lead to a selected goal
- Advocacy is one of many possible strategies, or ways to approach a problem
- Advocacy can be used as part of a community initiative, nested in with other components.
- Advocacy is not direct service
- Advocacy does not necessarily involve confrontation or conflict
Some examples may help clarify just what advocacy is:
- You join a group that helps build houses for the poor--that's wonderful, but it's not advocacy (it's a service)
- You organize and agitate to get a proportion of apartments in a new development designated as low to moderate income housing - that's advocacy
- You spend your Saturdays helping sort out goods at the recycling center - that's not advocacy (it's a service)
- You hear that land used for the recycling center is going to be closed down and you band together with many others to get the city to preserve this site, or find you a new one. Some of you even think about blocking the bulldozers, if necessary - that's advocacy
Advocacy usually involves getting government, business, schools, or some other large institution (also known as Goliath) to correct an unfair or harmful situation affecting people in the community (also known as David, and friends). The situation may be resolved through persuasion, by forcing Goliath to buckle under pressure, by compromise, or through political or legal action.
Several ingredients make for effective advocacy, including:
- The rightness of the cause
- The power of the advocates (i.e., more of them is much better than less)
- The thoroughness with which the advocates researched the issues, the opposition, and the climate of opinion about the issue in the community
- Their skill in using the advocacy tools available (including the media)
- Above all, the selection of effective strategies and tactics
For some people, advocacy is a new role. It may be uncomfortable--particularly if confrontation and conflict are involved. But, for others, advocacy is more attractive than setting up and running service programs in the community.
Advocacy can be glamorous: the David vs. Goliath image, manning the barricades, making waves. But the decision to put major resources into advocacy is not one to be taken lightly. If it doesn't work--if you stick your necks way out and don't succeed--not only will you fail, but you may do so in public, discrediting your cause, perhaps making conditions worse for the people you set out to help.
DOES ADVOCACY ALWAYS INVOLVE CONFRONTATION?
Advocacy can be confrontational, but conflict is usually a bad place to start. Good advocates know they must think very hard about any confrontation that's going to be necessary. That's one reason for careful planning of strategy and tactics. Even if the issue seems as clear as a bell, and your choice of actions seems just as obvious, it's a good idea to take another long, hard look.
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