Communication & Advocacy
Communication & Advocacy
Advocacy is the act of well-planned and intended series of actions to influence change. In democracies, advocacy is also a formal form of voicing a need for change and/or enforcing rights through legal mechanism. Advocacy aims to influence a change in policy visualization, identification, formulation, implementation and execution. It also aims to access information and create democratic spaces for greater say for citizens in governance matters. Advocacy is thus a planned, political process by engaging certain key information and skills, to influence policy outcomes. The scope of the module covers issues that would enable readers to understand the importance of advocacy in democratic political systems.
The concept and principles of advocacy enable developmental communication. Advocacy as a term involves 'speaking up on behalf of others'. In the context of social accountability, advocacy refers to efforts of an individual or group to effectively communicate, convey, negotiate or assert the interests, desires, needs and rights of oneself or others or a collective. As such, it is used by a wide range of actors (citizens to parliamentarians), addressing a variety of issues (public policy, strategies, expenditure, service delivery and so on), using different strategies for the same (research, public monitoring, performance measurement, pro-active disclosure, participatory planning, civic education, media coverage, coalition building), thereby calling for different levels of action (from local to national to global). Advocacy finds meaning in letting know and putting across a demand or a message for greater accountability. The key processes and stages in advocacy are:
All types of advocacy require campaigning and mobilizing support and hence communication strategies in Action become important. Such communication involves familiarity with the issue, whether health or budget or education, and the knowledge of the process. Advocacy essentially
Advocacy is the act of well-planned and intended series of actions to influence change. In democracies, advocacy is also a formal form of voicing a need for change and/or enforcing rights through legal mechanism. Advocacy aims to influence a change in policy visualization, identification, formulation, implementation and execution. It also aims to access information and create democratic spaces for greater say for citizens in governance matters. Advocacy is thus a planned, political process by engaging certain key information and skills, to influence policy outcomes. The scope of the module covers issues that would enable readers to understand the importance of advocacy in democratic political systems.
The concept and principles of advocacy enable developmental communication. Advocacy as a term involves 'speaking up on behalf of others'. In the context of social accountability, advocacy refers to efforts of an individual or group to effectively communicate, convey, negotiate or assert the interests, desires, needs and rights of oneself or others or a collective. As such, it is used by a wide range of actors (citizens to parliamentarians), addressing a variety of issues (public policy, strategies, expenditure, service delivery and so on), using different strategies for the same (research, public monitoring, performance measurement, pro-active disclosure, participatory planning, civic education, media coverage, coalition building), thereby calling for different levels of action (from local to national to global). Advocacy finds meaning in letting know and putting across a demand or a message for greater accountability. The key processes and stages in advocacy are:
All types of advocacy require campaigning and mobilizing support and hence communication strategies in Action become important. Such communication involves familiarity with the issue, whether health or budget or education, and the knowledge of the process. Advocacy essentially