“Who, me? Yes, you.”
#1 Why Advocacy?
#2 How Do I Get Started” The 5 Key Steps
#3 What is “Advocacy” ? – 7 Defining Characteristics
#4 Who is Involved in Advocacy?
#5 What is the Advocacy Process?
#6 Skills, Characteristics & Knowledge Supporting Advocacy
Advocacy is the key for a great deal of what needs to be done to either (a) support and improve our democratic processes and institutions or (b) take on the big tough intimidating issues we face in our world.
Advocacy is the process that is essential for systemic change. It is essential for designing the necessary laws and policies and for getting them enacted and implemented. It is also essential for getting the right decisions made for organizations – from strategy and targeted outcomes to a range of organization design elements (from membership, roles, and relationships, to processes and style).
Advocacy is the act of supporting, defending or arguing for a specific cause. The purpose of advocacy is to bring about change.
Being an advocate is a critical role for individuals. It is critical not only for being the voice of certain groups of people, but it is also critical for educating decision-makers and then supporting them. And advocates are critical for the decision- makers because they need credible input as well as support for their actions.
The Big Problem – Most of us don’t see ourselves as “advocates.” An “advocate” seems like someone who is trained and experienced and has a certain personality. Not many of us see ourselves in that way and we tend to discount the contributions we might make. There can be other barriers, but this is the big one to get past to be an effective part of a collective effort.
It’s a process. The way to get past this barrier is simply to approach advocacy not as a role, but as a process that has a lot of ways for individuals to contribute and add value – with the character, skills, and knowledge they already have. We will grow as we gain experience, but we start with a surprising range of characteristics and capabilities that can make a difference. We just need to engage. The key is to just get started, explore, and see where it takes us.
The 5 Key Steps
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”
Mark Twain
It’s fine to start small. Just start. There is no magic path that we have to discover. We just start down the path by taking the first few steps.
The key for each of us is to engage in areas of interest and bring the skills, characteristics, and knowledge that we currently have – and commit to whatever skill, characteristic or knowledge development we think will increase our confidence and impact.
1. We Choose Our Focus. We decide where we want to make a difference – one or more issues.
2. We Gain Basic Knowledge. We research the topic(s) so that we feel some confidence in engaging – but we don’t over-prepare because that can delay our engagement and contribution.
3. We are Conscious About What We are Bringing. We reflect on what characteristics, knowledge or skills we are bringing to the groups that we might join. This is not to justify our inclusion, but to give us a chance to be conscious and intentional in what we bring and to have a base of confidence in our potential value-add.
4. We Connect. We explore what groups already exist in the area of our interest and choose which to join. Or we start a formal or informal group if no relevant groups exist. This is like a job search where we identify where we want to add our value and we are clear on what we can bring to add that value.
5. We Act with Confidence. We don’t have to be an expert or bring a dozen skills to a group to be a valuable member. When groups are powerful it’s because they have integrated the various skills, knowledge bases, and characteristics of their members. We get started now, bring what we’ve got and remember that our capabilities will grow rapidly if we commit.
7 Defining Characteristics
“Advocacy is the act of supporting, defending or arguing for a specific cause. The purpose of advocacy is to bring about change.”
Advocacy is the key for a great deal of what needs to be done to either (a) support and improve our democratic processes and institutions or (b) take on the big tough intimidating issues we face in our world.
1. Advocacy is a Partnership Among those Directly Advocating for Something – and those Who Can Contribute to or Achieve that which is Being Advocated
Advocacy is about getting people’s attention, generating a desire to act, providing potential solutions to pursue and empowering people to successfully implement those solutions.
2. Advocacy is Beyond Lobbying
Advocacy may be political (like lobbying), but it can also be focused on educating the public, standing up for an individual or group, bringing about change within organizations of various types or developing capabilities within a community.
3. Advocacy is Most Often About Solutions – Not Conflict
Advocacy does not necessarily involve confrontation or conflict. It is more often about educating people or providing solutions to problems and ways for targeted people or groups to play their roles.
4. Advocacy Can Be Individual, Within Groups, or Systemic
As individuals we can always advocate with our circle of friends, family, neighborhood, etc. We can also advocate within groups or organizations that we are a part of. A great deal of high impact advocacy, however, happens through a systemic focus through groups or organizations.
5. Individuals are the Key to Advocacy – in Lots of Roles – Large and Small
Individuals can take direct actions, such as communicating with decision makers and protesting/supporting. Individuals can have an even greater impact by strengthening groups and organizations through membership, money, bringing a wide range of capabilities, recruiting others/networking, etc.
6. Advocacy is Often Complex & Difficult
Influencing policy – whether governmental or organizational – can be complex and difficult. That is partly the result of the inherent complexity of the issues, but it is also the result of the complexity and difficulty of working within governmental and organizational hierarchies and the amount of competition for time, attention, and resources.
7. Advocacy is Rarely a Linear Process
It usually has lots of twists and turns with progress and setbacks and requires a lot of perseverance and resilience. That can naturally be intimidating for individuals and smaller groups, particularly those lacking experience and resources. But achieving systemic change will require a large number of individuals and smaller groups to be active and coordinated around issues as much as possible or sufficient policy changes will not be developed, let alone implemented.
It takes lots of diverse individuals – usually in groups and networks – as well as the policy makers
There are lots of people involved in advocacy – in lots of different ways. There are people on the front lines of advocacy. There are lots of people supporting them and the advocacy process. There are also people in positions of power who need to be influence, guided, and supported in achieving the desired outcomes.
1. Effective Individuals
It all starts with individuals. Lots of individuals that come in lots of forms. There is a large number of settings in which to be an advocate and an extraordinary variety of groups involved in those settings. There are a lot of roles that individuals can play in the advocacy process. The actions that help individuals be successful in their various roles include:
2. Effective Advocacy Groups and Networks
The life of a group or network needs to be a priority issue. Effective advocacy groups and networks are consciously developed and maintained.
3. Effective Policy Makers (elected and appointed – governmental & organizational)
Policy makers are not just targets of advocacy efforts. The policy makers themselves are involved in the advocacy process and can be effective or ineffective in an area based on how they approach it. To be successful policy makers need to:
Advocacy is not an event. It is a process that drives change.
There is no magic recipe for effective advocacy, mostly because there is so much variation in the challenge from issue to issue or setting to setting. There are, however, some basics that form a good foundation.
1. Make the “Business Case” for Why the Change is Necessary
What is precipitating the desire for the policy/change? Why consider changing? What is demanding the taking the risks and making the effort and sacrifice to leave the known world of current reality and pursue the goal of the advocacy?
2. Create a Clear, Specific and Compelling Vision of the Desired State
What reality might the proposed policy(s) create? What is worth the risks and effort required in change? What can people rally around?
3. Design Draft Strategies for Achieving the Vision and Engage Others
This is tougher than it sounds because it requires a surprising amount of thought, a surprising number of commitments to action, and a surprising amount of discipline to align strategy and operations.
4. Prepare the Ground – Build a Critical Mass of Support
5. Invest in Relationships
Building and maintaining relationships is at the heart of advocacy. Healthy relationships support trust and credibility, which is essential. They can determine the quality of communications and decision-making. There are a number of key relationships to build and maintain. For example, relationships with:
6. “Hold the Course” – Persevere
This is the often-overlooked companion to the planning process.
7. Pay Attention to the “Nuts and Bolts”
Those are the six big foundation blocks of advocacy, but behind the scenes there are dozens of tasks that need to be done to be successful. And individuals build those foundation blocks by doing lots of “nuts and bolts” tasks.
They range from researching, editing, and lots of logistical tasks to building and maintaining websites, graphic design, and managing contacts. They can also include being present at protests and advocacy rallies, digital marketing, communications with stakeholders, tracking opponents, contacting policy makers, etc.
Leaders of advocacy efforts need people doing all of those tasks – and many more. “You can’t play the game if you don’t have the players.” And it takes a lot of players to play the tough games.
You don’t need all the skills, characteristics, and knowledge. Start with what you have and add them to the process.
Advocacy is often a difficult and complex process, and it requires a wide range of skills, characteristics, and knowledge. No one embodies all of the skills, characteristics and knowledge required, so successful advocacy relies on groups finding that capability within their membership and bringing it to bear in a coordinated fashion.
Individuals need to find their value-add and groups need to help them do so. That value-add can grow beyond the initial contributions both rapidly and extensively with the right initiative and support.
The best way to review the following lists is to be surprised at how many of the qualities we can bring to advocacy vs. focusing on what’s missing. No one brings everything. No one.
1. Skills that Can Make a Difference
There is a wide array of skills that combine for effective advocacy and their importance varies by issue. These are examples and no one brings all of these skills. The idea is to have a group that has as many of these skills within it as possible and know how to deploy them effectively.
2. Characteristics that Support Advocacy
Not everyone needs to have all these characteristics. The list is to be used as a way to identify the characteristics that you have that can contribute to the advocacy process. Most of them are characteristics that support a healthy life.
3. Knowledge that Supports Action
There are several general types of knowledge that are necessary for success. It helps to have topic experts, but you don’t need to have deep expertise in a specific topic to make a difference. There are some broad types of knowledge that are valuable – and they can be developed rapidly.