Advocacy is the act of well-planned and intended series of actions to influence change. In democracies, advocacy is also a formal form of resisting change and enforcing rights through legal mechanism. Where formal systems do not allow popular voices to gain ground, while unilaterally preparing laws and policies for the people, is reason enough for ‘advocates’ of such voices take upon themselves to highlight the views to the systems of governance that be. The aims of advocacy are:

• To draw attention towards issues and rights that are hitherto ignored;
• To influence a change in policy visualization, identification, formulation, implementation and execution;
• To call attention towards people’s views and perceptions on critical issues; whether pertaining to them or the state;
• To access information and create democratic spaces for greater say in governance matters

Advocacy is a thus a planned, political process by engaging certain key information and skills, to influence policy outcomes.  More often, advocacy is taken up by media, civil society organisations on behalf of people, by professionals (advocates) and individuals on behalf of people, or by people themselves on behalf of their community.

Advocacy is desirable for the following reasons.

• A small ‘minority’ think, make and implement policy decisions on issues pertaining to ‘majority’;
• Mechanisms for voicing divergent opinions and exist, but mediums to channelize the same are few and not accessible to all;
• Electoral participation, is considered as a one-time activity and the end of participation in most governance systems;
• Governance systems and structures are not amenable to people’s perceptions while visualizing, formulating and implementing policies;

Objective of the Unit

The objectives of the present unit are:

• To appraise the reader about the concept and principles of advocacy;
• Clarify the stages of advocacy and the processes involved; 
• Highlight various methods of communicating for the purposes of advocacy and the tools available for the same;
• Understanding the nuances of advocacy and its current usage in developmental issues i.e., advocacy in action.

 Scope of the Unit

Going through this unit, readers would be able to understand the importance of advocacy in democratic political systems. Advocacy creates voices for the marginalized and the disadvantaged. The unit provides an understanding about making spaces for people’s views in order to sustain developmental initiatives. The unit looks into issues that have successfully been able to advocate both, policy as well as practice changes as these have an influence on policy changes.