It is seen that most of the advocacies that have taken place around issues are political, social or those related to better service delivery whether in health and education or fair distribution of resources. Similarly we see that advocacy in matters pertaining to practice changes of people is effected by government agencies to enable future policy changes. It is seen that advocacy from the supply side would involve facilitating practice changes at the general community level. This advocacy would involve generating awareness around certain key issues that could have a possible impact on the awareness levels of the public. Some such issues could be eradicating traditional beliefs systems such as untouchability, leprosy, health related dogmas and others. Some areas where advocacy has played a pivotal role listed below.

Budget Advocacy

For a long time budget has been a subject understood by few who could handle numbers. However of late, demystification of the same has been occurring with civil society groups playing a major role in advocating for disaggregation of information related to budget and making it more inclusive. For this purpose, CSOs have advocated for planners and policy framers to simplify budgets and make them target group specific – like gender budgeting, child budgeting, and so on. By making this segregation and highlighting the amounts allocated for different categories of people, budgets are being screened closely for their equity in distribution.

Gender Advocacy

The advocacy on gender and related matters has been a significant issue all through development. The focus of advocacy on these matters have ranged from equality to ending discrimination (CEDAW), ending violent practices to equity in terms of sharing resources. Engendering developmental programmes, political participation, equal wages for equal work are all issues which have been advocated for and have been achieved by some countries while, they are at a nascent stage in some. Advocating for economic power to women has resulted in the formation of Self Help Groups (SHGs), that have fared well, both financially as well as social groups. These groups themselves are vehicles of change, advocating for changes in social perceptions through policy changes. For instance, the SHG groups in Andhra Pradesh have effected a change in the liquor policy of the state.

Health Advocacy

In the policy arenas health advocates work for positive change in the health care system, improved access to quality care, protection and enhancement of patient's rights from positions in government agencies, disease-specific voluntary associations, grassroots and national health policy organizations and the media. Rapidly growing areas of health advocacy include advocates in clinical research settings, particularly those focused on protecting the human subjects of medical research, advocates in the many disease-specific associations, particularly those centered on genetic disorders or widespread chronic conditions, and advocates who serve clients in private practice, alone or in larger companies.

For government programmes to make any policy changes on health and related issues, it is important to make the necessary changes at people’s level to establish a necessary condition. For sectoral issues like, Reproductive health, HIV and AIDS etc some changes in perception are required. There are many subthemes within public health that are being advocates for changes, such as polio eradication, demystifying stigmas around leprosy etc.  

Water Advocacy

Water is a scare resource and advocacy on water, its judicious and rational usage are some of the areas where advocacy has taken place. Water being a resource that transcends boundaries, the implications and levels of advocacy are from local to regional, to national and global. CSOs and rights groups are4 vocal on water rights of indigenous people and are averse to politics involving water distribution. Water advocacy is a political issue and accountability on matters such as distribution, etc is monitored regularly by vigilant groups. TEARFUND is one such agency, as is WaterAID.