NCERT Book Class 12 Home Science Chapter 22 Advocacy

ADVOCACY

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After completing this chapter, you will be able to–

•  explain the concept of Advocacy, Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) and Social mobilisation
•  describe the types and purposes of Advocacy
•  distinguish between Advocacy and Behaviour Change Communication BCC (IEC)
•  understand knowledge and skills required for careers in Advocacy.

INTRODUCTION

You must have seen different types of appeals for help by individuals  or groups, for example financial help for a child’s cancer treatment;  ehabilitation of tsunami affected families or a cause such as ensuring  that every child goes to school, or preventing child labour. You may have  also seen the advertisements on television showing persons suffering from  cancer caused by the use of tobaco. There are appeals being made by  famous personalities about immunising children against polio. Also, most organisations need finances in order to carry out these activities. This is  generally done by appealing and persuading individuals/corporate bodies/ the public in general to donate in cash or kind. Such activities could be termed ‘advocacy’.

For advocacy to be effective, the key is to sensitise people or to influence people for desired change in behaviour. This is best done by professionals who apply their persuasion skills in writing and action. Advocacy skills can work wonders in persuading people. Key decision makers are generally busy and/or may not have complete information on a particular issue. Advocacy can influence how they think and act on behalf of their constituents. Let us briefly take a glimpse into the world of advocacy and communication for behavioural change.

Basic Concepts

What is advocacy? Advocacy is one of the methods of communication for social change. It consists of planned activity or activities undertaken by individuals or organisations with a common goal/vision and common frame of reference to influence policy related to specific cause(s) or issue(s). The purpose is to create a supportive environment and build consensus towards realising or actualising the vision. Advocacy can be undertaken at global, regional and local levels, depending on the issue and the laws which influence people’s lives and actions. For example, you know that in many communities in India, a girl is less valued than a boy and some parents decide to get rid of the female foetus before it is even born. In some areas, the female newborn is killed by gruesome methods. This must be stopped. Advocacy is required to build consensus of people about not getting rid of female foetus and create an environment to discourage such a practice at local and national levels. Advocacy can be planned to sensitise people to the issue of not aborting female foetus.

The Purposes of Advocacy can be summed up as

• To promote or reinforce a change in policy, legislation, programme, resource allocation or socio-cultural norms.

• To win support from influential people and pressure groups for one’s agenda.

Advocacy is the act of ‘explaining and persuading’ on behalf of a particular issue, idea, person or animal. An advocate is someone who does this. Both the terms advocate and advocacy have specialist meanings but in this field they are different from advocates for legal court procedures. The advocacy in this context is to argue for social purposes to highlight

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