What is advocacy?
'Advocacy' has its origins in law and is defined by most dictionaries as the process of 'speaking on behalf of someone.' Today it has evolved to include work undertaken by development agencies, civil society groups and individuals to bring about change. Advocacy has been defined as: the process of managing information and knowledge strategically to change and/or influence policies and practices that affect the lives of people (particularly the disadvantaged). Advocacy therefore encompasses a range of activities, all focusing on a process of change. This change may be in any one of several areas:
- in attitudes and political will
- in policy/decision-making
- in policy implementation and monitoring
- in people's awareness of policies and practices
- in the positioning and participation of civil society
- in the material position of the poor
For example, advocacy work could be undertaken to change the policy of a national government to take greater account of communities' rights to participate in the management of their water supply and sanitation services.
This process of change which advocacy aims to bring about can occur at different levels, from the local community level to the national and international. Change at one level may be necessary for change at another. For example, influence on national government policies comes both from within a country and from external sources such as international funding bodies. Advocacy work therefore needs to take place at both the national and international level in order to achieve change in national government policy. In some cases, a groundswell of change at the local level may lead to a corresponding change in policy at national level.
Change can also occur at different stages in the decision-making process. Advocacy therefore encompasses working for change in any of the following areas:
- who makes the decisions: participation of civil society, representation of community
- what is decided: legislation, policies, budgets, programmes
- how is it decided: accountability and transparency, participation of civil society
- how is it enforced or implemented: accountability, awareness raising
An important aspect of advocacy work is the involvement of communities themselves in advocating for change. Advocacy work can therefore be defined as not only bringing about change in policies and programmes (the 'policy dimension'), but also:
- strengthening the capacity, organization and power of civil society and its involvement in decision-making (the 'civil society dimension')
- increasing the legitimacy of civil society participation and improving the accountability of public institutions (the 'democratic space dimension')
- improving the material situation of the poor and expanding people's self-awareness as citizens with responsibilities and rights (the 'individual gain dimension')
Advocacy seeks to build alliances in order to change the processes of decision-making at all levels and the involvement of communities in those decisions. Effective advocacy should therefore include not only the promotion of positive water supply, sanitation and hygiene initiatives ('good practice' advocacy) but also all four of the dimensions described above, if it is to begin to address the policies and practices that perpetuate poverty and inequitable access to resources.
The need to advocate sanitation
Water and sanitation are key areas of concern for sustainable development. Some 1.1 billion people (a sixth of the world's population) do not have access to safe and affordable water supply, while 2.4 billion (nearly half the world) do not have access to adequate sanitation. A large majority of those who do not have access to these basic necessities belong to the poorest sections of society, whether in urban or rural areas. In the water and sanitation sector especially, the crisis of governance translates into an inability of government and society to prioritise the needs and requirements of the poor. This is not surprising, given the relative powerlessness of the poor - in urban and rural areas - compared to the urban and rural rich.
This in turn has a profound impact on many aspects of life for the poor:
- health: more than 2.2 million people in developing countries, most of them children, die each year from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene
- education: poor sanitation in schools affects attendance rates, particularly of girls
- women: it is estimated that over 10 million person-years are spent by women and female children carrying water from distant sources every year
- economics: national economies are weakened by the need to spend significant funds on health care and medicines, while many working days are lost to ill-health resulting from poor water and inadequate sanitation
Within the water sector it has not always been recognized that benefits from improved water supply can only be fully exploited when sanitation is improved and hygiene promoted at the same time. Investments in water quality and quantity can reduce deaths caused by diarrhoea by 17 per cent, but sanitation can reduce it by 36 per cent and hygiene by 33 per cent. This lack of recognition was reflected in the absence of a target for sanitation among the Millennium Development Goals, to match the water target.
However, following concerted efforts by water and sanitation activists from around the world, including the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Campaign, a target for sanitation was finally agreed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in September 2002. Whilst this commitment is a major step forward in tackling the global crisis in water supply and sanitation, the challenge remains for governments and international agencies to commit the necessary time and resources to meet both the water and the sanitation targets. It is already acknowledged that 'at the present rate of investment, universal access to safe drinking water cannot reasonably be anticipated before 2050 in Africa, 2025 in Asia and 2040 in Latin America and the Caribbean.' Without political will and significant commitments, the targets will remain distant unreachable goals. The present challenge is for activists to translate the achievements of advocacy at the international level to advocacy and action at the national scale.
Where to start
Drawing up a plan for advocacy work is similar to any other project or programme planning. It is important to define objectives and how they can be achieved; to define what activities need to be undertaken; and assign responsibilities for the tasks involved. Good planning is essential for effective advocacy work, as it is for any other activity. Planning and implementing advocacy work involves the following steps (below), referred to as the advocacy planning cycle:
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