Advocacy is defined as public support for or recommendation of a particular cause or policy. It is also defined as the profession or work of a legal advocate whose responsibility is to plead or argue in favour of a course, idea, or policy. There are three forms of advocacies namely case advocacy, self advocacy, peer advocacy, paid independent advocacy, citizen advocacy and statutory advocacy.
Case advocacy
This at times is referred to as crisis or short-term advocacy. The advocacy focuses on one issue or set of issues which are not intended to have long-term objectives. It may be provided alongside peer, citizen, or self-advocacy to give extra support in dealing with a particular problem due to a break down in an advocacy partnership, or because of issues requiring special expertise e.g. in law, child protection, education, housing, employment, and financial matters.
Self advocacy
This is when people come together to speak up for themselves. This is the norm for most of the population especially when people feel empowered. It takes the form of societies or special interest groups. People with disabilities tend to be introverts hence find it hard to express their challenges to the rest of the community; Self advocacy is the best way to address these vice. The advocacy groups are run by thee vulnerable themselves with the support of other members of the society. Self advocacy groups comprise of people with sharing common locally; the members map out ways of overcoming their challenges. It is the best way for members of the community to support the disadvantaged through building confidence thus boosting their self confidence level.
It is seen by many in the advocacy movement as the most ideal form of advocacy which all other types of advocacy should be aiming to work towards.
Peer advocacy
This is when the advocate and the advocacy partner share similar experiences or environments. This happens between children who live together in children’s home, those experiencing mental ill health and those with a learning disability. This implies that people who have shared experiences they have a better understanding of their need hence are more supportive. An example is the Law societies which fight for the rights of their members.
Peer advocacy has been practiced between people with learning disabilities when they were segregated and confined to isolated hospitals. They shared amongst themselves away from the community. There was no one else to speak up for them other than their fellow inmates. As disadvantaged became empowered about their rights and obligations of citizenship they opened up and began talking to each other informally.
Paid independent advocacy
Generally, independent advocates offer free services. But volunteers are always in short supply, this was the case between the Kenyan deputy chief justice and Nancy Baraza as widely reported where the advocates volunteered free services. Where there is a huge demand, for advocacy services especially when a large of the vulnerable members of the community are affected then paid advocates may be needed to deal with the situation on a temporary basis. Their role is typically a combination of citizen and case advocacy, but with a caseload of several clients. Ideally, once the workload is cleared then, the paid advocate revert the issues to volunteer local citizen or self-advocacy.
It is at times referred to as crisis advocacy; A one to one partnership between two people, often provided by paid advocates. Independent advocacy shares the same principles as Citizen Advocacy, but is usually a short-term, one-off involvement, dealing with a specific issue in a person’s life. The relationship is normally time limited, but may last for several months. When this has been done the advocacy partnership is terminated until it is required again.
Citizen advocacy
This involves a group of volunteers developing long term relationships with the vulnerable members of the society with the sole purpose of empowering them. It is a partnership between two people. One is usually referred to as the advocacy partner, and the other as citizen advocate. An advocacy partner is the vulnerable while a citizen advocate is a person who volunteers to speak up for and support an advocacy partner. The Citizen Advocate is a volunteer who usually forms a long term relationship with their partner and takes a personal interest in ensuring that their partner’s interests are effectively represented. The relationship is based on trust, commitment and loyalty. There is an element of emotional support and friendship as well as a social element, which may involve introducing the partner to new experiences and/or activities.
Statutory advocacy
This is a legal policy set by the government so as to empower the vulnerable members of the society. There are specific rights in law for advocacy in some circumstances providing statutory framework for acting and making decisions so as to empower the vulnerable. E.g. the independent Mental Capacity advocate (IMCA) service support mentally disabled persons who lack capacity to obtain legal redresses.
REFERENCES:
1. Barry Hessenlus, (2001): Hardball lobbying for Nonprofits in the new century: Cambridge University press.
2. Leon Epstein, (2009): Advocacy in Public policy making: oxford university press
3. Paul Wayne, (1998): Campaigns and Advocacy: longhorn publishers
