Advocacy

What is Advocacy?

Advocacy means speaking up for your rights.

Advocacy is a way of making sure that important messages are heard.

Advocacy can be done different ways and by different people.

All people in society should speak up for their rights.

Types of Advocacy

Self-Advocacy

• When people speak up for themselves.
• Acting on your own behalf.
• Sometimes people feel more comfortable doing this in a group.
• Self-advocacy is speaking up for yourself

Citizen Advocacy

• Citizen Advocacy is when a trained volunteer speaks up for you
• Volunteers speak up for other people who aren't able to speak up without support.
• The volunteers are trained and managed by a co-ordinator.
• Volunteers are independent of services.
• Volunteers represent the views of their partner even if they don't agree with them.
• Partnerships can last a long time.

Legal Advocacy

• Legal advocacy is when a lawyer or trained legal person speaks up for you.
• Carried out by trained lawyers and barristers.
• This is for legal cases or for court.
• Legal advocates assist people to exercise or defend their rights.

Collective Advocacy

• When a group of people join together to campaign.
• They campaign on issues that affect more than one person.
• Organisations like MENCAP, MIND and other charities do this.

1 to 1 Advocacy

• Where one person speaks up for another on a short-term issue.
• When the issue is sorted out the advocate isn't needed any more.

Crisis Advocacy

• Where one person speaks up for another on a short-term issue.
• The issue is urgent and needs to be dealt with straight away.
• When the issue is sorted out the advocate isn't needed any more.

Peer Advocacy

• Peers are people who you know and who have had similar experiences to you.
• They use their experience to speak up for someone else.