Distribution by Region

Distribution by Organisation Type, Document Type, Region and Year

Advocacy occurs mostly in documents published in Europe, followed by Asia, North America, Africa and Oceania with comparatively smaller contributions. Overall, the top five contributors in terms of occurrences are NGO, NGO_Fed, IGO, Net and RC organisations.

NGO, NGO_Fed, IGO, Net and RC documents provide the greatest number of occurrences, primarily from activity reports published in Europe.

• bring about enduring systemic/structural societal change

• assert peoples' rights

• win respect for humanitarian principles and law

• ensure recognition of human dignity of marginalised people

• change attitudes that perpetuate inequality and deny justice and human rights

• engage people to end hunger

• solve social problems

• implement solutions for humanitarian crises

• improve the nutrition of individuals affected by emergencies

• draw attention to humanitarian and development needs

• end harmful traditional practices

• promote and protect children's rights

• challenge structures responsible for poverty

• Action

  • collective action: lobbying

• Activity

  • change promoting activity

  • central activity: coordination, information sharing

  • protection activity: capacity-building, information dissemination, profiling

• Area

  • area: marketing, fundraising

  • area: monitoring, analysis on issues

  • area: governance accountability

• Concept/Notion

  • important concept: gender, human rights

  • elusive notion

• Engagement

  • civil society engagement

  • humanitarian engagement: liaison, negotiation, mediation

• Intervention

  • DDR [disaster risk reduction] intervention: multi-hazard awareness campaigns

• Issue

  • key issue: human rights, human security, psychosocial initiatives, relief, rehabilitation, development, protecting the environment, furtherance and maintenance of professional standards amongst humanitarian agencies, training, the promotion of peace, knowledge, dissemination of information

• Skill

  • legal skill: legal writing

• Strategy

  • specific strategy for pursuing an organisation’s mission: policy research, documentation, expert legal assistance to other actors, assistance in litigation, capacity building

  • rights-based strategy: mobilisation on human rights

• Media activities

  • radio programme

  • radio interview

  • newspapers critiques

  • radio interviews with various local radio stations

  • press releases

  • media and strategic communications

  • produce media briefings

  • media campaigns

  • radio talk shows

  • using newspaper articles

  • support campaigns

• Campaigning & awareness-raising activities

  • public campaigns

  • awareness caravan

  • media campaigns

  • campaigning against the bombing of civilians

  • awareness-raising

  • theatre performances

  • inclusive community events with teachers and parent

  • literacy training

  • income generating activities

• Negotiations

  • behind-the-scenes negotiations

  • non-public negotiations

• Lobbying

  • writing letters to senior members of the security forces, the Minister of the Interior and the Prime Minister

  • fostering concerted action to challenge government

  • visits to Brussels, meeting policymakers and the international public in meetings and events

  • dialogue with authorities

  • high-level meetings with relevant authorities

• Multi-sectoral outreach

  • engaging with more diverse actors

  • coordinating joint calls

  • donor and stakeholder relationships

• Consultation with experts

  • consultative workshops to get input for drafting law

  • validation workshop

  • panel discussions

• Provide information

  • providing first-hand information on conditions on the ground

  • providing expert advice

  • briefings

• Public relations

  • networking

  • conference on approaches to urban community-based disaster risk reduction

  • using different forums to analyse and raise issues

  • participation in national and regional political forums

  • supporting public actions

• Social mobilisation

  • social mobilisation

  • mobilisation of public opinion

  • community organising

• Legal action/study

  • impact litigation

  • comparative analysis of international referendum laws

  • filing cases and complaints

  • a nation-wide survey to collect citizens' opinions on the law's main contents

• Publications

  • publication of a policy paper

  • development of various materials

  • publication of special advocacy reports

• States

  • UN Member States

  • EU Member States

• Politicians

  • election candidates

  • political parties

• Governments

  • government ministries

  • national governments and their representatives

  • heads of governments and presidents

  • ministry of Peshmerga

  • Indian state governments

  • local governments

  • Jharkhand government

  • Indonesian government

  • Chechen authorities

  • ministry of education

  • health department

  • line department

• Parliamentarians

  • members of parliament

  • policy-makers

  • national legislature

  • national legislative bodies

  • parliaments

• Judiciary

  • Shari'a courts

  • members of judiciary and prosecutors

• Intergovernmental organisations

  • UN

  • African Union

  • UN security council

  • Interagency Standing Committee

  • UNHCR

  • OCHA

  • European institutions

  • multi-lateral organisations

• Duty bearers

• Decision-makers

• Policy-makers

• Stakeholders

• Businesses

• Local actors

• Service providers

• Global leaders

• Diplomatic missions

• Schools

• Election monitoring bodies

• Institutions responsible for the state-weakening process

• Donors

  • government donors

• Civil society

  • civil society organisations

• Development actors

  • multilateral development banks

• Non-governmental organisations

  • Climate Institute

  • WWF

  • Australian Conservation Foundation

• Communities

  • displaced communities

  • affected communities

  • marginalised communities

• Armed organisations

  • Uganda people's defence force

  • Uganda police force

  • the High Command of the National Defence Force

• Humanitarian actors

• Religious entities

  • church organisations

• Partner organisations

  • Government partners

  • Local partners

  • International partners

• Passage of legislation/resolutions

  • legislation addressing women's human rights at regional, national and international levels, such as the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), the UN Security Council and the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)

  • legislative initiatives such as the passage of the Whistle Blower Protection Act

  • the passing of UN Security Council resolutions endorsing cross-border relief operations

  • endorsement of the Declaration of Principles on Equality

  • enactment of federal legislation to provide discretionary waivers for refugees formerly denied access to the US resettlement programme, as well as successfully promoting the resettlement of many thousands of Bhutanese and Burmese refugees

  • advance crucial legislative reform to resolve statelessness, to assist with the inclusion of refugees within national plans and systems in areas including education, health and labour market participation

  • shape a new Constitution, enshrining gender equality in politics

  • hike in minimum wages from INR 100 to 265 per day

  • pass a resolution in 2014 calling for unimpeded humanitarian access in Syria

  • advance crucial legislative reform to resolve statelessness, to assist with the inclusion of refugees within national plans and systems in areas including education, health and labour market participation

  • give refugees a constitutional right to safe, lawful employment

  • mobilise senators to disallow harsh new migration regulations which could have dramatically increased the Minister's power to indefinitely detain people on temporary protection visas

  • advance crucial legislative reform to resolve statelessness, to assist with the inclusion of refugees within national plans and systems in areas including education, health and labour market participation

  • promote the identification and registration of stateless persons, amend citizenship laws, improve the implementation of existing laws

  • enact legal reforms that define femicide as a criminal offence as well as measures to prevent and punish it

  • child marriage prohibition

  • engagement of NCA's partners in extractive industries in the process to revise the countries' legal framework relating to the extractive sector

• Prevent legislation from passing

  • thwart the government's attempt to enshrine the Global Gag Rule into law

• Change and improve policies

  • fairer public spending

  • influence an HIV & AIDS workplace policy that provides a guide on the implementation of standards for enterprises to put in place appropriate workplace response to HIV/ AIDS

  • bring about landmark standing policies to protect civilians within NATO and the US government

  • a major policy shift to stop the detention of migrants and asylum seekers in ordinary prisons prior to deportation

  • implementation of the Government's human rights-based IDP policy in northern Uganda, through establishment of district-level human rights protection committees

  • influence a draft EU policy on global health that calls for universal access to health services

  • change the policy on the implementation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Services (SRH) in schools to opt-out instead of opt-in

  • approval of first formal compensation policy for Afghan war victims

  • improved procedural standards and due process for asylum seekers, and alternatives to detention

• Budget allocation or increase

  • the Gakenke district office attracting funding to support children with physical disabilities excluded from school with wheelchairs and other equipment

  • an increase in World Bank financing for disaster risk management

  • allocate budgets to family planning services

  • significant increases in U.S. funding for humanitarian aid to Ukrainians

  • maintain funding

  • broader donor base with funds secured

  • Charter4Change 'commitment to strengthening local actors' accountability in finances, the transfer of at least 25 % of funding directly to Southern-based actors in 2018

  • allocations to the education sector in the 2013/14 National Budget to reach 20%, an increase of 1.4%.

• Access to affected populations

  • grant full access to populations in need

• Obtain recognition of issues/commitment to issues

  • increase attention to the plight of the Rohingya and contributed to some concrete progress

  • ensure the integration of human rights in the discussions and outcomes of the Rio+20 process

  • high-level recognition of the importance of civilian protection

  • secure a global commitment to the education of refugee children

  • ensure that the voices of communities are heard

  • influence parliament to commit to a review of the government's HIV and AIDS policy and plans

  • early commitment by the interim administration to respect human rights and stop all violence against women and children

  • driving children's issues towards the centre of national and international efforts to combat HIV and AIDS

  • the inclusion of child participation as a priority area in the Agenda

  • consolidation of a much-needed shift in thinking among governments towards recognising the links and acting on them to enhance human security

• Improved facilities and services

  • increased access to family planning and strengthened responses to child marriage

  • more than 1,000 latrines being constructed, more women being involved in leadership positions in Water User 19,212 people provided with better access to sanitation in Nyanga and Murewa Committees

  • allocation of over £15,000 (20,650) for the construction of community bridges in two villages and support for another village on disaster simulation and evacuation exercise

  • better and more affordable antiretroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS

  • improved attendance of teachers

• Broaden access to services

  • the expansion of the Old Age Allowance to reach an additional 350,000 older people.

  • the end of health fees for children under five and pregnant and lactating women in Sierra Leone

  • a dramatic increase in the number of people getting tested for HIV

• Seek justice

  • four army officers being charged with intentional homicide in the case of Maina Sunuwar, a 15-year-old girl who died in the custody of the Nepalese Army in 2004

• Improve protection

  • improve protection for civilians against explosive weapons at national, regional and international levels

  • increase the presence of protection actors in areas of concern, including in security screening sites

  • more active participation of national partners in the protection cluster, reinforced synergy of the protection cluster with the National Standing Committee

  • officially recognise more than 1,600 churches, temples, and mosques in the district, giving them some protection against closure by extremists

  • enhancement of the protection of affected people, including the enhanced compliance of parties to armed conflict with IHL; more effective response that respects human rights in those contexts, and increased accountability for violations

• Promote agreements

  • announcement of a resettlement deal with the United States

• Educate communities

  • educate, enlighten and empower children, their families and communities to champion issues and causes to improve child well-being

• Promote projects

  • building momentum for the 'Education Cannot Wait' fund

• Promote dialogue

  • more informed debates on development and support for initiatives which result in positive change

• Promote research

  • identifying breaches of international humanitarian law and promoting human rights in Occupied Palestinian Territories

• Reduce violence

  • reduce the incidence of patterns of violence and harm in the affected country or sub-national region

• Promote disarmament

  • important achievements in disarmament and arms control

  • release of children from armed groups

• Buffer the negative effects of policies

  • minimise the depth of cuts announced by the labour Government

• Introduce pharmaceuticals

  • the roll out of the pneumococcal vaccine

• Ensure the sustainability of an organisation

• Policy design, reform and implementation

  • EU Guidelines and local implementation strategy

  • Internally displaced people (IDP) policies

  • implementation of the UN resolutions

  • implementation of the Anti-GBV Act

  • design, implementation, coordination and evaluation of the Child Grant Programme

  • EU humanitarian budget

  • Sustainable Development Goals

  • Agenda 2030

  • Millenium Development Goals

  • use of the Istanbul Protocol

  • extraterritorial application of article 14 [of the UN Convention against Torture]

  • Kampala Convention

  • imperative principles of fair trial (independent and impartial judiciary, respect for national and international standards, effective reforms of criminal codes and military justice)

• Migrant rights

  • immigration detention and alternatives to detention

  • regular monitoring of detention centres

• Land issues

  • land rights

  • land concessions

• Environmental issues

  • natural resource extraction projects

  • drought

  • climate change

• Nutritional security

  • agricultural techniques

  • restriction of travel to conflict areas

• Peace-building

  • preventing a return to civil war

• Human rights violations

  • arbitrary arrest and detention, prolonged incommunicado detention, and ill-treatment and torture in detention

  • discriminatory torture and ill-treatment

• Armed conflict

  • prohibiting certain weapons and tactics of warfare

• Humanitarian crises

  • protracted crises

• Women's issues

  • women's rights

  • enhancing women's participation in conflict prevention and peace-building

• Health issues

  • women's health issues

  • HIV&AIDS

  • prevention, treatment and management of fistula

• Children's issues

  • children's rights

  • children's protection

• Law and resolutions

  • Mexico's law

  • EU legislation in the fields of asylum and migration

• Refugee and host issues

  • matters affecting refugees and their hosts

  • refugee youth issues

• Gender-based violence

  • violence against women in conflict and post-conflict situations

• Humanitarian principles

• Humanitarian issues

• Age-related issues

• Workers' rights

• Education rights

• Healthcare rights

• Preparedness

• Disability issues

• Hygiene

• Disaster-risk reduction

• Access to affected populations

• Gender equality

• Social inclusion

• Protection

• Displacement

The chart below represents the distribution of advocacy between 2005 and 2019 in terms of the number of occurrences and relative frequency of occurrences. It also allows you to view the distribution across Regions, Organisations and Document types.

Advocacy on relatively non-controversial issues such as disaster risk reduction, for example, is not as difficult as advocacy in conflict situations, such as Syria, where access is limited and speaking out must be weighed against potential risks to staff and loss of access to the affected population.

There may be tensions for humanitarian agencies between 'speaking out' about abuses and the need to maintain an operational presence, and these tensions may dictate whether and how they can undertake advocacy on a given issue .

Political and military actors may limit physical access for humanitarian organizations to vulnerable populations. Yet, being able to access areas affected by armed violence and natural disaster, including through large-scale relief programs, is a primary objective for humanitarian actors. Speaking out against abuse remains an option of last resort, used only in situations where other forms of private advocacy have failed to produce any results.

And, particularly when the goals of advocacy include respect for international humanitarian law and humanitarian principles, its measurable results compared to time spent can be particularly challenging to gauge. Effectiveness in humanitarian advocacy is also linked to timeliness.

Swedish NGOs and VOICE members discussed how NGOs can best engage in EU advocacy, and what the main advocacy challenges are, namely civil-military relations, humanitarian funding and the humanitarian reform.

Swedish NGOs and VOICE members discussed how NGOs can best engage in EU advocacy, and what the main advocacy challenges are, namely civil-military relations, humanitarian funding and the humanitarian reform.

A significant challenge to effective advocacy is the lack of a shared understanding of protection threats.

In advocacy with political actors, humanitarians have become more sophisticated but still lack a strategic and unified approach.

"Political advocacy for social issues must respect certain ethical standards and therefore avoid the fraudulent or illegal techniques and tactics which are used in the commercial and political domains - violence, intimidation, misinformation, blackmail and corruption"

She commended Oxfam for its commitment, because advocacy organizations "often fail to follow through once a policy victory is achieved.

Coherence around principles and protection A broader question is whether humanitarian advocacy efforts have resulted in any changes in adherence to international humanitarian law or humanitarian principles or in the protection of civilians. In Syria, despite the acuteness of the crisis and the known levels of violence against civilians, the international community has failed to offer any semblance of protection to Syrian civilians who did not manage to flee their country. The obligations of parties to the conflict have been 'flagrantly ignored'; UN member states, including members of the Security Council, have failed to ensure respect for international humanitarian law; and the protection of civilians seems to be an 'empty concept' in Syria (Svoboda, 2014 p2)

Advocacy can be critical in emergencies such as the violence in CAR or the Ebola outbreak, where an immediate response is needed to rapidly deteriorating conditions of vulnerable populations. When agencies restrict their advocacy to back-channel approaches for fear of losing access to an affected population, it can create the public perception that they are acquiescing. This approach can also foster uncoordinated and unaccountable humanitarian action, as agencies become reluctant to communicate their plans and actions even to each other.

Advocacy on age-related issues has tended not to involve older people themselves, but age-sector nongovernment organisations (NGOs) have undertaken the issues on behalf of older people.

Higher involvement of people experiencing poverty It continues being a challenge in our advocacy work: the involvement and participation of people experiencing poverty in the different advocacy areas, plans and actions.

Research is tightly controlled (in principle any research to be disseminated in-country should have prior governmental approval), inhibiting advocacy and discussion about social issues and programme strategies.

Collecting, analysing and sharing data and trends on the returns process for evidence-based advocacy proved challenging, and the learning curve for partners was steep. (In fact, most NGOs, be they national or international, struggled initially to provide the level of accurate information needed.)

Advocacy on protection issues was particularly sensitive because it exposed how the war was being conducted and raised questions about the sincerity of the government's commitment to peace. Control over the amount and type of information emerging from the crisis became, and has remained, a major point of contention between humanitarian actors and the government.

Many rights-oriented organisations document and denounce abuses occurring in the conflict-affected countryside. This approach has some value, not least because powerholders in Burma are sometimes reluctant to perpetrate abuses out of fear that their activities may be reported to public advocacy networks, causing them problems with their superiors. Furthermore, the documentation of human rights abuses plays an important role in maintaining public interest, as well as fundraising for aid agencies

However, before investing themselves in advocacy activities, NGOs need to consider a number of critical issues, such as the competition that is created when more and more organisations become involved, the risk of messages becoming diluted, the blurring of lines between marketing and advocacy and the risk of being integrated into the decision-making process and losing independence.

An HC [Humanitarian Coordinator], however, must stand up when a government denies humanitarian access to areas or regions where there are urgent humanitarian needs. As many NGOs expect that the UN will provide leadership on humanitarian issues, they feel that advocacy on needs and access should prevail, whatever the political sensitivities are in the UN's relations with a government. In practice, an HC/RC [Humantarian Coordinator/Resident Coordinator] often chooses the easy way out and will play it softly so as not to upset the government in such situations.

The notion of advocacy versus aid seems to conceive of advocacy as an all-or-nothing proposition, one governed by a binary yes/no decision.

Local organisations have also been critical of the stated objective in the PRDP [Peace, Recovery and Development Plan] of consolidating state authority, arguing instead that the key to a sustainable peace lies in building communities' trust in the authorities. Humanitarian agencies were seen as reluctant to address these questions. As one local organisation put it: 'humanitarian actors support us but don't want to be counted as us. Most if not all organisations stop at advocacy'. One factor arguably influencing this is the shift from relief to recovery approaches within multi-mandated agencies.

Advocacy : using the space or threatening it? Advocacy is not a welcome word in Myanmar. For the authorities it is automatically perceived as negative and viewed with great suspicion, and for this reason it is highly sensitive for LNGOs based in Myanmar. Terms like 'influencing' are more appropriate. For organisations based in Myanmar, advocacy activities take many shapes and forms. Most view their humanitarian advocacy activities as practical, local-level influencing on issues such as travel authorisation or permission to deliver aid supplies.

Where advocacy is pursued, its success generally depends on access to reliable evidence, stakeholder analysis and thorough context analysis.

Lesson Learned: one time advocacy is not sufficient at township level because of changing of the township CBHFA [Community-Based Health and First Aid] committee members. We need to disseminate information about the activities soon after committee members changed.

Advocacy and Communications Lesson 6: Unless there is a consistent and coordinated advocacy strategy which encompasses public information, media outreach and mass communications, humanitarian aid will inevitably be criticized for lacking transparency, responsiveness and understanding of local contexts. More consistent informationsharing would also contribute to reducing opportunities for manipulation and corruption of humanitarian funds.

As one member of GAARD put it: "Our previous experience in advocacy shows that you can be a very well known organization but if you are alone, it is difficult to deliver your messages. Partnership with others makes it much easier; there are more chances that you will be heard; the simple logic that jointly we are stronger.

Partnerships are invaluable in advocacy, as they leverage experience, networks and constituencies for an impact far beyond the sum of what individual efforts could achieve.

The key to successful advocacy starts with strong evidence-based research that serves as a basis for designing campaigns to influence policy-makers.

Third, there are the unintended consequences of protection work. For example, forceful advocacy on behalf of refugees may risk refoulement or the non-admission of newly arrived asylum seekers.