WHAT IS ADVOCACY?
Advocacy is taking action to help people say what they want, secure their rights, represent their interests and obtain services they need. Advocates and Advocacy Schemes work in partnership with the people they support and take their side. Advocacy promotes Social Inclusion, Equality and Social Justice
Citizen Advocacy is founded on the belief that all people have value and rights.
There are four key characteristics:
1. The individual advocate must be independent of any service provision.
2. The one-to-one relationship between the advocate and partner.
3. Advocacy should strive to be a medium term relationship.
4. The commitment and loyalty of the advocate must be to their partner.
The general principles of Advocacy are about a partnership approach.
- Advocates need to retain the flexibility to adapt the process to the wishes of the individual involved.
- The user should feel in control of the process and needs to trust the advocate only to take action which has been agreed
- Advocacy is about empowerment.
- Advocacy is about supporting people to speak for themselves, or presenting their views for them.
- Advocacy ensures that people are able to make informed and free choices.
- Advocacy is about advising, assisting and supporting. It is not about pressurising or persuading, which would then disempower the user.
The value of advocacy for the user can be summarised thus:
EMPOWERMENT
gaining or regaining the power to take decisions and make choices
AUTONOMY
to be a ‘self determining’ person - being the person you want to be and doing the things you want to do
CITIZENSHIP
to safeguard rights; promoting and defending the civil and political rights of each individual
INCLUSION
including people on the basis of equality of opportunity and access