Types of advocacy

Understand what types of advocacy there are, consider what might be most effective for your campaign, and determine which organisations or partners should be involved.

User and ecosystem

Advocacy can mean different things to different people. Broadly speaking, it describes actions by individuals or groups that aim to influence political decisions, usually for the benefit of particular individuals or communities (for example, to advance the human rights of LGBTIQ+ people). Even within this definition, advocacy can include a wide range of different activities, such as mobilisation, media, lobbying and litigation. Different types of advocacy will be more, or less, effective depending on the objective of the campaign, the political context in which it operates, and the resources of the groups involved. This tool seeks to outline some of the main types of advocacy, when they may be useful, and to assist people in deciding whether to partner with other organisations to achieve shared goals.

Explanation

Key types of advocacy include:

1 · Mobilisation · Protest

For many people, this is the first thing that comes to mind when they think about advocacy. This type of advocacy includes street marches and demonstrations, and can range from the small and targeted (such as picket lines and small public assemblies) to the large and general (widespread protests and strikes). It is sometimes referred to as ‘mass mobilisation’.

Mobilisation through protest can be useful for:

  • Raising community awareness (directly to protest witnesses, and indirectly through associated media coverage)
  • Building your movement (by attracting highly-motivated campaigners)
  • Demonstrating public support for your campaign (large protests can apply pressure on political decision-makers to take action).

 

2 · Mobilisation · Non-Protest

Protests are not the only way to mobilise community support. Some other traditional forms of mobilisation include petitions, and letter-writing campaigns. In the age of social media, it has become much easier to engage in this type of advocacy, through e-petitions and e-letter-writing, as well as spreading campaign messaging via hashtags, and other web platforms.

Similar to mobilisation through protest, these types of mobilisation can be useful for:

  • Raising community awareness (by spreading campaign messages directly via social media)
  • Building your movement (e-petitions and other web platforms can be useful in generating a database of supporters which can be mobilised for future actions)
  • Demonstrating public support for your campaign (large e-petitions, and e-letter-writing campaigns, can apply pressure on political decision-makers to take action).

3 · Media advocacy

An important part of many advocacy strategies is media engagement. This can include coverage of mobilisation activities (described above), as well as other traditional forms of media activity (issuing media releases, writing opinion pieces and letters to the editor, and having spokespeople available to provide comments on news and current events). It can also include generating media coverage through compelling personal stories of how the issue affects real people, training high-profile people as issue ambassadors, as well as preparing research reports and undertaking public polling of people’s views about the issue.

Media advocacy can be useful for:

  • Raising community awareness (by reaching new audiences)
  • Persuading people about the merits of your campaign (for example, changing community attitudes through compelling personal stories, or other evidence)
  • Demonstrating public support for your campaign (political decision-makers will usually pay attention to media coverage of relevant issues).

4 · Political Engagement · Direct Lobbying of Decision-Maker(s)

In some circumstances, it may be possible to achieve your objectives via direct engagement with a single decision-maker (or small group of decision-makers), something which is often called ‘lobbying’. This can include where mobilisation and media have already demonstrated community support, and/or where a supporter of your campaign holds a particular public office (for example, where a Minister who supports LGBTIQ+ equality can change a policy through administrative action, and without passing a Bill in Parliament). This type of advocacy relies on building working relationships with political decision-makers over time.

Political engagement, by directly lobbying decision-maker(s), can be useful for:

  • Achieving or implementing your campaign objective
  • By-passing other potential barriers (for example, avoiding potentially damaging public debates, or not needing support from political parties opposed to change).

5 · Political Engagement · Systemic Change

In most cases, direct lobbying of a small group of decision-makers will not be sufficient to achieve or implement your objective. Instead, legal or policy reform will depend on securing support from a wider group of decision-makers (for example, by passing a Bill in Parliament, which may require support from across the political spectrum). This type of advocacy involves engagement across a range of political bodies: meeting with Ministers, and government, opposition and cross-bench members of parliament, as well as with political parties themselves (for example, persuading parties to change their formal policies).

Political engagement, via systemic change, can be useful for:

  • Achieving or implementing your campaign objective
  • Protecting your success (securing bipartisan political support can help ensure a change of government does not mean newly-won rights are repealed).

6 · Litigation

In some circumstances, it may be possible to achieve your campaign objective directly through successful court decisions (for example, in some jurisdictions marriage equality has been won through litigation rather than being implemented by political decision-makers). This is more realistic in countries with strong human rights legislation, such as entrenched constitutional protections covering LGBTIQ+ people, and an independent judiciary.

Litigation can be useful for:

  • Achieving or implementing your campaign objective
  • By-passing other potential barriers (such as where parliament refuses to pass a Bill. However, in some cases the parliament may subsequently overturn court wins).

Issues to Consider

In determining which type of advocacy you and your group plan to engage in to achieve your campaign objective, you should remember that, in the vast majority of campaigns, no single type of advocacy will be enough to succeed on its own.

Instead, winning campaigns are usually built on several different types of advocacy taking place at the same time and in a co-ordinated way. Often, this will involve different groups being responsible for different types of advocacy as part of an agreed overall strategy.

For example, a commonly-used approach is called the ‘insider/outsider’ strategy, where some groups are responsible for mass mobilisation (through protests or other forms), while others engage in lobbying of political decision-makers. These different groups communicate regularly to ensure their activities reinforce, rather than undermine, the other’s.

You and your group should sit down and decide what type(s) of advocacy are needed for the campaign to succeed, before deciding what your group will be responsible for. This helps groups avoid making the mistake of undertaking activities simply because that is what they have always done, without thinking about whether or not it will actually help achieve their objective.

Most importantly, this allows you to identify where gaps exist in your strategy, and which other organisations you may need to approach to work with to fill those gaps (for example, your group may have skills in organising protests and other forms of mobilisation, but need to partner with other groups in securing media coverage and/or political support).

Finally, you should be aware that the types of advocacy a campaign engages in can change over time depending on the circumstances. This should include regular review of what you are doing, and whether it is working or not. You should not be afraid of changing what you are doing if it has not been successful – indeed, not doing so could lead to a waste of time and resources, both your own and of the people on whose behalf you are campaigning.

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Alistair Lawry

Alistair Lawry

He / Him

I am a passionate advocate and activist on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) communities.

I have been involved in a range of LGBTI rights organisations, including as the Policy Working Group Chair of both the Victorian and NSW Gay & Lesbian Rights Lobbies. I have also served as a federal ministerial adviser, although I am currently not involved in any political party.

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