How effective is advocacy and raising awareness?

On 03.30.09, In human rights, issues, By Akhila

Image credit: flickr user bashaspix

This is a topic that has been swirling around in my mind for months, but I’ve never really garnered the courage to write it down coherently. But now, as I embark on a journey to work with International Bridges to Justice (IBJ) in Geneva this summer, this topic is becoming increasingly relevant to my work.

I am passionate about working to end human rights abuses, and I realize that Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are two of the most prominent organizations working to raise awareness of human rights violations across the globe. Their work has been indispensable in terms of uncovering the truth of human rights abuses in various countries through intensive research, and in pressuring governments to take action by way of international exposure, letter writing, and petition signing. I think advocacy and raising awareness is absolutely vital if we are to end ongoing violations. After all, if the public doesn’t know about these situations, then how can people take action to end these problems? The popular mobilization and awareness that Amnesty has achieved over the years is truly remarkable. However, I wonder whether advocacy is the most effective method of combating human rights abuses, especially in the long-run.

First, it seems to me that political situations are very difficult to change. Especially, international civil society does not seem to exert significant influence on the political climates in many countries. Even if a huge amount of pressure is placed upon government heads through activities like protests and petitions, how much is this really going to change? And if the international community has heightened awareness of an issue, does this really change things on the ground? For instance, there is a huge amount of awareness within the U.S. and U.K at least regarding the genocide in Darfur. Many organizations like Save Darfur and STAND have mobilized many people and large amounts of money and time in order to raise awareness of the genocide and try to stop it, especially through political pressure and pleas for divestment from Sudan. Many successes have been achieved, most importantly widespread knowledge of the situation and recognition that it is genocide and must be stopped. Yet even after all this, Sudanese President Al-Bashir is still going strong and little has changed over the years. The genocide is continuing. President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton are yet to take a strong stance on ending the genocide. Has this impressive popular mobilization and heightened awareness done much at all? True, I am pinpointing a specific situation – but it does leave me feeling that there must be more that we can do than raise awareness. Because it simply doesn’t seem enough to me.

Moreover, many human rights advocacy organizations hold large campaigns to free single persons from prison, especially those who were imprisoned for political reasons. But I have to ask: does this really lead to large scale social change? Organizations have campaigned for years and succeeded in freeing political prisoners, but this is only one situation, one person. But does this sort of advocacy force the government to think twice the next time it wants to imprison someone for political (or any other) reasons? I don’t see that happening enough. And what about all the everyday cases, when people are being imprisoned for petty crimes, when the local police is incredibly corrupt, when men and women are tortured unnecessarily, when poor prisoners aren’t granted a lawyer or a fair trial? While a political prisoner is a special case, regular citizens are being punished unfairly everyday and aren’t being recognized by the international community. Does advocacy fail here? Who’s fighting for the unheard prisoners? Too often their voices go unheard, even within international civil society.

Here is when I think a different model needs to be employed in order to effectively fight human rights abuses. We need to improve local justice systems and work with governments, not just against them, in order to reform the criminal justice systems. We have to train local police forces and make them understand that torture is unacceptable, and is not necessary in order to extract information from prisoners. We need to ensure that every poor person has the right to a lawyer and the right to a fair trial. I feel like this bottom-up approach can be truly effective, and combined with advocacy and raising awareness can be very powerful. If we start at the bottom through criminal justice reform in developing countries, we can build up strong legal institutions that will eventually create precedents for not using torture or unfair detainment – which will trickle upwards and prevent the government from detaining political prisoners or exercising their power arbitrarily. IBJ focuses on this approach to grassroots criminal justice reform, and I think it is a unique yet effective method of combating torture.

I think advocacy and activism needs to be combined with action and results. Real systematic change happens on the ground, step-by-step and day by day. One model I like is that of Physicians for Human Rights, an organization which not only has advocacy campaigns but also concrete projects that help people by the day - like the asylum network which assists asylum seekers by documenting forensic evidence of torture and abuse. Another example is Invisible Children, an organization based on a documentary about child soldiers in Northern Uganda. In addition to raising awareness through the documentary, they also have a book drive, build schools, and sell bracelets and give the revenue to the bracelet makers, provide scholarships to children, and have a Savings and Training Initiative which is basically a microfinance scheme. Of course, I don’t think some of their campaigns are the best idea (abduct yourself? really?), but they have a good basic model for combining raising awareness with actual results. I also love Human Rights First, which combines much advocacy and petitioning with projects that represent asylum seekers and help refugees resettle in the U.S.

So ultimately, I’m not saying advocacy is not necessary. I just think that there needs to be so much more if systematic, widespread change is to happen.

Image credit: flicker user bashaspix

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  5. Beyond Gacaca and Guantanamo: the broader problem of legal injustice

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  • Carlos, thanks for your comment. It is a great point you bring up! You're right -- protests have become so common that no longer is it something different that catches people's eyes and attention; it's the same old thing. That's why I think we need a new method of advocacy that's more effective and we've talked about this above: perhaps target advocacy towards leaders like Pres Obama to take action, and stop spending energy on protests or raising awareness where it is not fruitful. I think the efforts have to be directed towards the actions that could make the most impact.
  • carlosmiceli
    Amazing post , no doubt. Congratulations for this.

    Maybe some third world country opinion could help:

    Here in Argentina, advocacy is the chosen expression most of the time too. I think that there are a lot of reasons for this, but the important thing to realize is this: We have reached a commoditization of advocacy and protests.

    People everywhere do it. Masses do it. All around the world. For a long time now. For a lot of reasons. Protests are an everyday thing.

    It's no longer news. It's no longer powerful. We have gotten used to it. That's why it won't lead to major world changes. We have to think of new ways of reaching people's minds.

    The huge diversification of interests and therefore of protests, has lead to many weak efforts. Also, the people who control the system have now learnt how to divide us, ignore us, or even shut us down.

    I think there is a future, there are solutions, i'm optimistic. But it takes time, and a different approach. More of the same won't work.

    Once again, great, great post!
  • Thanks Ruby - I just listened to Patrick Awuah's presentation and it was really great and very inspiring. This is SO true! I am so excited that this point has been brought up because I see it happening SO MUCH in India, where I was born. My cousins there, relatives, friends --- there are very few who take action to CHANGE the country, to work to better it. I do see this rampant sense of entitlement there, even though the young people today are SO well educated and intelligent. They simply don't care.

    But the reason for this in India is societal constraints. If you are not an engineer, in finance, or a doctor then you're not doing anything prestigious. In south India you HAVE to go to engineering school or you won't be respected by your community. Society has to change too.

    You can also watch Ory Okolloh -- she talks about Africans in Africa not doing enough. The key takeaway there is that there is always criticism of the West but what are Africans doing for themselves?
  • This reminds me...you need to watch the TED talk by Patrick Awuah. One thing that really stuck out to me was when he said the sense of entitlement is more important than sense of responsibility to students in Ghana. Not to say every case is the same, but generally countries have corrupted system because of the lack of leadership from citizens. I hate to say it, but in a way they passively LET their government do this to them. It's sad. Again, not in every case, but some.

    No I have not read the Three Cups of Tea, but several people have recommended it to me. It's sitting on my to-read list. =)
  • Ruby, thanks and I'm glad I'm able to engage you in discussion :) Yes, I realize now that you don't necessarily mean celebrities or even CEOs or politicians. It's a great idea that we have to empower the local people and give them a role to play in lifting their own communities up. And for that I definitely think that development has a role because by building the basic infrastructure in an area, we are empowering people with the tools they need to become leaders - they can become educated, healthy, and so on and become leaders.

    Have you read Three Cups of Tea? It's a great story in which an American goes on a mission to build schools in remote areas in Pakistan. One story that stood out to me from that was when he described that a young girl became the first person from her small village to be educated and even went on to college to study healthcare. But in the end even though she had the opportunity to go on to work in a bigger city, she felt the need to come back to her home community and build a hospital and work as a doctor in her own village. This sort of empowerment is what is necessary.

    And even though advocacy may not be as "effective" its still something many people feel compelled to do. Even I feel compelled to raise awareness of issues I care about with my family and friends or through this blog. I think it is natural, and still has a huge part to play.
  • Love how you always manage to generate a great discussion via comments from your posts.

    When I said identify key influencers + using them to affect change, I don't mean using celebrities at all. In fact this is where the problem comes in - when people view celebrities as key influencers. They are not and they shouldn't be. I totally agree with what you said about educating local police force. My thought is that changes really happen when you EMPOWER the local ppl by the bottom-up approach you suggested, and have the people from the bottom BECOME the key influencers of their communities. It's a whole mentality shift. Influencers don't always mean the people at the top or an official leader. People listen to someone they trust - and that often happens to be someone they can relate to, from their very own community, and someone they feel are really acting in their best interest. So you're right. The local police forces should be empowered to think & decide what is right/wrong, as opposed to just doing what they're being told. When they feel empowered to make their own decisions, they will start influencing.

    And I 100% believe advocacy and mobilizing the public is vital - regardless of how much actual changes that bring - people can't be sitting there thinking "Why should I care if I can't do anything about it anyways? Even our political leaders can't make a difference." People have to stop sitting back thinking that the "leaders" will take care of everything for them. This is why I think informing the public is definitely important.
  • USHRN - Thank you for the really insightful comment.

    I ask whether advocacy and raising awareness has in the social justice movement, but more importantly how effective it is in terms of the goal of helping the maximum number of people - through alleviating problems like poverty, torture, lack of access to basic services, conflict, crime, etc. You say services do not create long-term change but I disagree. Creating a stable and fair infrastructure in a country including educational systems, banking systems, criminal justice systems, health systems and so on - I think this is long lasting change.
    I understand that organizing is important within communities because people should be empowered themselves. But I don't think that this is entirely possible when the basic infrastructure is lacking. Moreover my main point in this post was that international civil society - e.g. people in the US and UK and so on - can't do much for people in Darfur or Zimbabwe (for example) by way of raising awareness. I'm not sure, but I'd love to hear what you think!

    That book sounds fascinating and I will definitely take a look at it, thanks for the resource!
  • Good question. Effective in terms of achieving what goal?
    When reading the title/question of this blog on twitter, I immediately responded by asking 'what role does advocacy and raising awareness have in the social justice movement?'I do not think they can be effective in creating change, but I do think they have a role in it. Services are important also, but none of these creates long-term change or addresses issues at the root of the problem.

    Organizing is a way to create long-term change that address the root problem. And those in the leadership of these efforts have to be the people who are directly affected. I think, sustainable change happens when members of communities say, this is what we see as the problem, these are the solutions we have, and this is how you can help us. Often times advocacy is a top-down approach.

    An activity i've done helps me to understand the usefulness of these types of ways to create change, and reminds me the power of organizing. To make it short, the scenario is of a town that has a rich man and his friends throwing rocks off a cliff to get the villagers to move so they can create a golf resort and mall. It ends with two groups in the community split over whether to continue rescue efforts or go and confront the men throwing the rocks. Providing a service that meets the immediate and basic needs of the people hurt by the rocks is important, and even raising awareness of the rocks and the reason behind it is vital. But, the only way for the rocks to stop being thrown are for the people of the town to get together and organize against the rich man and his friends.

    There's also a book that is great and looks at community organizing and policy change. Making Policy Making Change: How Communities Are Taking Law into Their Own Hands.
    "By using case studies that focus on community organizing campaigns that created local policy, Themba provides an invaluable guidebook for activists. Written for social activists, community organizers, and students of social and public policy, she offers cogent and clear insights into how these successes can be translated to other social justice organizing."
  • Ruby: Excellent points! There has to be a more effective way of using the awareness to create large scale change. Just getting people to talk about it isn't enough - there has to be some effect and results from all this raising awareness. I love your idea of getting to the key leaders in the community. But I think a lot of the celebrities that are raising awareness for instance aren't really making that much of an impact. Such awareness introduces people to an issue but doesn't really result in much change. I think influencing political leaders to make a move is much more impactful. Imagine if all advocacy and lobbying efforts focused towards making President Obama take action on Darfur. If he did take some action that would be so much more influential and powerful than informing a lot of the general populace. What do you think?

    Nathalie: Great comment. You are right and I think a lot of the "behind the scenes" advocacy is more effective. I've heard about the Global Policy Forum and I think speaking with political leaders and governments is very effective. But I question mainly whether public advocacy/awareness is really effective, and whether it results in much change. What do you think about that?

    And you are right the criminal justice system isn't the only place where change occurs, but I am very interested in this area so that's why I mentioned it. But criminal justice reform is a critical part of the solution especially in developing countries where conditions are absolutely horrible (see this article on Zimbabwe prisons for example - http://joetrippi.com/blog/?p=2652) and the reason I'm passionate about it is because I think criminal justice reform is something most people shrug off as unimportant. But there are people being tortured on a daily, regular basis and I think someone needs to give them a voice. They are so often ignored.

    But along with this there needs to be education, healthcare, economic development and empowerment (like microfinance), etc and I think these approaches are PRACTICAL and have to be combined with advocacy. I think organizations need to do both at once. That's why I mentioned Invisible Children - they raise awareness through documentary but simultaneously support Ugandan people through microfinance, building schools, education, etc. I'm not sure how their efforts are going but the idea behind it is good.
  • Interesting stance on advocacy Akhila!

    First, I would like to say that NGOs are not only using "public advocacy" to bring awareness to an issue. They also do more behind the scenes advocacy, directly with governments, officials and institutions to push them to act. NGOs, such as Global Policy Forum, organize meeting with diplomats and officials to discuss humanitarian issues. These organizations are doing a great job in bringing dialogue between the civil society and governments.

    Secondly, I think that you are right to believe that a bottom-up approach is more effective in the long run. It is good to advocate for a political prisoner to be released, it is even better to work for that it does not happen at the first place. But I don't believe improving criminal justice is the way forward, as criminal justice is a corrective solution (it does not prevent for crime to happen). As you pinpointed education and training is key. Educate people about laws and their rights.

    PS: congrats on your summer internship! Looking forward to hear from your experience.
  • So true - advocacy is essential but it's all about who we're pressuring to take action. This reminds me of a workshop I attended about community change. One particular discussion was around how to bring about large-scale systemic change across the whole community as opposed to having many different groups, each doing their own thing. What is a more effective way of bringing changes other than always just "get people together to have conversations" that can go in a million different direction? One suggestion was to identify key influencers in the community, get the key leaders to collaborate, and leverage their influential power to affect changes in the rest of the community. Great post, Akhila. Thanks for all the links + resources.
  • Elisa, thanks for the great comment! I might have to write a follow-up post on this. I didn't mention this in my post, but you brought up an excellent point - that advocacy efforts are often misguided. Americans and int'l civil society can't do much to change the Sudanese government through advocacy, but they can put a lot of pressure on domestic leaders like Pres Obama to take action. I agree that one move taken by the U.S. can be much more effective to change situations, and there needs to be more focus on that. Thanks for the insight!
  • I think you've identified a key point of disconnect in advocacy efforts among human rights groups (and others probably). You are absolutely right that advocacy is necessary, but it needs to be directed properly. Frankly, having average Americans protesting outside of the Sudanese embassy or something similar isn't going to do it.
    What would work is focusing advocacy efforts on the US government. Once Americans (and those from other countries) are made aware of a bad situation, they need to lobby their own government to do something. A few thousand people sending in petitions is no where near as effective as the full force and power of the US government being brought to bear and taking real action against abusive leaders.
    Great post!
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