• Civil Society and Governance
  • Civil Society and Governance Overview
  • Institutional Capacity Building
  • Civic Education
  • Citizen Participation
  • Advocacy
  • Democratic Governance
  • Grants Solicitation and Management Capacity
  • Women's and Minority Rights
  • Disenfranchised Groups
• Education
  • Education Overview
  • Basic Education
  • Higher Education
  • Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
  • Education for Vulnerable Groups
• HIV/AIDS
  • HIV/AIDS Overview
  • HIV/AIDS Prevention
  • Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC)
  • Grants Solicitation and Management Capacity
  • Institutional Capacity Building
• International Visitors Exchanges
  • International Professional, Academic, and Cultural Exchanges Overview
  • Undergraduate and Graduate Academic Exchanges
  • Professional Exchanges
  • Youth Exchanges
• Capacity Development and Training
  • Capacity Development and Training Overview
  • Participant Training
  • Institutional Capacity Building
  • Undergraduate and Graduate Academic Exchanges
  • Grant Solicitation and Management Capacity
  • Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Civil Society and Governance

Advocacy

Advocacy is a process of building consensus on national, regional, or local priorities through transparent, accountable and inclusive decision-making.  The goal of advocacy assistance is not simply to influence policy but also to build the capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) and their constituents to act for change. Organizing and building alliances across various stakeholders is the most effective means to successful action.

World Learning values advocacy as a participatory process for development as it provides citizens the opportunity to channel their ideas and concerns into collective action toward commonly identified objectives. World Learning programs support the environment and conditions that position advocates to proceed in an informed and well-planned fashion, foreseeing and capitalizing on key moments and relationships of strategic importance.

The mainstreaming of short and long term advocacy in nations where civil society is underdeveloped requires culturally informed strategies, realistic approaches and a healthy dose of patience. World Learning's projects in Angola, for example, accomplish this task with a phased strategy that begins with community-based organizations working collaboratively with the government and leads to the institutionalization of advocacy and public policy development. The approach positions non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to emerge as the connective tissue between government and community based organizations (CBOs).