Drivers for Change – Advocate

Equity Framework > Drivers for Change > Advocating & Organizing

Advocating and organizing are both umbrella terms for strategies that facilitate action towards change. There is no single way to use advocacy or organizing to address inequities, in fact, there are many different strategies. Action can focus on policy and structures, community development, representation with and for groups, and many other activities to influence decision-making in support of change. Framing issues to influence decision-making, gathering and disseminating data, working in collaboration and developing alliances, and engaging processes in legal and regulatory systems can all be part of advocating. Organizing can include bringing groups of people together to draw attention to inequities and confronting or collaborating with decision makers to support social change.

Adapted from:

https://www.racialequitytools.org/resources/act/strategies/advocacy Social Action – Community Toolbox. Retrieved from
https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/promotion-strategies/systems-advocacy-and-community-organizing/main
National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health (2015). Let’s Talk: Advocacy and Health Equity. Antigonish, NS: National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health, St. Francis Xavier University. Retrieved from
http://nccdh.ca/images/uploads/comments/Advocacy_EN.pdf

Sample Tools

Public Health Institute’s Berkeley Media Studies Group for an online media advocacy training series.
https://www.phi.org/news-events/917/media-advocacy-training-series-with-phis-berkeley-media-studies-group

Community Toolbox: Advocating for Change – This toolkit supports planning for advocacy efforts and responding to opposition.
https://ctb.ku.edu/en/advocating-change

Drivers for Change – Advocate

Adapted from:

Further Reading / Additional resources

Sample Tools