Advocacy and development are activities that represent and promote the needs of specific groups in political and social arenas. One such group is women, who can collectively pressure their leaders for legislative reforms to protect and promote women’s rights and concerns. It is the goal of advocacy groups and lobbyists to ensure that both the public and politicians understand and support their cause, so that it gains strength and credibility. Securing rights and gains for women requires coalition-building, funding, civic education, awareness-raising and individuals willing to lead the way.
While the goals of advocacy and development are similar, the processes are distinctly different. Advocacy involves gaining and exercising power to influence a political action. Employing methods such as demonstrations, public campaigns and civic education, advocacy can be the primary mission of international agencies and civil society organizations seeking to influence global and national decision makers. Women worldwide frequently organize themselves for advocacy purposes, drawing on their collective power to affect legislation, official policies and governmental programs. Lobbying, however, refers to influencing the government and its leaders. Development attempt to sway policy makers and legislators to address specific issues, often by introducing or revising legislation and policy. Development activities may include private meetings with decision makers, public campaigns and demonstrations.
This paper considers the possible approaches to creating more effective and inclusive political parties. It focuses on the communication channels that parties can use to strengthen their relationships with citizens and to promote fair elections.
This information bulletin describes the grants program, "Reducing Women’s and Girls’ Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS by Strengthening their Property and Inheritance Rights." It explains the program's objectives and includes a brief profile of eight sub-Saharan African organizations that received grant
This plan of action represents the Inter-Parliamentary Union's (IPU) main intellectual input to the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995.
This paper identifies an initial set of considerations to ensure that gender equality is central to the aid effectiveness agenda.
This report sets out recommendations to improve the situation of migrant, refugee and trafficked women.
This report highlights the current status of women’s role in government in Thailand. It analyzes the reasons behind the slow progress to date, and proposes ways and means to overcome existing barriers to women in politics.
This resource kit provides tools for learning about the issues surrounding the campaign for gender balance or parity in government and gender balance in politics more generally.
This paper explores gender issues as they relate to participation in urban governance, government responsibility and civic engagement.