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 report evaluates the outcomes of the UNDP Semipalatinsk Programme, which aimed at alleviating poverty and raising living standards among women, small-scale entrepreneurs and rural people in the Semipalatinsk region of Kazakhstan.
The essays in this volume explore the multiple factors that influence the process of engendering governance in complex societies. They focus particularly on the changing roles of various actors such as women’s movements, the state and civil society.
This paper addresses the characteristics of electoral processes in post-conflict countries.
This article discusses the relevance of gender in the context of macroeconomic analysis, arguing that macroeconomic policies are gender-biased in their effects and that gender inequalities at the micro- and meso- levels have macroeconomic implications.
This report outlines the problems faced by women in the energy sector of Swaziland. It explores solutions for alleviating women's energy problems in the country and identifies means by which they can develop sustainable energy projects that can also lead to income generation.
This report is the result of the National Consultative Meeting that was held in Blantyre, Malawi in June 1999.
This report provides an overview of the ways in which education decreases the chances of contracting HIV and focuses on the specific effect of education on girls’ vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.
This manual is designed to help trainers enhance their understanding of the gender dimensions of HIV/AIDS so that they can then effectively influence policy makers to undertake appropriate responses to the challenges posed by the epidemic.
This report documents some of the groundbreaking work done by projects supported by the UNIFEM Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence Against Women.