FAQs: Advocacy

What is advocacy?

Simply put, advocacy means to act on behalf of another and it can be done by anyone. In many cases, it involves educating lawmakers to help them understand a specific issue, but in many cases it can be as simple as telling your peers about an issue you are passionate about. Some advocates are paid to represent companies' interests; other advocates volunteer with a grassroots group, and still others are ordinary citizens not affiliated with any group.

Advocacy is a ministry of influence using persuasion, dialogue, and reason to affect change. It seeks to address the structural and systemic causes of poverty by changing policies, practices, and attitudes that perpetuate inequality and deny justice.

To be successful, it must work at two complementary levels: policy influence and citizen empowerment. Advocacy can be carried out with those affected by poverty and injustice, for those affected, by those affected, or as a combination of all three.

Advocacy is a critical component of World Vision’s work to tackle the causes of poverty, protect children and promote justice.

How you can make a difference

You can join World Vision as an advocate by using your privilege of U.S. citizenship to encourage our elected officials to support laws and policies that help the poor and protect children. We live in a country that has great influence over the circumstance of poorer countries.

Simply expressing your concern about issues that affect the poor can have a tremendous impact. It is the mandate of elected officials to listen to the concerns of the people they represent. For this reason, elected officials welcome feedback and input from their constituents.

As an advocate, you can serve the poor in a very unique way. We can bridge the gap between the poor and those who have the power to help bring them out of poverty.

Visit our Advocacy Action Center or learn more about the issues:

• Children in crisis
• Poverty & disease
• Conflicts & disasters
• Youth in the United States

Why is advocacy important? | What is public policy? | What is lobbying?