Advocacy

“Advocacy” is other important area to know for people that are interested in social services. It is defined as “advancing government reforms and changed practice through citizen empowerment and mobilisation” or according to a World Vision, “advocacy is the promotion of justice through changes in policies, systems, structures, practices and attitudes, citizen mobilization and education about human and child rights”.

What does it mean? It means that according to this point of view, to help people is necessary to give them voice, to teach them their rights and to help them to organize themselves according to an objective. Citizens are active people that may act to change their situation (as community work), so if volunteers and social workers help them by teaching them their rights and giving them strategies to improve their skills, they can change the policy and their situation. Its main idea is that social workers must give voice to disadvantaged groups, and must teach them how they can improve their situation. In this way, citizens can fight for their justice and to get their rights as humans.