Advocacy for Youth Work
The Concept of Youth Advocacy
The overall thrust of Youth Advocacy is to empower young people in their everyday lives. Youth Advocacy attempts to provide support to young people in all areas that affect them, be it education, housing, employment, unemployment, health, social security, recreation and human relationships. Youth Advocacy also gives to the young person insights into the adult world of decision making and the exercising of authority, and enhances the young person's understanding of legal process. This helps the young person to make clear choices about issues that affect their everyday life. Youth Advocacy can assist young people to use the existing social systems to develop a real sense of self-worth. Thus, young people are in a better position to be responsible for themselves and more able to deal with society's demands.
Youth Advocacy is an established framework for workers to use with young people across all social levels. Its emphasis is to empower young people through their own actions in situations that affect them. Youth Advocacy is a reflection of the principles of human rights in practice.
Youth Advocacy aims to prevent the diminution of a young person's self-respect, caused by paternalistic and authoritarian attitudes of those people who have professional authority over the young person's life-teachers, lawyers, law enforcement authorities as well as well-meaning but misguided social workers, youth workers, probation officers and others within the helping professions.
Here you can learn more about Youth Advocate Program https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XukgOcTqUgE
The term ‘advocacy’ means different things to different people. Basically, advocacy is about calling for change and guiding decision makers towards solutions. It refers to the different ways we can build political, financial or public support to bring about action for change. It involves influencing leaders and decision makers to address the root causes of problems and to generate long-term sustainable solutions.
Change can take place on several levels, such as:
• at local level (for example with local government, police, religious leaders, school system);
• at national level (for example with national governments, ministries);
• at international level (for example with UN agencies, the World Bank, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria).
Follow the link to find out more https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ng4siMktY6M
The Process of Youth Advocacy
The Process Youth Advocacy processes include the following:
- Youth Advocacy is at all times a human rights approach with young people. This perspective rejects the welfare model which does not empower young people and at best still leaves the young person dependent on social structures.
- Youth Advocacy is most effective when established in local areas. If Youth Advocacy does not begin at the local neighborhood level then young people will remain powerless.
-Youth Advocacy, by definition, operates on a conflict model that does not take responsibility for young people. n Youth Advocacy provides the opportunity to young people to take responsibility not for young people, but by and with young people.
- Youth Advocacy is a community development process which resources the local areas responsible for the delivery of youth services in education, law, employment, housing, health, transport and recreation.
- Youth Advocacy enhances collective development of young people, and workers with young people.
- To create a climate of Youth Advocacy we begin by establishing workers with youth networks at local and regional levels. Some workers establish strategies that will enable young people to participate in issues of relevance to them.
- Youth Advocacy is a long-term development and will not be put into an expedient time frame that suits politicians, professionals or parents at the expense of young people's development. It is essential to move at a pace conducive to the physical, psychological and emotional change that young people experience.
Youth Legal Advocacy interprets the young person's needs and feelings into a legal perspective and acts with instruction from the young person as their legal voice to parents, courts, tribunals, hearings, law enforcement agencies, other government and nongovernment authorities that have a mandate with young people (see Figure 1). Empowerment Empowerment of young people is when they have the major say over all the things that affect their everyday lives. Young people are rarely recognized as a group with the right to have their views considered or their interests independently represented at any level of decision making. Be it in Parliament where changes of legislation are made, in courts of tribunals where decisions are made about their future, at home where more often than not they have to obey their parents, and at schools where they are told what is best for them.
How is advocacy different in different countries? It can be confusing to understand how advocacy is different from other related strategies, including information, education and communication, comprehensive sexuality education and public relations. The following table lists some of the main differences.
Who can be an advocate?
Anyone with a passion for an issue or cause can be an advocate. Young people can be some of the best advocates for youth sexual and reproductive health and rights, because they have the best understanding of their own needs, realities, desires and capacities. In fact, it is a human right for young people to participate in decision making that affects their lives and to have their voices heard by decision makers. This right is enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been ratified by almost every country in the world. So, young people of every age and from every region around the world can all be sexual and reproductive health and rights advocates.
But, what does it take to be an effective advocate? The recipe is quite simple. You need:
• passion and dedication to an issue or cause
• a clear vision of what change needs to happen
• the ability to collaborate with others
• time and commitment to prepare and follow up with advocacy interventions
• strong communication skills
• the persistence to keep going
You can lead change in your immediate surroundings or the world at large Being an agent for change in your immediate surroundings can be very powerful. Never underestimate the ‘ripple effect’: you inspire someone who inspires someone else who inspires someone else, and so on, until the ripples from a drop of rain transform into ocean waves.
We can also be agents of change at a higher level, such as at national, regional or international levels. Advocacy at these levels has the potential to affect an even larger group of people, but change might happen at a slower pace than local level advocacy.
What do advocates do?
As an advocate you can play many different roles.
For example, you can:
• raise awareness about sexual and reproductive health and rights or related issues among leaders and decision makers to make specific changes to legislation, policies and/or their implementation
• collaborate with other young people and advocates in campaigns to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights
• ensure that leaders (your government, religious leaders, school etc) respect, protect and fulfil young people’s sexual and reproductive rights
• write and distribute factsheets, reports or other materials to provide evidence about the importance of prioritizing young people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights But, remember, you don’t have to do this alone. Other organizations and people may have different skills, and access to different knowledge or target audiences that can be useful for your advocacy goals. Collaborative advocacy can often generate stronger voices that reach wider audiences and lead to lasting change. Change is possible! There is always something you can do, no matter how large or small.
Why is advocacy important?
Advocacy addresses the root causes of problems, leading to long-term sustainable benefits for young people and their communities.
Sometimes, thinking about all the change you want to happen can seem overwhelming. It’s a bit like coming home to find your house flooded from a leaky tap. Your initial reaction might be to grab a mop and start cleaning up the water as fast as you can. The problem is that no matter how quickly you mop, the tap will continue to drip. What you need to do is find a way to repair the leaky tap. Once the water stops leaking, it will be much easier to mop up the floor. Ask yourself:
Advocacy is important, because it can:
• Influence changes in policies and mindsets. Generating commitment and buy-in from leaders and decision makers is vital to ensure sexual and reproductive health and rights for all. Advocacy can help generate this commitment. It can influence the creation, implementation and improvement of laws and policies.
• Secure funds and resources. For change to come about, commitments to sexual and reproductive health and rights must be backed by financial, human and technical resources. Advocacy can ensure that sufficient resources are allocated for programme implementation and service delivery.
• Mainstream sexual and reproductive health and rights. Sexual and reproductive health and rights are closely linked to many other aspects of life and development, including education, economics, the environment and human rights. It’s therefore important to take a comprehensive approach. Advocacy can be used to generate awareness and an understanding about the importance of mainstreaming these rights into all aspects of development.
Summary
Youth Advocacy is a framework of action based on human rights principles when working with young people. Its principles and current outcomes clearly indicate that not only does it attempt to prevent juvenile crime but it creates opportunities for young people to take responsibility in addressing life issues.
The overall thrust of Youth Advocacy is to empower young people in their everyday lives. Youth Advocacy attempts to provide support to young people in all areas that affect them, be it education, housing, employment, unemployment, health, social security, recreation and human relationships.
Youth Advocacy also gives to the young person insights into the adult world of decision making and the exercising of authority, and enhances the young person's understanding of legal process. This helps the young person to make clear choices about issues that affect their everyday life. Youth Advocacy can assist young people to use the existing social systems to develop a real sense of self-worth. Thus, young people are in a better position to be responsible for themselves and more able to deal with society's demands.
Youth Advocacy is an established framework for workers to use with young people across all social levels. Its emphasis is to empower young people through their own actions in situations that affect them. Youth Advocacy is a reflection of the principles of human rights in practice. Youth Advocacy aims to prevent the diminution of a young person's self-respect, caused by paternalistic and authoritarian attitudes of those people who have professional authority over the young person's life: teachers, lawyers, law enforcement authorities as well as well-meaning but misguided social workers, youth workers, probation officers and others within the helping professions.