Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque and Dr. M Abul Kashem Mozumder :
Policy advocacy is the dynamic aspect of policy analysis. It serves to expand ‘projected programs’ of development policy with new operational strategies and paradigms. “Policy advocacy is concerned with what government ought to do, or bring about in what they do through discussion, persuasion, organization and activation”. Policy advocacy as such helps formulate national development policies and programs. Policy advocacy may practically be interpreted as an ongoing process of popularizing and advocating state sponsored programs and policy strategies. Intellectual activism involved in policy advice has to do with participation in national and international seminars, symposium, workshops and maximizing feedback to relevant policy documents of ministries, departments and donor agencies through studies, action research, publication of reports, research articles, viewpoints and media participation.
Advocacy for social action serves to inspire the community to turn out to help the deprived section to shape their future dream. The community is thus sensitized into proper action being influenced by the noble brand of concepts couched in program component of sectoral policy. It is beginning to leave much of its negative habit of minds coming in contact with advocacy group. This is a stimulus response paradigm that empirically conceptualizes the nature of social mobilization with the involvement of the exogenous forces of development. Yet the response is two-fold: positive and negative. The enlightened society is quick at responding to the call for social action; backward community responds either negatively with stubborn resistance or slowly. Policy advocacy role of change catalysts and development practioners is to galvanize the sleepy Community of the traditional sector to use its dormant potentials and resources in the race for socio-economic achievement.
The marked feature of the on-going dynamics of advocacy is the declaration of a special week/day. This has happened to be a conventional demonstration of the highly enthusiastic urban participants. The govt. had made it a periodic commemoration in its commitment to UN declaration. It tries to show its priority concerns for empowerment of the disadvantaged as well as for carrying forward social movement against environmental degradation for the establishment of human right. The observance of the special week/days by way of rallies, human, chain symposium and cultural function has been taken to be the important dimension of policy advocacy to focus the issues relating to human development policy-area and sub-sectors.
Despite alarming indications of violence in transitional societies torn between conflicting values the social volunteers are playing a vital role with bold initiative and ventures in changing the scenario with consistent advocacy for change. They are activists for governance receiving directions from the policy communities, civil societies and NGOs.
The marked feature of the on-going dynamics of advocacy is the declaration of a special week/day. This has happened to be a conventional demonstration of the highly enthusiastic urban participants. The govt. had made it a periodic commemoration in its commitment to UN declaration. It tries to show its priority concerns for empowerment of the disadvantaged as well as for carrying forward social movement against environmental degradation for the establishment of human right. The observance of the special week/days by way of rallies, human, chain symposium and cultural function has been taken to be the important dimension of policy advocacy to focus the issues relating to human development policy-area and sub-sectors.
Advocacy is led by advocates or, when they are organized in groups as is the case most of the time, advocacy groups. Advocacy groups as defined by Young and Everritt are different from political parties which “seek to influence government policy by governing.” They are “any organization that seeks to influence government policy, but not to govern.” This definition includes social movements, sometimes network of organizations which are also focused on encouraging social change. Social movements try to either influence governments or, like the environmental movement, to influence people’s ideas or actions.
The government, NG0, civil societies and organized citizen bodies has been giving special attention to advocacy. This is actually done through group meetings, observance of special days, organizing workshop, seminar with stakeholder and people involved in policy and decision, booklets, billboard, group discussions, participatory rural appraisal and cultural programs like staging drama, play etc. There are different advocacy tools used to conscious citizens of all walks of life. Special days observed in a befitting manner include among others; women day, child day, Environment day, Humans Rights day, World health day, Disabilities day, World population day, World AID day.
Nevertheless, community participation presupposes a modicum of public control to protect the interests of the commoners against domineering interest group. Growing partnership between policy community and the public is usually developed by the civil societies. Even community participation may go to the extent of peaceful demonstration for awareness building, promotion of consumers’ preference for goods and services and protection against violence.
Organized citizen bodies including registered NGOs provide for institutionalizing policy advocacy. It complements the interest groups in raising mass awareness. The marked feature of policy advocacy is the functional relation of policy actors with registered associations and NGOs. Such organizations play a vital role in awareness building and advocating social change, humans right and sustainable development. A plenty of such organizations demonstrate organizational capacity to hold seminars, workshop and dialogue on vital policy issues to mould public opinion. They are up and doing to resist such policy action that goes against humans rights.
There are efficient and dynamic NGOs with a reassured commitment to human development. Given the magnitude of the challenge of the new millennium NGOs have come to develop collaboration not only with the government but also with a vast array of social institutions with diverse ideologies and objectives. These institutions are not close development partners of NGOs but qualified agents of civil society. Even then they contribute to social movement to protect environment and vulnerable groups like women, children, slum dwellers and ethnic minorities as potential partners of NGOs. Potential partnership is deemed essential for advocacy in the areas like human right, women rights, and cultural activities and media participation.
NGOs endeavor to pursue their policy advocacy role as close development partner of govt. based on ‘shared governance’. This is open and legitimate partnership between the state and NGO. It entails greater involvement of NGOs and their constituencies in policy formulation, planning, management and implementation of development programs.
In non-formal education sub-sector, for illustration, NGOs advocacy role in the sprit of partnership deserves mention. The NGOs started intervention in this sub-sector in addition to poverty alleviation and other development activities. BRAC, UCEP, GUP, RDRS, Aparajo Bangladesh, JOGAJOG, VERC and other play proactive role in popularizing NFE among the vulnerables. NGOs have pioneered and successfully implemented NFE programs to reach out of school children, Advocacy role in this connection is clearly visible in center-based approach, Campaign based approach and primer destitution approach. Total literacy movement (TIM) is the action program of advocacy for basic education. Campaign for popular education (CAMPE) is involved in the continuous promotion of NFEP through research dissemination and promotion of literacy and innumeracy campaign.
Recently NGO’s advocacy role replete with ‘human right approach’ bears a special significance. NGOs continue to project the predicaments of the most vulnerable to evolve suitable means to preserve their rights. The utmost neglect which the toiling mass of workers suffer in an overtly in congenial environment has led to the realization of the policy communities to collect information on the situation that is absolutely out of control with menacing setbacks.
YPSA, for example, is taking the lead in the campaign and advocacy for policy making in ship breaking industries orchestrating the rights of the workers and other stakeholders to create a healthy environment. This advocacy project emerged in the backdrop of the protestant movement against the violation of human rights. Ship preaching industry is a case of gross violation of worker’s rights. Absence of public policy for ship breaking industry perpetuates the crisis of such violation. YPSA has rightly realized that it is high time to go for advocacy campaign strategy to ensure the rights of the workers with a sound working environment.
This advocacy project addressing violation of human right received much response from wider community. Ship breaking social Forum (SSF) has been formed to give accent to right focused policy advocacy in favour of the victims of the humanitarian crisis. It arranged meeting rally and day observation to raise community awareness. Besides, it published posters and sticker in favour of ship-breaking policy.
Aparajeo-Bangladesh, PSTC, PMUK, SPK, VOSD, ACD, JOGAJOG and VORD provide another glaring example. They strongly advocate for policy development in favour of the most vulnerable children who remain at the outer margin of child policy facing many fold harassment, abuses and hazards. The right-focused project at its upstream phase has been trying to develop necessary policy recommendation and advocacy to modify children Acts, and labour laws in consonance with constitutional obligations and UNO convention on right of the children (UNCRC).
NGOs try to accomplish the task of advocacy with continuous implementional services and networking that gain conceptual significance operationally. Besides human right centered activism their advocacy role may have much to concretize the people. Most NGOs in Bangladesh would like to temper to work in the areas of advocacy like basic education, health education, legal aid protection, vocational training for skill development, capacity building for poverty alleviation, prevention of STD/HIV/AIDS and behavior change communication. Thing is that the vision of creating enlightened society with a sustainable basis for livelihood has propelled the NGOs to put special attention to policy advocacy. This is to enter the new millennium.
(Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque is Professor (RTD), Chittagong University and Dr. M Abul Kashem Mozumder is Pro-VC, BUP).
