What is Advocacy?
Advocacy is a system of actions directed at changing attitudes, policies, positions and actual practices in society. For CBM and its partners, this means actively advocating for prevention of disability, equal rights and equal opportunities for persons with disabilities and their families in all societies worldwide. Equal rights touch upon all development sectors including education, health, infrastructure, water and sanitation, vocational training, work, social systems, and justice and governance.
Through advocacy, CBM wants to reduce and eventually eliminate discriminatory practices and stigma related to disability with activities primarily carried out by persons with disabilities and their families supported by local, national and international initiatives. Advocating together with persons with disabilities is integral to CBM’s approach “nothing about us, without us”.[1]
[1] Nothing About Us Without Us: Developing Innovative Technologies: For, By and With Disabled Persons / David Werner, see link in section 3.
What does advocacy involve?
The advocacy activities promoted by CBM are grouped into four areas:
1. Awareness raising on disability and development issues
1. Awareness raising on disability and development issues
What you can do:
- For more information on CBM's position on disability and development, read CBM's Disability and Development Policy click here
- Read about the Australian Disability and Development Consortium, through which CBM contributes to advocacy, information sharing, best practice and networking goals on disability and development
- View CBM's 'Access for All' photo exhibition at the European Parliament marking the ratification of the UN Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Read more about the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: UNCRPD
2. Capacity building internally within CBM and externally on inclusive development practices and the rights of persons with disabilities
What you can do:
- Read about tools for inclusive development
- Read more about CBM Training of Trainers workshop on accessibility: CBM Accessibility Training of Trainers (TOT) workshop
- Look up more Accessibility Links: click here
3. Networking with relevant government and non-governmental partners on disability issues
4. Lobbying key decision makers to ensure high quality[2] disability inclusion in development policies and programs.
CBM aims to ensure that major international development process and frameworks include the rights of persons with disabilities. Together with persons with disabilities, CBM also lobbies for specific policies and programmes to promote the rights of persons with disabilities towards governments and other international cooperation stakeholders.
What you can do:
- Read more about a CBM campaign for Accessible transport in Philippines click here
- Learn about campaigning in the US for President Barack Obama on behalf of the US to sign the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Learn about working with IDDC partners to lobby for inclusion of persons with disabilities in the MDG framework
- Learn more about CBM's EU Liaison Office lobbying the European Commission to include persons with disabilities in its policies and practices: click here
- Learn more about the International Disability and Development Consortium campaign 'Include everybody', advocating for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in Millennium Development targets:
[2] High Quality inclusion respects all qualitative parameters which are also applicable to persons with no disabilities in the specific context and country.
