Advocacy is the effort to change public perceptions and influence policy decisions and funding priorities. Advocates educate about an issue and suggest a specific solution. All advocacy involves making a case in favor of a particular issue, using skillful persuasion and strategic action. Simply put, advocacy means actively supporting a cause and trying to get others to support it as well. This volume specifically addresses advocacy efforts to improve adolescent reproductive health.
Advocacy takes many forms.
A club for youth may seek a traditional leader s approval to use office space in a community building. Several YSOs may work together to ask that a local clinic adopt policies and procedures that make services more accessible to young people. National and community policies written and unwritten significantly affect young people s health. Other institutions which touch the lives of youth, such as clinics and schools, may have internal policies that also influence young people s reproductive health. Policies are a reflection of a society s commitment to its young people.