Advocacy Agenda Research Articles

On the Spot: Women Councillors on Women Friendly Spaces

Safety, health, economic empowerment, recreation, access to shelter and women's participation in local structures are among the responsibilities of local government A jointly hosted event by the Gender Advocacy Programme and Agenda aimed to increase awareness of the impact of municipal service delivery on the lives of poor South African women. LENE OVERLAND reports

Empowering women to prevent HIV: the microbicide advocacy agenda

MEGAN GOTTEMOELLER writes that the research into the development of effective microbicides should be treated as a priority as women need prevention strategies that are within their personal control

Empowering Women to Prevent HIV: The Microbicide Advocacy Agenda

MEGAN GOTTEMOELLER writes that the research into the development of effective microbicides should be treated as a priority as women need prevention strategies that are within their personal control

Adolescent Development and the Junior High School Environment

This article uses a stage-environment fit paradigm to provide evidence of a mismatch between early adolescents' developmental needs and aspects of the junior high school classroom environment. The lack of synchronicity between the developing adolescent and the school environment is implicated in the etiology of a number of psychosocial problems such as poor self-esteem, drops in academic performance, truancy, and school dropout. The consequences of differential treatment of pubescent females compared with their nonpubescent peers within the school system are described. Six patterns of mismatch, including systemic and interpersonal domains that put adolescents at risk, are outlined. Social work interventions that address the problem areas are discussed, and an advocacy agenda is proposed.

Op-Ed:Toward a New Agenda for Advocacy

Op-Ed:Toward a New Agenda for Advocacy

Advocacy for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: One Call for Redirected Efforts

This article explores several topics related to advocating for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Included is a discussion of advocacy and integrity applied to the educator's work. Various misdirected advocacy positions are critiqued and a new advocacy agenda proposed focusing on program appropriateness, qualified personnel, least restrictive environment, and meaningful classification and assessment procedures.

Increasing private sector capacity for policy dialogue: The West African Enterprise Network

Sustaining policy reforms in democratizing settings calls for increased capacity among stakeholders for policy dialogue. International agencies have traditionally provided support to governments to achieve better policy analysis, design and implementation — essentially a supply-side approach. An example of building demand-making capacity is the creation of the West African Enterprise Network, a voluntary association of over 300 business men and women in 11 countries. With technical assistance support from the US Agency for International Development, networks in these countries have been formed both to promote policy dialogue with government and pursue business ventures, using advocacy tools and strategic planning techniques. The success of the Enterprise Network derives from solving the incentives problem for collective action, building ownership for an advocacy agenda from the ground up, considering sustainability and self-financing issues from the start, applying a facilitative approach to technical assistance, and benefiting from donor flexibility regarding outcomes.

Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in children and youth: An agenda for advocacy by school psychology.

Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in children and youth: An agenda for advocacy by school psychology.

Value-Based Arts Education: Agenda for Advocacy

Value-Based Arts Education: Agenda for Advocacy

School Social Workers, Counselors, and Psychologists in Collaboration: A Shared Agenda

This article explores the professional agenda shared by school social workers, counselors, and psychologists and suggests a number of areas in which interdisciplinary collaboration can be forged to further the role, influence, and effectiveness of pupil services personnel. Particularly in times of fiscal retrenchment, a collective force is more powerful than the efforts of any one profession to prevent or ameliorate threats to educational services. Special attention is focused on two areas: promoting public recognition of the three professions and influencing social policy development that effects positive change within the school system and larger society. An advocacy agenda is identified that includes promoting the use of the school's infrastructure as a social services delivery system, encouraging a prevention orientation, documenting the effectiveness of interventions and disseminating research results to influence public policy decision making, and organizing coalitions to further the collective interest.

Psychology and homelessness: A public policy and advocacy agenda.

Psychology and homelessness: A public policy and advocacy agenda.

Psychology and homelessness: A public policy and advocacy agenda.

This article describes a public policy agenda developed for the American Psychological Association (APA) by the APA Ad Hoc Advisory Panel on Homelessness, which met May 31-June 1, 1991. The agenda is intended to inform APA staff in their legislative and policy work with Congress and Executive Branch agencies on issues relevant to homelessness.

The focus of advocacy in the LD field.

In our field, the intent of all advocacy is to benefit those with learning disabilities. Currently, there is great emphasis on case-by-case advocacy designed to ensure client rights to services and to guarantee that informed consent and due process practices are followed correctly. And there also continues to be class advocacy, which moves the focus from individuals to groups and often strives for changes in prevailing policies and system practices to ensure benefits for the entire group. But there is more to understand about advocacy than might be gleaned from observation of these practices. Advocacy in a field has many facets. It may be formal or informal, explicitly outlined or covert, highly organized or relatively uncoordinated. It may indeed take the form of case-by-case or class advocacy regarding daily practices, but it also may be concerned about the proper focus of the field's research and training activity as well. Besides its form and focus, advocacy also involves a variety of strategies ranging from dissemination of information to legislative lobbying and litigation. And advocates differ with regard to their choice of focus and strategies, for example, some want to continue in established directions; others worry that this would result in perpetuating an unsatisfactory status quo. An understanding of the nature of advocacy can provide a basis for helping to shape or reshape the field. In a real sense, the respondents to the Future of the LD Field Survey are all advocates, that is, with regard to the field's future directions. Doug Biklen and Nancy Zollers go beyond most survey respondents in calling for a shift in the field's advocacy focus. They offer a critical look at the advocacy agenda that is reified daily by the types of concerns stressed in the LD literature and by special education practices. Then, they review examples of alternative ideas and practices that suggest a new focus for advocacy. In concluding, they outline a “blueprint” containing five objectives for future advocacy. Their underlying theme is that, ultimately, successful learning at school for most students presently labeled as LD depends on schools becoming truly pluralist institutions. Thus, they see schooling that accommodates a wider range of individual differences within the mainstream as preventing many learning problems and enabling students with learning disabilities to remain in and profit from regular classroom structures. Biklen and Zollers raise serious concerns about the current focus of advocacy in the LD field. If their concerns are valid, leaders in the field, especially those involved in organized advocacy, will have to reevaluate the thrust of their present activity. Clearly, the first order of business in planning for the future is to be as certain as we can that the substance of our advocacy agenda is sound; then we can consider how to improve the impact of our advocacy strategies. Biklen and Zollers' presentation provides a fine starting place for those ready to enter into discussion about the proper future course of advocacy in the LD field—Howard S. Adelman and Linda Taylor, Guest Editors