Engaged Advocacy Practice for Leaders|My homework helper

Posted: March 15th, 2023

5340- U10 D1 Engaged Advocacy Practice for Leaders

Review the six stages of advocacy practice as outlined in your Developing Nonprofit and Human Service Leaders textbook.

In your initial post, consider the application of these stages of advocacy practice in the role of the community health worker as a change agent, or in the role of the leader in the organization for which you developed a strategic plan in this course. In addition, discuss how you see the stages of advocacy practice being used in your agency or in an organization from your readings or in your community. Explain why you think advocacy practice is important in policy or change initiatives.

Note: 250 Words and 1 scholarly journal

153

INTRODUCTION

This chapter builds directly on the previous chapter, which dealt with persuasion. Advocacy is a special case of persuasion, in that you are working to negotiate and per- suade people in elected or appointed offices, rather than staff within your organization, board members, clients, peers at other organizations, and other important people who are in your environment. Everything covered in Chapter 13 applies directly to advocacy, though we should consider advocacy a process that extends both before and after the persuasion effort.

THE ROLE OF ADVOCACY FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

In an insightful analysis of the role of nonprofit organizations in welfare states, Ralph Kramer (1981) indicated that being change agents “comes close to being a unique organi- zational competence of the voluntary agency” (p. 231). According to the Commission on Private Philanthropy and Public Needs (1975), also known as the Filer Commission, an ambitious examination of the role of nonprofit organizations in the United States, “the monitoring and influencing of government may be emerging as one of the single most important and effective functions of the private nonprofit sector” (p. 45). These statements from nearly 40 years ago may not have come entirely true, partially because nonprofit managers have not been taught a systematic approach to advocacy that fits in with other skills they have had the opportunities to develop. Yet, advocacy remains an important func- tion of the nonprofit sector. Ruggiano and Taliaferro (2012) support this view, arguing that lobbying is important for nonprofits to gain the resources they need to serve the public good.

In addition to this view of nonprofit organizations being needed to voice important view- points, advocacy by individuals is considered an ethical responsibility by some organizations’ codes of ethics. The National Association of Social Workers (2008), for example, states this explicitly:

Social workers should engage in social and political action that seeks to ensure that all people have equal access to the resources, employment, services, and opportunities they require to meet their basic human needs and to develop fully. Social workers should be aware of the impact of the political arena on practice and should advocate for changes in policy and legislation to improve social conditions in order to meet basic human needs and promote social justice. (Section 6.04a)

14Advocacy

Watson, Larry D. (Dan), and Richard A. Hoefer. Developing Nonprofit and Human Service Leaders : Essential Knowledge and Skills, SAGE Publications, Incorporated, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/capella/detail.action?docID=1921122. Created from capella on 2023-03-14 21:19:02.

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154 LEADERSHIP SKILLS

THE SIX STAGES OF ADVOCACY PRACTICE

Hoefer (2012) defines advocacy practice as taking “action in a systematic and purposeful way to defend, represent, or otherwise advance the cause of one or more clients at the individual, group, organizational, or community level in order to promote social justice” (p. 3). He describes the advocacy process as a form of the general problem-solving method used in social work and other professions. Specifically, Hoefer describes six distinct stages in his unified model of advocacy practice. Each will be covered briefly.

Stage 1: Getting involved. The idea of getting involved is simple: Are you going to put some of your life into trying to make a difference in a particular area, or are you not? Large num- bers of Americans are not involved in political efforts at all (not even voting), much less a more difficult and time-consuming activity such as political advocacy.

SOLUTION

As a change agent in the role of a community health worker, advocacy practice is crucial. The community health worker serves as a bridge between community members and healthcare providers, and as such, they are in a unique position to identify health-related issues that require advocacy. For instance, if a community lacks access to healthcare services, the community health worker can use their relationships and alliances to advocate for the development of healthcare facilities in the community. Additionally, community health workers can frame health-related issues and develop and implement strategies to address them.