Paper details

Paper authors	Dorothea Hilhorst
In panel on	Changing practices of humanitarian advocacy
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

In the humanitarian domain, advocacy has mainly been associated with humanitarian diplomacy, associated with ‘maximising support for operations and programs, and building the partnerships necessary if humanitarian objectives are to be achieved’. Attention to advocacy has been directed towards transnational activism on behalf of affected communities, and advocacy work by agencies to convince donors of the importance of their concerns. Typically, agencies hire advocacy officers that is developing as a professional specialization.

Humanitarian diplomacy and advocacy thus mainly concerns actions by humanitarians or political actors, rather than by crisis-affected communities themselves. The adage ‘not about us without us’, which has gained momentum in the disability movement, is clearly not central in the humanitarian domain. Advocacy in local settings, has hardly been explored, and the boundaries of advocacy, accountability and activism – if and where these are pertinent -are not clearly defined. This paper seeks explore more inclusive and comprehensive bodies of practice around humanitarian advocacy, with the ultimate goal to revisit the concept of humanitarian advocacy. The definition proposed in the paper is ‘the activities of affected communities and their advocates to articulate, advance, and protect their rights (i.e. entitlements to assistance and citizenship rights more broadly), needs, views, and interests’.

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