Free Leadership, Law And Advocacy Research Paper Example

Institutions:

Advocacy refers to the political activities by people, which aim at to sway the political, economic and social decisions within organizations. Advocacy could take different platforms of conveying influencing information, for instance, the use of the social platforms like the media and talking to the public. In most cases, the leaders conduct the advocacy because they move great masses of people thereby having a great influence on the people’s decisions. However, the leaders should also follow the law to avoid conflicting with the law enforcers. For this reason, the leaders should understand and respect well the laws and regulation that control the advocacy process (Sharma, 1996). Advocacy revolves around consideration of several factors for the effective presentation.
Therefore, effective advocacy should have the elements and processes that make up the essential building blocks of an effective advocacy plan. They entail clear objectives, audiences, messages, data collection, proper presentations, and evaluation. Nonetheless, the clear objectives ensure that proper planning is undertaken to avoid any mistakes. Proper planning also ensures that the leaders equip themselves with the necessary materials that help in the research method. They also act as guidelines to the people thereby proper flow of information. Understanding the audience warrants the conveyance of only the relevant information to the audience. Additionally, the messages and the language used should conform to the addressed, and data collection aims at backing the information and the research (Sharma, 1996). As a result, the data collected increased viability and reliability of the activities aimed at influencing the people. Nonetheless, after the presentation of the influential activities, the presenters should assess and evaluate the effect the influence has had on the people.
Different organizations embrace differing advocacy plan that aim at fighting the vices in the societies. For instance, the World Association of Persons with Disabilities is an organization that aims at protecting the disabled people and airing the grievances for a quick address by the relevant bodies. WAPD’s advocacy plan is to provide support and facilities to the disabled because, in most cases, the communities tend to avoid them. Some families go to the extent of locking the disabled persons away from the public eyes to avoid ridicules.
The methods used in the advocacy include; the coalitions and partnership with other organizations. It helps in amassing greater funds that help in the provision of the facilities needed by the disabled. For instance, the organization purchases wheelchairs to enable the movement of the students from one place to the other. Additionally, the wheelchairs help the students attend schools thereby increasing the number of the learned disabled students in the community, who in return, use their experience to help the others (Sharma, 1996). Another method used is the spread of information and knowledge about the disabled. It helps to increase awareness in the communities and the schools. As a result, the other students learn how to handle and treat such people without discrimination. For this reason, the disabled develop a sense of belonging in the schools due to the love the other students and teachers show them thereby eradicating stigmatization.
The planning and organization of the charity walk help in the protection of the disabled. Proper planning depicts that they usually have the disabled challenges at the heart. The charity events constitute the community development services that also encourage the other students to give in schools. The funds raised from the charities help in the construction of better facilities in the schools thereby making their lives more comfortable (Sharma, 1996). As a result, the disabled do not feel the burden of attending the schools due to the availability of the required facilities.
Consequently, the organization also advocates the insurance of the disabled to help in offsetting of their medical bills. Therefore, reducing the hospital fees burden on parent's warrants the students getting back to school on time or after a short period. In some cases, the disable fail to attend schools due to hospitals holding them up due to the failure to offset the hospital bills. Therefore, the insurance education is essential in making sure that the parents paid the insurance the disabled students to avoid disruptions in learning.
Additionally, the organization engages in a proper presentation of the information about the disabled thereby encouraging others. For instance, the use of the online blog post enables students and other people to access and read the stories of other disabled people and it is a way of networking with disabled (Sharma, 1996). The stories shared help one recognize that there are many others suffering from the same conditions. For instance in June 2013, the organization blogged about a student pursuing computer science but one who needed the help of a wheelchair. Consequently, the blog would encourage other students never to give up on their careers due to the disabilities. On the other hand, it encouraged the students to open up about the challenges and seek help.
Nevertheless, both weaknesses and strengths exist in the above advocacy plans. However, partnering with other organizations helped the organization in working towards achieving the set goal, which was to help and protect the disabled. It also increased the network, which helped to identify and help many disabled students who lacked the facilities (Sharma, 1996). Furthermore, the spread of the information and knowledge depicted its strengths in becoming bold and educating the public and the students about the disabled and what they could do to help them.
The planning of the charity walks could at times face challenges, for instance, if the organization spends huge expenditures with the expectation of huge turn-out of the public. As a result, it acted as a financial burden to people when the public failed to turn thereby affecting the number of facilities given to the students. The planning also created a loophole for misappropriation of funds, a vice that upsurges corruption in the organizations thereby the delay in the provision of the services to the poor.
The presentation of the information to the right audience using the relevant people was effective, and it strengthened the organization's credibility. As a result, it improved its public image thereby attracting more funds from other humanitarian organizations. However, some critics would argue that the blog aimed at attracting more money from the public for the organization’s self-interests (Sharma, 1996). For this reason, the organization would face some back-offs from the public and the students.
In assumption, advocacy, law and leadership play an important role in the advocacy process. The interdependence among the three ensures the achievement of the goals and the objectives set by the presenters. Therefore, the leaders should ensure proper planning before presentation of any advocacy because it ensures credibility of the information conveyed. As a result, it influences more people.

Reference:

Sharma, R. R. (1996). An introduction to advocacy: Training guide. Washington, D.C.: Support
for Analysis and Research in Africa (SARA) ; [s.l.] : Health and Human Resources Analysis for Africa (HHRAA) : [s.l.] : U.S. Agency for International Development, Africa Bureau, Office of Sustainable Development.
http://kc.vanderbilt.edu/pathfinder/resources/page.aspx?id=1967