This document provides information about advocating for children's rights and strategies for advocacy. It defines advocacy as building support for an issue to educate audiences and work towards solutions. Effective advocacy involves listening to children, presenting solutions rather than complaints, networking with others, and joining advocacy groups to amplify one's voice. Advocacy can help ensure all people are able to have their voices heard and views considered. The document also discusses how early childhood professionals can advocate within their settings and for policy changes.

1. B A E Y E ( U O G )
S O PA 1 0 3 4 / I S O PA 1 0 3 4
T H E W O R L D F R O M A
C H I L D ’ S P E R S P E C T I V E
A D V O C AT I N G F O R
C H I L D R E N ’ S R I G H T S :
S T R AT E G I E S
B A E Y E ( U O G )
S O PA 1 0 3 4 / I S O PA 1 0 3 4
T H E W O R L D F R O M A
C H I L D ’ S P E R S P E C T I V E

2. O V E R V I E W
• Introduction
• Definition of advocacy
• Networking
• Strategies

3. R E F L E C T I V E A C T I V I T Y
• Differentiate the terms:
• Advocacy
• Activism

4. http://advocatingcreatively.com/

5. A D V O C A C Y
• Building support for an issue among
audiences such as the general public,
elected officials, media, and key opinion
leaders.
• Educating audiences
about a topic, sharing
illustrative stories, or
working on a solution
to a problem.

6. A D V O C A C Y
S E E K S T O
E N S U R E
T H A T A L L
P E O P L E I N
S O C I E T Y A R
E A B L E T O :
Have their voice heard on issues
that are important to them
Protect and promote their rights
Have their views and wishes
genuinely considered when
decisions are being made about
their lives

7. A D V O C A C Y
I S A
P R O C E S S
O F
S U P P O R T I N
G A N D
E N A B L I N G
P E O P L E T O :
Express
Express their
views,
thoughts and
concerns
Access
Access
information,
advice and
guidance
Explore
Explore
choices and
options for
services and
care

8. H O W ?
Listening to you
Being non-judgmental
Providing you with information and guidance
Genuinely understanding your concerns
Exploring your options
Helping you think about outcomes and consequences
Respecting your decisions
Helping you to communicate your thoughts, needs and wishes.

9. A D V O C A C Y
• Speaking on behalf of another
person or assisting that person
to speak for himself.
• Child advocacy - action on
behalf of children in relation to
those services and institutions
that impinge on their lives.

10. A D V O C A C Y
• “Advocates or activists are necessary… because there is a
perception of injustice and disempowerment of…people at the
centre of a crisis” (Ebbeck and Waniganayake, 2003, p. 162).
• Advocacy about and for EC professionals is
gaining momentum.
• Why?

11. Y O U A R E A N A D V O C AT E
I F
Y O U H AV E E V E R …
• Helped a family receive
needed services.
• Stood up for someone who
was being treated unfairly.
• Attended a parent/teacher
conference.
• Participated in a city council
meeting.

12. A D V O C AT E S …
• build relationships with others.
• plead the cause on behalf of others/ are persuasive.
• give information to legislators, elected officials, and decision-
makers - hope leaders will be influenced to support those
viewpoints.
• identify problems, contact legislators, and encourage them to
guide the bill through the legislative process.

13. R E F L E C T I V E A C T I V I T Y
• Why should we advocate?

14. W H Y A D V O C AT E ?
• Educators and families want to help their
children, and the quality of education provided
to children is helped or harmed by the political
climate.
• Much of what happens depends on political
decisions (Pillow-Price, 2009).

15. W H Y
A D V O C AT E ?
• Children have neither the vote nor the ability to
influence political, social or economic change.
• You are knowledgeable in the field.
• Most representatives do not have a background in
education.
• They need those who know about children to inform
them about innovations in the profession and possible
solutions (NAEYC, 2004).

16. H O W T O
A D V O C AT E
F O R Y O U R
C H I L D :
S T E P S
Step 1: understand the issue
Make sure you have a clear understanding
of the issue your child is facing.
For example, your child’s school might be
having difficulty managing your child’s
behaviour.
So the school has decided that your child
can’t take part in the learn to swim
program.

17. S T E P 2 :
T H I N K
A B O U T
W H AT Y O U
W A N T F O R
Y O U R
C H I L D
Thinking about your child’s needs will help you
decide what you want for your child.
It’s important to keep an open mind because there
might be solutions that you haven’t thought of.
Try to get plenty of information so that you can make
an informed decision about what to do. You could
ask other people what they think.
For example, you might want your child to take part
in the learn to swim program. Or you might want
extra supervision while your child is at the program.

18. S T E P 3 :
P R E S E N T A
S O L U T I O N
Presenting a solution is more effective than
complaining. For example, you might say, ‘If my child’s
behaviour continues to be a problem, I could come to
the learn to swim program to help supervise’.
It’s also important to consider whether your solution
might have negative consequences for your child. For
example, if you went to the program to supervise,
would your child be embarrassed?
And you could think about timing. For example, would
it be better for your child take part in the learn to swim
program now or do it next term instead?

19. A D V O C AT I N G F O R
Y O U R C H I L D : T I P S
• Know your child’s rights
• You’ll be more effective as an advocate if you know your
child’s rights and the rules of the system you’re advocating in
– for example, your state’s education laws and the school’s
policies, or the medical support your child is entitled to.

20. • It’ll also help to find out who’s responsible for what in your
child’s school or other services your child uses. This way
you’ll know who to talk to and what you can expect.
• If you have time, it can help to get familiar with the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child, which applies in
Australia. You can also check the laws in your state and
territory at Youth Law Australia.

21. • Stay calm
• If you stay calm and polite, people will be more open to
your point of view. It’s often best to ask questions and make
suggestions rather than demand things. For example, you
could make a demand like ‘Give my daughter a place on
the school cricket team’.
• But a suggestion might be more persuasive: ‘If my daughter
gets a place on the cricket team, it’ll be great for the
school’s reputation for treating boys and girls equally’.
• If you’re struggling to stay calm, ask for a moment so you
can calm down and gather your thoughts. If this doesn’t
work, you could ask for a short break, or stop the meeting
and arrange another appointment.

22. Get organised
• Prepare for meetings and take a list of points and questions
to meetings. It also helps to keep written records of
meetings, emails and phone calls. Include the date and
time, who you spoke with or met, and what you discussed.
You can also keep relevant information and reports that
support your case.
• You could keep all these documents on your computer, in a
folder, or both.

23. G E T
S U P P O R T
• Speaking to other parents who’ve had similar experiences
or joining a support group can help you with useful
information and emotional support. You can also get
support from a volunteer or paid advocate, who can explain
the law and your child’s rights. This person can go to
meetings with you too.

24. Advocacy services have
professional advocates who can
work with you to advocate for your
child. You can find advocacy
services in your area by contacting
your local community centre, local
council, library or neighbourhood
house.

25. Helping children advocate for themselves
From an early age, children can advocate for themselves by saying no
or making simple choices.
But self-advocating might be hard if your child doesn’t understand the
situation, the processes or their rights, or doesn’t feel confident to speak
up.
These situations might come up when your child starts school or goes
to the GP, for example.

26. H E R E A R E
S O M E W A Y S T O
H E L P
C H I L D R E N
A D V O C A T E
F O R
T H E M S E L V E S .
B U I L D Y O U R
C H I L D ’ S
C O N F I D E N C E
You can also encourage your
child to feel confident to speak
up if they feel something isn’t
right. One way to do this is by
reading stories with your child
about characters who stand up
for themselves and others.
You can build your child’s
confidence by giving them
responsibilities and letting them
do age-appropriate things on
their own – for example, going
to the local shop to buy some
milk, or walking the dog.

27. L I S T E N T O
Y O U R
C H I L D
• Actively listening to your child shows that you care and are
interested in what they have to say.
• You can show your child that you’ve heard and understood
by summarising what they’ve said. For example, ‘Have I got
this right? You feel angry because children in your class
throw balls of paper at you when the teacher isn’t looking’.
• If you don’t understand what your child is saying, ask
questions and talk about it until you do.

28. S U P P O R T
Y O U R
C H I L D T O
S P E A K U P
• You can support your child by preparing them to express
their point of view and ask for what they need.
• For example, you could help your child write down what
they want to say to the teacher about the other children’s
behaviour. Or you could do a role play of this situation with
your child. As part of the role play you could show your
child how to be calm and polite.
• You can also help your child work out who they need to talk
to about an issue. You could explain why this is the best
person to talk to and what your child might expect the
person to do or say.

29. If your child has any negative consequences
from being an advocate for themselves, it’s
important to back them up. For example, if a
teacher is annoyed with your child for mentioning
that other children throw balls of paper, you
could ask the teacher for an appointment to
discuss the issue.
As your child practises speaking up for
themselves, they’ll become more confident about
expressing their point of view.

30. R E F L E C T I V
E A C T I V I T Y
Can you name one current area of
concern where the ‘profession’ is active in
seeking change?
Do you consider the EC professional
today is as reluctant as those of years
ago to become involved in and speak out
about contentious matters related to
public policy and professional services?

31. A D V O C A C Y
T O A C H I E V E
E Q U I T Y
Advocacy is a core process for addressing
inequity and disparities.
Advocacy addresses inequity by:
• 1.bringing the issue of child disparities to the
forefront of
• the agenda for decision makers.
• 2.building awareness, visibility and public
momentum behind the issue.
• 3.improving access, cost and quality of programmes
and services for disadvantaged children.
(UNICEF, 2010)

32. A D V O C A C Y
I N T H E
S E T T I N G
• A staff member:
• might act as an advocate to discuss with parents a new
curriculum that is being introduced in the centre/school.
• assumes the role of advocate when negotiating
changes to conditions of service with management.
• An EC organisation could assume the role of advocate
in order to influence government policy-making
regarding funding of early childhood services.

33. R E F L E C T I V E
A C T I V I T Y
• What other examples of advocacy in EC settings have
you seen, heard, read or experienced
yourself?

34. J O I N A G R O U P
• Reasons to join a group
• Amplifies your voice
• There’s power in numbers.
• Keeps you informed
• You will receive additional
information about upcoming
issues.
• Many people are monitoring
the proposed issues.

35. J O I N A G R O U P
• Coalition & Alliance Building
• Build a network with others who share your
journey or who share an interest.
• Bring together people working with different
agendas into your network.
• Consider unlikely allies.
• Identify common interests.
• Look beyond traditional partners.

36. I N F O R M A T I O N D I S S E M I N A T I O N
& C O M M U N I C A T I O N
• Promote widespread awareness of issues:
• Newsletters, alerts, flyers, posters, ads, etc.
• Innovative systems/on-line electronic communication.
• Letters to the editor.

37. N E T W O R K I N G
• Covers 2 main areas:
• Networking between the staff
and the community.
• Professional networking
done by staff such as when
they attend conferences or
liaise with other
professionals.

38. N E T W O R K S
• Reflective activity
• Apart from advocacy how
else can networking be
useful to you as an EC
practitioner?
• List EC organizations in
Malaysia.
• (Tutorial)

39. N E T W O R K S
In Malaysia:
Malaysia Association of Kindergarten (PTM)
The Association of Registered Childcare Providers
Malaysia (ARCPM) or Persatuan Pengasuh Berdaftar
Malaysia (PPBM)
National Association of Early Childhood Care and
Education Malaysia (NAECCEM)
Early Child Care Education (ECCE) Council, set up under
the government’s Economic Transformation Programme
(ETP)

40. V I D E O O N
W O R K I N G
T O G E T H E R
F O R E A R LY
C H I L D H O O D
An advocacy video produced by the Asia-Pacific
Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC) to
promote the cause for EC in the Asia-Pacific region
through a collective voice and to stir up partnership in
the region to work together to raise the profile of EC.
Emphasizes 5 key messages which advocate for early
start, importance of the home environment, quality of
early childhood care and development centers, equity
and inclusion, and multi-sectoral coordination for the
holistic development of young children.
Prepared as a contribution to the UNESCO World
Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education
2010.

41. C O N C L U S I O N
As an advocate and a participant
you are able to influence the
direction of policies.
As early childhood professionals
there is no question that you will
be advocates as well as
participants.

42. C O N C L U S I O N
“ Never doubt that a small group of
thoughtful, committed citizens can
change the world. Indeed, it is the only
thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

43. R E F E R E N C E S
• UNICEF. (2010) Advocacy toolkit. Available from
http://www.unicef.org/evaluation/files/Advocacy_Toolkit.pdf
[Accessed: 10 Jan 2015).
• Caldwell, B. (2003) Advocacy is everybody’s business. In
Neugebauer, B. & Neugebauer, R. (Eds.), The art of
leadership: Managing early childhood programs (pp. 46-
48). Redmond, WA: Child Care Information Exchange.
• Ebbeck, M. and Waniganayake, M. (2003) Early childhood
professionals: Leading today and tomorrow. Sydney,
MacLennan and Petty.

44. R E F E R E N C E S
• CSAE. (2011) Enhancing grassroots advocacy through social
media. Available from
http://www.csae.com/Resources/ArticlesTools/View/ArticleId/
81/Enhancing-Grassroots-Advocacy-Through-Social-Media
[Accessed: 10 Jan 2016).
• NAEYC. (2004) NAEYC advocacy toolkit. Available from
http://www.naeyc.org/policy/toolbox/pdf/toolkit.pdf [Accessed:
10 Jan 2015).
• Pillow-Price, K.L. (2009) Influencing legislation: Advocacy
basics. Dimensions of Early Childhood, 37(3), 18-22.
• UNICEF. (2010) Advocacy toolkit: A guide to influencing
decisions that improve children’s lives. New York, UNICEF.

45. Thank you