Advocacy and policy – Diakonia EN

”In authoritarian regimes the freedom of speech and the democratic space is first to go down. In Honduras laws are created to silence civil society instead of defending it”, says journalist Cesario Padilla. In 2017 he was prosecuted for participating in the student movement protesting against changes in the right to form organizations. Thanks to the advocacy work of our partner organization C-libre ha was freed from the accusations.

Many challenges in developing countries are closely linked to global challenges, but also to values, life styles, policies, economies, consumption and production patterns in developed countries. As part of a popular movement linked to various networks, Diakonia is also a political actor in its own right in the Swedish and European arenas.

By raising awareness and encouraging mobilisation and action among our constituency towards politicians and other duty bearers in Sweden and the EU, we complement the work of rights holders and our partner organizations in the regions.

Our advocacy work is rooted and has direct links with rights holders and partners, allowing for experience sharing and joint action and giving them opportunities to make their voices heard in forums they might not previously have had access to. We call this rooted advocacy.

The fact that partners’ cooperate with us at policy level also strengthens their capacity for important local policy work.

Diakonia’s a role is that of a pro active proposal maker and watch-dog in relation to duty bearers in Sweden and the EU.