the human right to water and sanitation in emergency situations

- Part 3 - Advocacy on the right to water and sanitation in emergencies
Figure 4 - Checklist: The advocacy message
Checklist:
The advocacy
message
What is the key
message?
How does the
message address the key
stakeholders?
What are the
prerequisites for the
advocated change to
occur?
What specific contribution
do the advocacy
organizations plan to
make towards realization
of the message?
The message should generally be relatively
short, but explicit enough to indicate which key
stakeholders are being addressed, what they
should do and how they should do it. In other
words, the message should not merely say “this
must stop”.
An advocacy message, of necessity short and
simple, cannot always address specific recommendations
to all relevant stakeholders. However, as
part of their overall advocacy strategy, organizations
should include such recommendations, even if they
are not part of the headline message. This ensures
the message’s relevance for all key stakeholders
and that it does not appear to be biased against a
particular actor(s).
The advocacy strategy should take
into account the constraints under which the
stakeholders operate, including limitations on
their power or resources to address the identified
problem. These are constraints that can be
addressed in a subsequent phase of the advocacy.
An advocacy message is often reinforced if
the campaigning organizations themselves clearly
set out their contribution to mitigating the identified
problem.
14.3. What types of advocacy should be undertaken in support of the
right to water and sanitation?
With knowledge of and information about the violations of the right to water and sanitation, humanitarian
aid agencies can develop a variety of advocacy initiatives targeted at authorities and other concerned
actors in order to ensure protection of and assistance to populations affected by a humanitarian emergency.
The analyses and evaluations already conducted would seem to suggest that advocacy can respond to
several aims: prevent violations, call a halt to observed perpetrated violations, attenuate the effects of violations
on victims and even take action to expose and penalize those responsible for such violations.
The elements discussed above provide suggestions for possible advocacy activities that could usefully be
developed to ensure the respect, the protection and the fulfilment of the right to water and sanitation of
those affected by emergencies. Of course, options chosen can differ significantly according to the (often
very specific) mandate of a humanitarian aid agency, available resources, the context and so on. Consequently,
each agency has to develop its own most apposite strategies, taking into account if possible the
suggestions offered in the present Handbook.
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