Advocacy is a word that many of us hear but oftentimes we don’t really know what it means. Simply stated, advocacy is when an individual or a group comes together to influence elected officials’ decisions on specific issues. While it may at first sound daunting, with a little practice and knowhow you will find that it is not as challenging or scary as you thought.
Since advocacy provides us with the unique opportunity to engage directly with our elected officials it is a crucial piece of the puzzle to ensuring Human Rights are respected and protected around the world. Idealists United’s guide to effective advocacy will help you feel confident about engaging with your elected officials or one of their aides and help to ensure that the work you are doing will have an impact.
Visit our Training Center to learn more about how you can start your advocacy work now.
Idealists United welcomes the creation of humanrights.gov and applauds the Obama Administration for taking the initiative to shine a spotlight on Human Rights. The creation of this United States government sponsored website solely dedicated to Human Rights is an amazing step towards Idealists United’s goal of mainstreaming Human Rights education, awareness and action. It is actions like this that reinforces the work Idealists United is doing and gives us hope that one day Human Rights will no longer be an afterthought.
While we still have a lot of work to do and the creation of this one government sponsored website is still just a small step forward, it is a step forward. Idealists United believes through a truly united Human Rights movement, we will continue to see progress like this. And through our passion, action and persistence we will one day live in a society which views Human Rights promotion, protection and defense as a priority. But until that day comes, we must push on.
Idealists United is extremely excited and proud with the launch of our new website. This new site will provide our constituents with a wealth of knowledge and connect you to everything IU. Our site will be constantly evolving and growing so keep checking back for new and updated information.
With this new site we are able to offer our members various tools, resources, connections and so much more. All of which, we believe, will not only strengthen the work that we do but also strengthen the unity amongst idealists.
If you want to get in touch with the Human Rights movement at large and connect with fellow idealists, sign up and create a profile through Idealists Connect. You can use Idealists Connect to connect with fellow idealists, join forces, debate, ask questions, and even post articles on the IU website. If you want to bring Idealists United to your campus or community visit the Start a Chapter link to find out more information about how you can start an IU Chapter near you. If you are looking to learn more about Human Rights and the Human Rights movement check out the Get Informed section. And if you are looking to improve your activist and advocate skills check out our Training Center where we provide you with various resources and tools to add to your “Tool-Kit”.
The site is still a work in progress and while we are working diligently to get all of our content online as soon as possible we do not want to sacrifice quality for swiftness. So please bear with us while we finish creating the site.
– The Idealists United Team
