The Advocacy Project

Description

The Advocacy Project is a nonprofit organization that supports community-based human rights and social-change advocacy groups in the Global South.

It was established in June 1998, initially to report to human rights advocates from the Rome conference that created the International Criminal Court, and it gained nonprofit status in 2001. It is based in Washington, D.C. As of 2017 it had deployed 294 Peace Fellows to 114 partner organizations in more than 50 countries.

The organization sends graduate students, known as Peace Fellows, to work directly with partner communities facing poverty, violence and discrimination. Fellows help partners tell their stories, design programs and campaigns, strengthen their organizations, and use information technology, social media and fundraising to reach wider audiences. Partners have included groups such as BOSFAM, an association of Bosnian women who lost relatives in the Srebrenica massacre.

The Advocacy Project also uses quilting projects to help marginalized communities depict their daily lives and experiences, with quilts shown publicly, including at the United Nations. It relies mainly on donations from individual supporters and reports on its finances and partner grants through annual reports.