The Advocacy Academy is a youth charity movement that advocates equality through grassroots movements and collective action. The Advocacy Academy’s primary goal is to correct injustice caused as result of racial or economic discrimination and “turn…anger into action.”
Their flagship programme, the Social Justice Leadership Fellowship, is a 6-month educational course in social justice made up of 3 retreats and weekly evening gatherings. The programme is delivered by a faculty of 250 experts from more than 50 partners – ranging from Sisters Uncut and the Black Cultural Archives, to The New York Times and patron Helen Hayes MP.
The programme includes 400 hours of experiential education and collective action through which, new advocates learn to analyse the socio-political conditions in their communities and identify innovative solutions to the injustices they have witnessed.
After the programme is included, new advocates are encouraged to remain as members of the Advocacy Academy as leaders, working with partner organisations and launching campaigns as members of their movement.
The Advocacy Academy are currently celebrating their seventh anniversary and creating new journeys beyond the Fellowship – the Movement Infrastructure. and the 5-day Spark programme, which will bring on a further 40 advocates through their programmes each year. The Advocacy Academy’s Charter is detailed below:
THE ADVOCATES’ CHARTER
I. A better world is possible. There is nothing inevitable about injustice and inequality.
II. It is our right and our responsibility to build that world.
III. We strive to continually improve ourselves, our communities, and our society.
IV. The lives of ordinary people matter.
V. We are one community. We love and support one another and stand in solidarity with each other.
VI. It is our right to define ourselves, and have our identities celebrated.
VII. We actively work to uncover, acknowledge, and overcome our biases.
VIII. We value experience, and do not do for others what they can do for themselves. Nothing about us without us!
IX. We prize conviction and support each other to live our values in our everyday lives.
X. We value critical thinking and challenge. We approach discomfort, disagreement, and difficult conversations with an open and curious mind.
XI. We practice the powerful combination of education and action.
XII. We work to create inclusive and supportive spaces where we can each be our best selves.
If you’d like to know more, please visit their website.