Most major development NGOs dedicate significant resources to advocacy. Many also work to inform and shape public opinion, whether through advertising or fundraising or through education programmes. They argue that fundamental change is not achieved until the policy environment is right and cannot be sustained without a groundswell of support for reform. In recent years, however, advocacy work has come under increasing criticism. NGOs are challenged on the grounds of: Legitimacy - Whom do they represent, and to whom are they accountable? Effectiveness - What practical impact does high-level advocacies have on the lives of people living in poverty and who is to judge this? Role - Should NGOs try to combine funding and advocacy or do these demand different kinds of South-North relationship? Strategy - Are NGOs seduced by agencies like the World Bank or by the corporate sector to readily? When does constructive engagement with these powerful bodies turn into co-option by them? As international grassroots advocacy is becoming more vocal thanks to new communication technologies; what is the appropriate role for Northern NGOs?

• Contributors
• Preface
• Deborah Eade
• Development and advocacy
• Maria Teresa Diokno-Pacual
• NGOs and advocacy: how well are the poor represented
• Warren Nyamugasira
• The international anti-debt campaign: a Southern activist view for activists in "the North" and "the South"
• Dot Keet
• Human rights and religious backlash: the experience of a Bangladeshi NGO
• Mohammad Rafi and A.M.R. Chowdhury
• Disaster without memory: Oxfam's drought programme in Zambia
• K. Pushpanath; Campaigning: a fashion or the best way to change the global agenda?
• Gerd Leipold
• Northern NGO advocacy: perceptions, reality and the challenge
• Ian Anderson
• "Does the doormat influence the boot?" critical thoughts on UK NGOs and international advocacy
• Michale Edwards
• The effectiveness of NGO campaigning: lessons from practice
• Jennifer Chapman and Thomas Fisher
• Heroism and ambiguity: NGO advocacy in international policy
• Paul Nelson
• Northern words, Southern readings
• Carmen Marcuello and Chaime Marcuello
• Menchu Tum,Stoll, and martyrs of solidarity
• Larry Reid
• The People's Communication Charter
• Cees J.Hamelink
• Annotated bibliography
• Organisations
• Addresses of publishers

Deborah Eade Deborah Eade was Editor-in-Chief of Development in Practice from 1991 to 2010, prior to which she worked for 10 years in Latin America. She is now an independent writer on development and humanitarian issues, based near Geneva.