This month's King Ryan Radio volunteer opportunity is The Advocacy Project. Check them out at www.advocacynet.org. Their tagline is "Supporting Advocates for Peace" and what a fantastic cause that is! The Advocacy Project's goal is to help marginalized communities to tell their stories, strengthen their organizations, take action, and mobilize new support. That's similar to King Ryan Radio's mission of empowering individuals to advance equal and equitable communities that serve all citizens by sharing ideas and promoting organizations that meet this need.
This is what the Advocacy Project is about in their own words:
"The Advocacy Project, also referred to as AP on its website was established in 1998 to help marginalized communities and their advocates take action against injustice. We undertook our first project in 1998 when we produced an online report from the Rome Conference to establish the International Criminal Court. For more on AP’s early history, please visit our History.
We define communities broadly and are particularly drawn to those that are despised and friendless. This has led us to support – among others – Roma, Travellers, Dalit, pygmies, waste-pickers, and river gypsies. We take their side because it is the right thing to do and because they can produce gifted advocates who can mobilize large numbers of people to make the case for real change.
After being approached by a community, we form a partnership with advocates who emerged from the community and know the issues intimately. Over the years we have worked with 114 community-based partners, and we hope that most will eventually have a page on this website. For the moment, we are focusing on current partners. Their pages can be found by clicking here.
The next step is to recruit a volunteer (Peace Fellow) who can help the partner organization to tell its story through a website, social media, video, photos, and advocacy quilts. Our goal in these early stages is to help the partner acquire advocacy tools that will help them to take action.
As the relationship matures, we work with partners to map out a long-term program with clear campaigning goals that will produce tangible benefits, change policy, and strengthen the partner organization. Current campaigns are featured here.
From the beginning, our work has been guided by committed board members. These have included distinguished advocates like Suvash Darnal (photo) who founded the Jagaran Media Center in Nepal. We continue to mourn the tragic death of Suvash in a car accident in 2011. We are also fortunate to be able to draw on a large number of volunteers and interns and are deeply indebted to the many individuals and institutions that have supported us through the years. They are listed on this page.
It has been a wonderful 18 years. We have remained true to our core mission – to help vulnerable communities speak out and take action. But we must be alive to new possibilities. In 1998, it was the Internet. In 2010 it was advocacy quilting. Tomorrow, who knows? Let the adventure continue."
As a student, you can volunteer for the Advocacy Project by becoming a Peace Fellow. To apply, follow this link: https://www.advocacynet.org/2023-peace-fellowships/
"Fellowships will be open to students at all levels, from high school to graduate school, and will last for ten weeks with an option to extend. Please allow a month for applications to be processed."
If I were still in school, I would definitely apply to be a fellow. The Advocacy Project is making a difference in communities all over the globe. King Ryan Radio hopes this blog and our other blogs found at www.kingryanradio.net will make a lasting impact on communities everywhere as well!
As always thanks again for reading! Also, keep an eye out for more info on the #NeighborProject starting in Spring 2023. King Ryan Radio's first Vlog will be information on what to expect with the #NeighborProject. Please reach out to us at info@kingryanradio.net if you have something to contribute to the world around us.
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