Advocacy Awareness Week

Raising awareness of advocacy

Advocacy Awareness Week is an annual campaign, usually in October or November.

Each year we focus on a different theme which is decided by advocates and advocacy organisations across the UK.

The 2026 theme is keeping advocacy human.

Explore resources from previous years below. You will find blogs, films, real life stories and much more.

Previous themes have included:

Human rights advocacy
What is advocacy?
Advocacy in action

More details and how to take part

This guide is a practical framework that is intended to help organisations and advocates plan and promote their own Advocacy Awareness Week activities.

About Advocacy Awareness Week

Advocacy Awareness Week is a UK-wide annual campaign that highlights advocacy, helping more people understand their rights, the support available to them, and the difference advocacy can make in people’s lives.

The week typically takes place in October or November and shines a spotlight on the role advocacy plays in upholding people’s rights and how advocacy supports people to have choice and control in their lives.

The campaign aims to bring together advocates, advocacy organisations and community groups to promote an understanding of advocacy and its impact.

Each year, in collaboration with the sector, NDTi creates and hosts a page of resources available to support organisations to take part, including logos, social media graphics, PowerPoint templates and materials that can be shared with comms teams and partner organisations. These are usually available in August so those taking part can plan ahead.

Who is Advocacy Awareness Week for?

Advocacy Awareness Week is for advocates, people who have benefited from advocacy and organisations that:

Provide advocacy services.
Refer people to advocacy.
Commission advocacy services.
Work in social care, health, housing, education, or the voluntary sector.
Support people who may need help to have their voice heard.
Want to learn more about advocacy and rights.

What difference will it make?

By taking part in Advocacy Awareness Week, you will:

Help others feel more confident about understanding advocacy.
Highlight the value of independent advocacy.
Build a stronger national conversation about voice, rights and inclusion for those who need it most.

How to get involved

Examples of how to take part:

Use the campaign graphics and templates to share posts on social media.
Share stories about how advocacy has helped someone.
Host a webinar, Q&A session, discussion or lunchtime learning session, or hold an open day.
Create a short film or podcast.
Write a blog or reflection.
Share the campaign’s key messages with staff, trustees, commissioners or partners.
Encourage networks and local partners to get involved.
Promote the campaign through newsletters or email updates.
Write to your MP about why advocacy matters.
Share quotes or what people say about your advocacy services.
Use the campaign to talk about how people can access advocacy in your local area.

Getting started

Download the campaign resources from our resource pages.
Share daily stories and messages.
Choose activities that suit your organisation.
Promote your involvement.

Share your learning and successes after the week.

Sharing people’s stories

Real life stories help others to understand the difference advocacy can make.

When sharing a story, think about:

How advocacy helped the person: what was happening before advocacy became involved?
How did the advocate support the person?
What difference did advocacy make?
What would you like other people to understand about advocacy?
What changed because of advocacy?
What the person wanted, chose or achieved.

What the story tells us about why advocacy matters.

Reminder: Please make sure the person has given clear consent for their story, quote, photo, or video to be shared.

Consent, confidentiality and safeguarding

If you plan to share someone’s story, quote, photograph or video as part of Advocacy Awareness Week, please make sure they have given their consent before anything is published.

This means the person should understand:

What information, image or recording will be shared.
Where it will be shared, for example, social media, websites, newsletters, reports or at events.
Who is likely to see it.
How long it may remain publicly available.
That they can withdraw their consent at any time before publication.

If a person wishes to remain anonymous, avoid including unnecessary personal information or details that could identify them.

Always follow your organisation’s safeguarding, governance and consent procedures. You should also check whether any additional permissions or approvals are needed before sharing their story.

Useful resources

Capturing the impact of advocacy through telling stories | NDTi

Working with peer evaluators to enhance the understanding and measurement of impact | NDTi

Make your content inclusive

Please make communications as inclusive as possible by:

Writing in plain English.
Avoiding jargon and words that may not be widely understood.
Keeping sentences short.
Checking colour contrast in text and imagery.
Making sure text on images is large enough to read.
Adding alt text to images.

Alt text, or alternative text, is a short description of an image that screen readers can read. Describe the key information or action/s shown in the image. Keep it brief and relevant to the image’s purpose. If the image contains important text, include that text in the alt description as well.

Inclusive communication is important for Advocacy Awareness Week.

Create accessible documents:

Use clear headings and proper structure that works with screen readers.
Provide easy-read versions.
Use readable fonts.

When creating content for Advocacy Awareness Week, consider the following:

Add captions to videos
Provide transcripts for videos, audio recordings, podcasts, and webinars wherever possible.
Use meaningful links that describe where they lead. For example, use “Read our Advocacy Awareness Week resources” rather than “Click here.”
Check accessibility before publishing by reviewing content from the perspective of different users, including people who use assistive technology.

Using hashtags

Hashtags help more people find and follow Advocacy Awareness Week activities on social media. They also make it easier for others to see, share and engage with your posts.

Include 1-3 hashtags in each post.

Use the official campaign hashtag: #AdvocacyAwarenessWeek

Each year the planning group chooses some extra hashtags linked to the campaign theme to help people connect with and share campaign content.

Tag partner organisations, advocacy providers, and NDTi to help spread awareness.

Why use hashtags?

Using the campaign hashtag:

Connects your activity with the national campaign.
Helps others discover and share your posts.
Shows your organisation’s support for advocacy and Advocacy Awareness Week.
Creates a shared conversation across organisations and communities.

Simple planning checklist

Use these questions to plan your activities:

☐ What do we want to say during Advocacy Awareness Week?

☐ Who do we want to reach?

☐ Which channels will we use?

☐ What resources or graphics do we need?

☐ Do we have any stories, quotes or examples to share?

☐ Who needs to approve our content?

☐ Which partners or networks can help us share the messages?

☐ What will we post before, during and after the week?

Social media ideas

General post

Advocacy helps people understand their rights, make choices and have their voices heard.

This Advocacy Awareness Week, we’re sharing why advocacy matters and the difference it can make in people’s lives.

#AdvocacyAwarenessWeek

People’s stories post

This Advocacy Awareness Week, we’re highlighting the voices and experiences of people who have accessed advocacy.

#AdvocacyAwarenessWeek

Partner post

We’re supporting Advocacy Awareness Week because everyone should be able to access independent advocacy when they need it.

#AdvocacyAwarenessWeek

Email template to partners

Subject: Support Advocacy Awareness Week

Hello,

Advocacy Awareness Week is coming up [dates], and we would really appreciate your support in helping to raise awareness.

The week is an opportunity to highlight why advocacy matters, share real life stories, and promote the importance of people being able to access independent advocacy when they need it.

You can support the campaign by:

Sharing our posts on social media.
Sharing the campaign graphics and themed messages on NDTi’s website.
Including a short item in your newsletter highlighting the campaign.
Sharing the resources with your comms team or networks.
Encouraging others to get involved.

Thank you for helping to amplify the message that people’s voices, rights and choices matter.

Best wishes,
[Name]

After the campaign

After Advocacy Awareness Week, organisations may want to:

Thank people who supported or shared the campaign.
Collect examples of your activities and posts shared.
Review social media engagement and website visits.
Capture any learning for next year.
Record partners involved, event attendees, resource downloads, enquiries, referrals, and feedback during or following the campaign.
Keep sharing advocacy messages beyond the campaign week.
Complete NDTi’s feedback form about Advocacy Awareness Week.

Useful resources

How can human rights be used in advocacy?

A review of advocacy | NDTi

Advocacy Code of Practice

Advocacy Charter

Advocacy outcomes framework and toolkit | NDTi