This handbook focuses on the need to articulate objectives for advocacy at the very beginning of the programme planning stage, integrating advocacy objectives with assessment and practical action. It argues that advocacy should not be seen as a substitute for concrete action to improve the situation of child domestics, but that the two types of programme activity are complementary.
In the case of child domestic work, the impact of general publicity campaign is a difficult goal to achieve, but its own impact on the situation of the workers may be relatively small.
Changes in social attitudes tend to take place slowly. The rate at which such attitude change is fed into behavior may even be slower. A publicity campaign which brings an issue into high visibility will convert some people to change in perception. But once the issue disappears from the newspapers or television, it is often hard to know whether the effect is enduring. However, there will be pointers. For example, if child domestic work is raised in the context of child labour debates, there may well be changes in the reactions of politicians and bureaucrats over time.
