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By Margit van Wessel

There is a lot of interest in advocacy in the development sector. It is commonly accepted that projects in themselves are poorly geared to tackling structural causes of problems like poverty and injustice, and advocacy is taken by many as a necessary for addressing these structural causes.

However, despite all the interest in localization, and the acceptance that many important changes need to take place at country level rather than only in the Global North or international levels, there is little attention to how advocacy works in different national and sub-national contexts – the contexts in which many ‘partner organizations’ work.

Avec Hélène Roux: Fondée sur l’étude de divers conflits socio-environnementaux (barrages hydroélectriques ; complexes touristiques ; extraction minière ou programmes de conservation), la présentation porte sur le décalage entre les orientations liées au développement provenant « du haut » (les institutions supranationales, les États nationaux) et les aspirations provenant « du bas » (les populations concernées).