Video advocacy is the use of video as a change-oriented tool for human rights advocacy. WITNESS has found video advocacy to be most effective when used hand-in-hand with other advocacy tools such as litigation, research, organizing, and monitoring. While these techniques are essential to secure government accountability, video can serve as a powerful complement to more traditional methods, and WITNESS' experience proves that it substantially magnifies the impact of our partners' advocacy. Moreover, powerful images and stories have an unrivaled candid authority that can help prompt awareness, concern, and action.

Video advocacy is not about using video primarily for publicity nor as an educational or training tool. It requires setting specific objectives, identifying target audiences, and developing a strategic plan for production and distribution to ensure the video has impact as a specific tactic within a broader advocacy strategy.

Who Uses Video Advocacy?

Video advocacy is increasingly used by NGOs and individual advocates working on a particular campaign. Video is democratic tool: it is a relatively easy medium to learn and you do not need to be a filmmaker or a journalist to master it. Video advocacy, however, is a time- and labor-intensive process that requires significant commitment of human and other resources. The tools available on this site can help you determine if video advocacy is right for your campaign.