The purpose of our advocacy is to support the rights of the most vulnerable people to quality education, livelihood and peace. Our objective is to promote sustainable development and equality by achieving changes in policies, attitudes and laws. 

Unjust structures exist locally, in national legislation and regional and international cooperation bodies. We believe that local communities should have the opportunity to influence their situation, and together with our partners, we strive to influence decision-makers on all levels. Our work includes:

• strengthening local civil society 
• influencing in political decision-making 
• bringing local voices into international decision-making processes 

Realising sustainable change requires considering the roles of rights-holders and duty-bearers and directing our action towards them by empowering people to exercise and claim their rights and supporting authorities and decision-makers to meet their obligations. Our role is to facilitate dialogue and strengthen accountability between rights-holders and duty-bearers, and our projects contribute to sustainable change through awareness-raising, capacity-building and advocacy. 

FCA has observer status at ECOSOC (UN Economic and Social Council), which allows us to strengthen our international advocacy work and that of our partners. 

We promote human rights 

 FCA promotes the realisation of human rights by supporting local women’s organisations, marginalised communities, religious and traditional leaders, and other parties that work for human rights. 

We support fragile states 

We work in unstable countries where the will or ability to take care of the basic needs of citizens simply does not exist. We support the decision-makers of these countries so that they can make responsible decisions.  

Sometimes, large enterprises can also significantly impact the lives of people in developing countries, which is why we build bridges between corporate decision-makers and local communities. 

We convey information 

Local decisions are often made at an international level, so we seek to make local voices heard by international actors, such as EU and UN bodies. Global advocacy involves relaying information between a variety of actors. We are also actively involved in Finland’s political dialogue, particularly when Finland’s decisions affect human rights in our operating areas.