History
In late 2002 DIAL Wakefield and Equal Ability were commissioned by Wakefield Council to do some research into advocacy in the District: what was available, and what support was needed. The results of this research were shared at a stakeholder event in July 2003, and it was recommended that a support network was formed, using the model of the Gateshead Advocacy and Information Network (GAIN). Goerge Clarke, the Manager of GAIN came to the stakeholder event to speak and it was a very positive day.
In October 2003 a Steering Group was formed to develop this work, and in May 2004 a project coordinator was employed to carry it forward. Much of the project coordinators work was taken up in exteding and developing the original research and identifying how to effectively put it into practice.
The history can be seen most effectively by looking at the published reports. The first report which set the scene, Developing an Advocacy Network for Wakefield District (pdf), was published in June 2004. This was soon followed by an Action Plan (pdf) which was very successfully followed up to December 2004. We also published an Engagement Plan (pdf) and set out to talk to as many different people with an interest in advocacy as possible.
Over the summer we did a lot of groundwork on developing some local good practice standards for advocacy in Wakefield (see the draft here) and we went on to consult with a wide range of different groups and people. We moved into our office at King Street in October 2004 (from a desk in the corner of a room in the Council offices - which was very nice, if a bit cramped). A second report was published in November 2004, Moving the Advocacy Project Forward (pdf). This showed our progress on the action plan and made recommendations to Social Services about how the project should proceed. There was also an appendix which listed the people we had talked to and the meetings, training, etc that was also attended: Getting the Advocacy Project to Here (pdf).
This was initially very well received, and at the end of November a second stakeholder day was held. At this event we invited all the people we had consulted over the previous 6 months to join us to hear feedback on what we had learned. The event was opened by two people who had benefitted from the support of local advocacy projects: Amir from RASA, and Maureen from Lift Up. Our final guest speaker was Cllr Peter Loosemore, then Cabinet Member for Social Services and Health. As well as hearing various presentations and doing some very productive workshops, we also formally and unanimously agreed during this day to call the project Advocacy Action.
Following on from this a Strategic Options and Recommendations Paper (pdf) was produced in late December 2004, and we set our sights on the planned launch conference at the end of March. Unfortunately at this point there was some misunderstanding and miscommunication and for the next four months we were unable to do any practical work beyond resolving this issue.
In May 2005 Social Services and Health gave us their blessings and encouragement to continue with the project, along with a grant for £20,000 to last us for the next six months. The only requirement was that we should be based in the voluntary sector, which actually seemed to suit us fine as independent advocacy should be independent from the local authority (although we were later to recognise some of the benefits of being part of a larger organisation like the Council). Urban Space Community kindly offered to administer this grant and take the project coordinator on as an employee for six months.
We immediately applied to legally register Advocacy Action, and we did many things over the summer including completing the business plan, providing practical support for our members, developing the website, etc. (see the coordinators reports, here ). Unfortunately we never recovered from the loss of momentum at the beginning of the year, and on 18 November the money ran out and we stopped being able to employ the coordinator.
The story didn't end here though - work is still going on as you probably know if you've read this far - and we're looking forward to updating this history to tell the story of how we secured funding for the future...
Thanks:
We would like to thank all the various people who have contributed to the development of advocacy in Wakefield, and to the development of Advocacy Action. The key people we would like to identify here are the former members of the Steering Group, many of whom remain on the current Committee.
Ben Brown - Director, Urban Space Community
Maggie Clarke - Manager, Children’s Advocacy Service
John Farrar - WMDC Social Services (retired in May 05)
Jody Gabriel - Lift Up facilitator
Joanne Hinchcliffe - Manager, PALS, WWPCT
Bev Land - Manager, DIAL Wakefield
Masoud Maddah - RASA Advocacy Project
Barbara McCulloch - Age Concern
Carol McGrath - Manager, Carers Wakefield District
Nesar Rafiq - Wakefield Asian Community Forum
Roberta Roccella - Manager, Your Voice Wakefield
Margaret Saunders - Manager, PALS, EWPCT
Phil Walters - Public Involvement, SWYMHT
Ian Wilson - Age Concern
Paul Wright - Manager, Cloverleaf Advocacy
We would also like to thank all the people who contributed to the consultation process (most of them are mentioned in the document Getting the Advocacy Project to Here (pdf)), people who have booked training, who've sat through training sessions, who've volunteered (particularly Mark and Helen), or who have just been around and been patient as we've rabbitted on about how great we think advocacy is.
Finally many senior officers in Social Services were very supportive of the principles of advocacy and the potential of this project. We hope we will still be able to realise this potential and help the voluntary and statutory sectors to work more effectively together for the benefit of local people.
For more information about 
pdf files and how to read them, click here.