National Centre for Advocacy Studies (NCAS)
The National Centre for Advocacy Studies (NCAS) is a social change resource center that aims to strengthen people centered and rights based advocacy in order to empower advocates and facilitate the creation of a just and humane society. Though the focus of its activities is in India and the rest of South Asia, NCAS is emerging as a premier center for people centered advocacy throughout the Global South. NCAS works to support and strengthen people-centered advocacy through capacity development programs, research and documentation, and campaign support and networking.
In its formative years, NCAS, through a process of discussions and consultations with social activists and organizations, conceptualized the structure of an advocacy training in India. The second phase of the organizational development began with the shifting of NCAS from Mumbai to Pune in April, 1994. This phase was marked by the creation of people centred advocacy programs. On the basis of the curriculum established during the formative phase, the design and basic format of NCAS advocacy training programs were developed, including a space for research and documentation. Eventually, NCAS created a viable training module to help understand the concept, practice and scope of advocacy in the socio-cultural and political context of India.
The Advovacy Internship Program (AIP), a unique venture of the National Centre for Advocacy Studies was inaugurated in 1999. The AIP aimed at developing a set of dedicated and active youth committed to social change and justice and has in its 12 years produced around 100 young advocates who are working in various positions in organizations from grassroots to INGOs.
With programs such as the Community Learning Movement, NCAS involved itself with grassroots advocacy efforts. Through the improvement of NCAS’ capacity building and research programs, it seeks to develop the necessary potential to be a leading resource centre in India and throughout Asia. NCAS firmly believes that transparency and accountability should be the non-negotiable features of governance.
