> GEAR Components > Build, Advance and Defend

Equity campaigns are characterized by four major stages. The four stages of equity advocacy each focus on different developments in a campaign, and each produces different kinds of equity results. Campaigns may involve one or several stages, and advocates might move between them in different sequences. 

Equity advocacy does not — and should not — cease when a favorable policy outcome is first reached. In fact, it is through the continued effort of equity advocates, champions, and their allies that policy changes to promote equity are implemented and imbedded into practice. Just as strong community leadership and engagement, effective uses of power and influence, strategic research and communications are crucial components to seeding change, they are also essential elements for bringing that change to fruition.

There are four general components of advocacy to BUILD, ADVANCE, AND DEFEND equity: implementation, enforcement, and monitoring of the adopted change; influence of the proposed change on other equity issues and objectives; further development of equity leadership; and cultivation and protection of equity improvements. Benchmarks for each of these areas, and guiding questions to navigate them, are available for download.