The Mvula Trust’s advocacy work is an essential complement to its learning agenda.  The Trust’s main advocacy challenge is to bring to rural development work in South Africa an understanding of the need to take different approaches to rural and urban development, in terms of the role which communities should play in the delivery and management of their services. National government policy promotes the idea of government working in partnership with civil society.  Promoting good practice in South Africa therefore also involves promoting this policy at local level, and promoting in particular practical and proven ways of putting this policy into effect.