Dr. Mercy Palatty is the President of an organization that has organized more than 7,000 neighbourhood parliaments of about 30 neighbouring families each in one district. These neighbourhood forums carry out various awareness and action programs, such as the collection of 100,000 signatures for a safe water campaign. 

In addition, children and adolescents in these neighbourhood units, called “neighbourhood parliaments of children” and “neighbourhood parliaments of adolescents”, too, involve in participatory planning and initiate activities on their own to respond to the challenges around.  These neighbourhood-parliament-based action are providing a powerful space for women to make their voices heard in traditional villages where they historically have struggled to influence decision-making bodies. Women tend to participate more in the neighbourhood parliament structure, making them able to carry the tide in the favour.

Dr. Palatty is heavily has definitely been active in grassroots advocacy as people / children / adolescents in the neighbourhood parliaments mentioned above are also enabled to do their own bit of advocacy.  They do their own participatory mapping and planning and respond accordingly, at times taking the issue to the authorities at various levels.  The very pilot experiment of the above 7,000 and odd neighbourhood forums and their representative federations at the levels of the village, panchayat (inter village governing structure) block and the district is itself aimed at advocacy for wider level participatory and direct democracy.