Posts filed under ‘Campaign evaluation’
10 elements of success for advocacy
The US-based Media Impact Funders have produced a ten point list on elements of success for policy change (what I’ve labeled “advocacy”), as reproduced below in this post.
Although it is looking from a US perspective of influence on policy through advocacy, what struck me was that many of the points are relevant to advocacy done globally or in other countries/regions. For example:
Point 1: Solutions – when evaluating advocacy initiatives and talking with policy-makers, a common complaint I have heard is that advocacy is not “solution focused”, i.e. it makes valid points about the given issues (that often policy-makers are also aware of) but don’t necessarily put forward possible solutions to these issues.
Point 3: Agility – the ability to be flexible is so important – to take advantage of opportunities that arise, that were not necessarily included in the original advocacy plan. That I saw recently in an evaluation I carried out for Oxfam on global development policy – where they had enough flexibility to move resources as the issues peaked and new opportunities emerged.
Point 5: Humanity – often advocacy focuses on the “facts” but what can also make an impact is the “human factor”. One effective example of this was in the creation of the Arms Trade Treaty where state representatives drafting the treaty were directly confronted by survivors of armed violence; certainly bringing a human face to the dry legalistic treaty process and language.
Monitoring and Evaluating Advocacy toolkit
I recently came across this resource from UNICEF, which is their guide to monitoring and evaluating advocacy (pdf). It’s a companion to their larger advocacy toolkit (pdf).
It’s a very comprehensive guide and I’d add it to my previous list of best resources for advocacy evaluation>>
Two New Advocacy Evaluation Tools
Here are two new advocacy evaluation tools from the Center for Evaluation Innovation:
The Advocacy Strategy Framework (pdf): presents a simple one-page tool for thinking about theories of change that underlie policy advocacy strategies. Check out the “interim outcomes and indicators” on the last page – very good range of advocacy outcomes/indicators.
Four Tools for Assessing Grantee Contribution to Advocacy Efforts (pdf): offers funders practical guidance on how to assess a grantee’s contribution to advocacy outcomes.The four tools include:
1. A question bank
2. Structured grantee reporting
3. An external partner interview guide
4. Contribution analysis
Advocacy evaluation using contribution analysis
A challenge of advocacy evaluation is in analysing and interpreting data and information in a systematic and rigorous manner. For a recent advocacy evaluation I carried out with my colleague Patricia for the Norwegian Refugee Council, we used a simplified content analysis to assist us with this task.
In carrying out this analysis, we asked four questions:
1) What were the policy changes desired by NRC (“the asks”)?
2) What were the reaction of targeted institutions, individuals and allies to these asks?
3) What was the level/significance of policy change (if any)?
4) What was the role of NRC in any change seen?
We then summarised this in a table, listing the some 30 (!) policy asks of NRC’s advocacy, here is an extract:
| Ask | Reaction | Change seen | Role of NRC advocacy |
| UNICEF and partners need to adapt RRMP to include assessment of protection needs. | UNICEF deployed protection specialist for six months to work with RRMP. | High | High |
| Organisations need to ensure that pressure to move quickly does not marginalize commitment to longer-term work with more impact. | This and broader thinking of report taken on-board in creation of DRC DMG network. | Medium | Medium (NRC advocacy was one of many influences on DMG) |
View the full report here (pdf) (see annex 1 for the contribution analysis table, page 27)>>
New resource: the value iceberg: weighing the benefits of advocacy and campaigning
Rhonda Schlangen and Jim Coe (independent evaluation consultants) have just published a very interesting paper “The value iceberg: weighing the benefits of advocacy and campaigning” on the BetterEvaluation website.
The paper looks at how concepts of ‘value’ and ‘results’ are being applied to advocacy and campaigning and presents some alternative strategies for assessing advocacy. You can see the “value iceburg” below.
Six lessons from successful advocacy projects in the Global South
The Stanford Social Innovation Review has posted an interesting blog post on “Lessons from successful advocacy projects in the Global South“.
The post lists three lessons for successful advocacy in the South:
1. Work plans are not holy writ – need to adapt a project as it evolves
2. For country-level advocacy, local knowledge is critical.
3. “Think globally, act locally”- but how local (Ability of International NGOs to work within local contexts)
I think these are all valid points. From my own experience of evaluating advocacy projects I would add three more lessons:
4. Effective advocacy often needs a combination of tactics: it may seem obvious but advocacy that works often relies on different tactics to reach its goals, from a diversity of tactics from lobbying meetings to public events to coalition-building.
5. Achieving results doesn’t mean press coverage: a lot of effective advocacy I’ve seen was done at the local level where people worked closely with authorities in pressing their concerns; there wasn’t a need to seek press coverage on the issue (warranted it is needed in some cases).
6. Being focused never hurts: in all advocacy evaluations I’ve been involved in like this one or this one, the more specific and targeted the advocacy is, the more that success can be seen. Broad goals may be ambitious and noble – and may make significant achievements – they are just harder to identify successes related to them.
New online hub – learnings from the IF campaign
Bond (UK NGO body) have created an online hub of campaigning effectiveness resources based on the lessons and recommendations of their IF campaign.
More than 30 individuals have shared their expertise in 7 areas of coalition campaigning to produce some 20 resources. They give top tips, reflections and ideas on topics ranging from digital campaigning to how to structure coalition campaigns. In addition you’ll also find interesting campaigning tools to assist with common campaigning issues.
The “Inspiration” mini-cases are particularly interesting for those working on campaigning and seeking to learn what “works” for others.
IF campaign – evaluation report
As regular readers will know, I’m particularly interested in campaign evaluation and have written before about campaign evaluations that I have been involved with, on food justice and climate change.
So I’m always interested to read other campaign evaluations and just published is the campaign evaluation (pdf) of the Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign on global hunger. It’s a very comprehensive report and interesting to read.
Insights into global advocacy: Oxfam’s GROW campaign
I recently spoke at the Graduate Institute in Geneva for the students of the Certificate in Advocacy in International Affairs – presenting a case study on Oxfam’s GROW campaign – drawing insights on global advocacy campaigns. My presentation is below:
Advocacy and Policy Influencing Blended Learning programme – March to April 2014
Here is an interesting course from INTRAC on advocacy influence – online blended learning that can be taken from anywhere in the world:
“Is developing and implementing an advocacy strategy critical to success in your project or programme? Do your staff and partners need support to achieve your advocacy objectives? In this capacity building programme, you will have the opportunity to develop and troubleshoot the implementation of an advocacy strategy as well as build your knowledge and confidence.
This programme will give you the knowledge and skills to influence policy and practice in your own context. You will learn skills to help you plan and deliver an effective advocacy strategy; enhance your ability to lobby decision makers; and gain confidence in the ways in which you relate to different audiences. You will also have the skills to analyse power dynamics and choose your advocacy activities so they have maximum impact.”
intelligent measurement 