Tracking Progress in Advocacy: Why and How to Monitor and Evaluate Advocacy Projects and Programmes

From the Introduction: "This paper introduces the scope of, and rational for, engaging in advocacy work as part of development interventions. It then focuses on the issue of monitoring and evaluating these efforts - offering reasons why and when these processes should be planned and implemented, what’s involved, and who should be engaged in the process. It concludes by looking at some of the particular challenges and opportunities that the monitoring and evaluation of advocacy work presents. It also offers some helpful considerations to those who are designing or implementing these processes."

This paper defines advocacy as: "Essentially, advocacy is the strategic use of information to influence the policies and actions of those in positions of power or authority to achieve positive changes in people’s lives.....Advocacy should be based on the experience and knowledge of the families and communities it aims to support. It should be empowering for those individuals and communities." Advocacy strategies are likely to involve members of staff, their partner organisations, and members of the community in working towards changes in legislation, policy, and/or the law. "A... central element of any advocacy strategy is civil society strengthening, which includes building the capacity of key stakeholders - local NGOs [non-governmental organisations], community based organisations, partners, grass roots movements etc. - so that they are able to campaign for and represent the interests of their communities more effectively." Advocacy work is carried out through activities such as lobbying, campaigning, awareness raising, direct actions, and working with the media - at the levels of:

• "International levels, including international conventions and treaties, and donor development policies.
  
• Regional levels, including regional institutions’ policies and strategies, and national policies which are common to a geographical region.
  
• National levels, including national legislation and government policies, resource allocation, and institutional structures.
  
• Local levels, including local implementation of legislation, debate on the distribution of resources, access to services, local policies and strategies."

Organisations develop approaches to advocacy - sometimes as a progression or as a description of desired outcomes, examples of which are provided and critiqued for strengths and weaknesses in Annex 1 of this document. "In developing advocacy strategies, clear goals and outcomes and logical steps to achieving them are a pre-requisite at the outset of any advocacy project (although, over time and in responding to developments in the project, some objectives will need to be adapted)." The document suggests monitoring and evaluating (M&E) to see if advocacy programmes improve the lives of ordinary citizens. Projects and programmes are monitored in order to measure success in achieving goals, to provide analysis for how to adapt and respond to unpredictability, to communicate and build relationships around progress - including demonstrating results to donors -  and to document the process in order to learn from it. Monitoring might involve continuously collecting information and analysing: internal issues, external issues, collaborative issues, and progress towards objectives. Reviews and evaluations take stock at specific moments and can enable communication with stakeholder groups to demonstrate learning and adaptation, innovation, and results and impact, as well as generate financial and political support. Reviews can be made by both internal staff and external professionals.

According to the author, M&E needs to be included in the original planning of the approach to advocacy in order to be in place at the beginning of any new project or programme. The challenges to M&E for advocacy are a result of the complexity and length of the path to eventual outcomes, difficulties within networks and partnerships, the complications of existing systems and situations, and the changing objectives and focus over time. The opportunities of M&E include the allowance for more scope for changing objectives and tactics as necessary, the use of common sense rather than complex tools and techniques, and the recognition that organisations are subjective in their assessments.

The following are guiding considerations:

1. Advocacy goals and objectives should be clearly defined.
   
2. Stakeholders should be active participants in all stages in planning, monitoring, and evaluating advocacy strategies
   
3. The development of milestones and some indicators makes the tracking of progress towards the achievement of objectives and the overall goal much easier.
   
4. Simple, user-friendly systems are likely to work better than more complex, sophisticated ones.
   
5. Time built in for intelligent reflection on progress is invaluable.

The document concludes that: "Because of what it is and does, effective advocacy can prove to be a very powerful and empowering strategy. By this same token, ineffective advocacy strategies can be hugely wasteful of time and resources and leave stakeholders feeling bewildered, disempowered or uninterested. The onus is on each of us, and our organisations, to ensure that we make these interventions as successful as possible."