Advocacy
– monitoring indicators
It is useful for many reasons to know how successful your advocacy work
is being. But this is very difficult to measure accurately. It is an art
as much as a science.
In planning your advocacy campaign you will have listed smart
objectives with associated inputs and outputs.
It helps to also list outcomes with associated indicators.
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INPUTS.
- The resources you will be using - often simply in terms of
staff and production costs
OUTPUTS.
- The results of your activities.
OUTCOMES.
- The impact you expect to achieve from each of your outputs
INDICATORS.
- The evidence you will collect to show that the outcome has
been achieved.
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You do not want to spend a lot of time gathering indicator information.
But you can design forms and build routines so that you keep regular
records that can be the basis of later reports. Here are some simple ideas
to get you started.
Monitor your target
Record and observe changes in the rhetoric of your target audience.
Keep a file of their statements over time. What are they saying about you
and your campaign? Are they moving closer to your position and adapting to
or adopting any of your language or philosophy?
Monitor your relationships
Record the frequency and content of conversations with external sources
and target audiences. Are you discussing new ideas? Are you becoming a
confidante or a source of information or advice?
Monitor the media
- Count column inches on your issue and the balance of pro and anti
comment.
- Count the number of mentions for your organisation.
- Analyse whether the media is adopting your viewpoint and language.
Monitor your connectedness
- Record the sources and numbers of inquiries that you receive as a
result of your work.
- Are you getting to the people you wanted to get to?
- How and where have they heard of your work?
- How accurate are their pre-conceptions about you and your work?
Monitor public opinion
Analyse what the population thinks about the issue and/or your
organisation through telephone questionnaires, or through commissioning
surveys.
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