Measuring Success: Monitoring and Evaluation DSC Campaigning Conference 16 November 2009

1. Measuring Success: Monitoring and EvaluationDSC Campaigning Conference16 November 2009

2. What this session covers What monitoring and evaluation means in a campaigning context Why it is important The challenges How to go about it

3. What are you trying to achieve? Changes to a policy or piece of legislation Change in the way a public service is delivered Improvements in way a policy is delivered Greater involvement of civil society in a decision-making process Changes in public attitudes and behaviour

4. What’s this got to do with monitoring and evaluation? Monitoring and evaluation is about reviewing and reflecting on your progress towards achieving your campaign goals. It involves learning from the findings and adapting your campaign strategy or future campaigns work.

5. Why is it important? It can strengthen the impact of your campaigns and make you better campaigners It can spur on and motivate supporters to further action It can inform future campaigns and support wider organisational learning It can demonstrate accountability to those that support or fund your work

6. What are the challenges? How do we know the changes were a result of our campaigning? How much can we take credit for? Some of the changes we want can’t easily be measured. Were we successful even if we didn’t get all we asked for? Did we compromise our position or did we achieve as much as was possible? I don’t have time for this!

7. Be clear what you want to achieve When developing your campaign strategy ensure you have clear aims and objectives Establish what success will look like and what milestones you will need to pass on the way Identify what the current situation is; gather your baseline information from which to monitor progress

8. Establish what you want to measure Outcome indicators = are we achieving social and political change? Getting the issue on the policy agenda Influencing the debate Securing commitments to change New or improved policies Improved or increased implementation of policies

9. Establish what you want to measure Impact indicators = are we making a difference to people’s lives? Increased access to services or support Increased involvement in local decision-making Increased income/salaries/wealth increased knowledge/skills/confidence

10. Establish what you want to measure Operational indicators = how good are our ways of working? Clear and focused aims and objectives Supporters and activists informed and updated Clear added value from collaborating with other organisations Clear roles within campaign team

11. Decide what information you need to collect and how Records of parliamentary debates and questions Media coverage of issue, including references and quotations from your organisation Ministerial statements and speeches Meetings convened to invited to Surveys, focus groups and interviews with key stakeholders

12. M&E Framework

13. Some principles of M&E • Build evidence, not proof • Outcomes are more important that outputs • Measure the important things, not the easy things • Keep it simple and user-friendly • Some information is better than none “It’s not the purity of the process that’s important, it’s the quality of the thinking” • Create a learning culture

14. And some final advice… Have a clear campaign strategy with clear aims and objectives Establish what you want to monitor from the start, what information you will need and how you will collect it Build in review time as part of your campaign plans Be flexible: be open to changing your plans

15. Further Information Rachael Stokes, NCVO Campaigning Effectiveness Rachael.Stokes@ncvo-vol.org.uk 020 7520 3156 Join the Forum for Change! www.forumforchange.org.uk