Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries ‘Evaluating HIV and AIDS-related advocacy’ Skills Building Session International HIV/AIDS Addis Ababa, December 2011

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries Purpose of this session : to introduce the content of the Measuring Up Training Pack to enable session participants to be able to use the pack with confidence where appropriate

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries Measuring Up Training Pack is comprised of: 1. A stand alone Measuring Up Learner’s Guide 2. A Measuring Up Facilitator’s Guide that describes how to run a 1-3-days workshop 3.Ten pre-prepared PowerPoint presentations 4. Measuring Up workshop supplementary facilitation materials for facilitators

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries The Measuring Up Pack aims to: Follow up on discussions in Mexico and Vienna Help users to identify and confront the challenges faced by community-based organisations evaluating HIV and AIDS- related advocacy Introduce new thinking for designing advocacy evaluations

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries Defining advocacy and key elements of monitoring and evaluation

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries Defining advocacy (1) “Advocacy is an ongoing process to change values, attitudes, actions, policies and laws by influencing decision-makers and opinion leaders, organisations, systems and structures at different levels.” Definition developed during the Measuring Up Training Pack field-test workshop help in India in March 2010 by adapting a definition presented in Advocacy in action: A toolkit to support NGOs and CBOs responding to HIV/AIDS, International HIV/AIDS Alliance 2003

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries Key elements or characteristics of advocacy It is ongoing in nature Often non-linear and dynamic in process It can achieve a range of different outcomes – such as the introduction and implementation of a specific policy or changes in the values and attitudes of influential individuals and institutions It can be conducted at different levels - local (including municipal), regional, national or international levels

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries Identifying the challenges faced by civil society organizations evaluating HIV and AIDS-related advocacy Group activity “share and bullet point a few challenges you face in evaluating HIV and AIDS-related advocacy”

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries A framework for designing evaluations of HIV and AIDS- related advocacy work An Introduction

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries M&E in the context of the investment framework

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries Monitoring for better efficiency

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries Evaluation to demonstrate effectiveness

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries The 7 components of the advocacy evaluation design framework are: 1.Determining evaluation users and uses 2.Mapping your advocacy work – Theory of change 3.Prioritizing what to evaluate 4.Developing your evaluation questions 5.Deciding on an approach to measurement 6.Selecting indicators 7.Identifying and choosing data collection methods relevant to advocacy evaluation.

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries

Prioritizing what to evaluate Once a theory of change has been mapped it will help you to prioritize which elements of your advocacy work to focus your evaluation on. Prioritization is essential, as many civil society organizations involved in HIV and AIDS-related advocacy work are based in resource-limited settings with few human and financial resources. If the funder is a proposed end user of the evaluation, you should invite them to help prioritize the key elements (outcomes, goals and/or impact) for evaluation. Remember you don’t need to evaluate everything. Focus your evaluation on what will be useful for you as the advocates and the other key end users.

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries Questions to help you prioritize What do the evaluation’s users want to know? What is the advocacy effort’s unique contribution? What is the evaluation’s timeframe? Internal or external evaluation

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries Selecting indicators Indicators are simple measurements that can be analysed over time to show whether advocacy activities are on target or are making progress In order to measure progress over time, baselines need to be established for indicators where possible

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries Seven advocacy evaluation tools 1.System mapping 2.Policymaker ratings 3.Intense period debriefs 4.Bellwether methodology 5.Network capacity analysis 6.Partnerships analysis tool 7.Observation checklist

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries Case study Using Measuring Up for policy and advocacy in Senegal and Zambia

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries Discussion In small groups, discuss 2 or 3 advocacy evaluation tools and choose one that you would apply in the context of your organisation. 1.Group 1 : System mapping and Policymaker ratings 2.Group 2: Intense period debriefs and Bellwether methodology 3.Group 3: Network capacity analysis, Observation checklist, and Partnerships analysis tool