Engagement with Decision Makers

This indicator shows the extent to which the project team members engage with relevant decision-makers who can influence the results of the advocacy efforts.

Determine the indicator's value by using the following methodology:

1) Define who can be considered “relevant decision-makers”. These should be people who influence the results of the advocacy efforts. For example, officials of relevant authorities, company representatives, service providers, etc. Use of a tool like Influence Tree - or a similar tool, e.g. Stakeholder Mapping - is recommended to identify the people who have the most influence on the success of your advocacy work. Guidance on the use of the Influence Tree tool is included in Helvetas’ Advocacy Toolkit available below.

2) Define what can count as “engagement”. For example, it can include personal meetings, email exchanges, events, submission of policy proposals, and other forms of engagement where the advocated topic is discussed.

3) Review relevant resources (e.g. meeting minutes, reports) and conduct interviews with the campaign team members to assess the number of formal meetings with relevant decision-makers.

4) The resulting number is the indicator’s value.

Consider disaggregating the data by the decision-makers’ positions / seniority and by the types of engagement.

1) Complement the value of this indicator with qualitative information on the outcomes of the “engagements”, such as what insights were gained, what was agreed, etc.

2) Since it might be difficult for the relevant staff to recall how many times they engaged with different decision-makers, it is important to document all the ‘engagements’ and ensure that each engagement is recorded by the project’s monitoring and reporting system.