DOI
10.9707/1944-5660.1340
Key Points
This article draws on a dozen years’ experience in evaluating major consumerhealth advocacy initiatives to build the knowledge base about advocacy evaluation. The authors explain how their evaluations were strengthened by articulating a detailed theory of change and emphasizing assessment of interim outcomes from many perspectives and methods.
Even with comprehensive data and integrated analysis, however, some ambiguity in the results is inevitable; there is no completely objective way to determine the effectiveness of an advocacy initiative. Moreover, sometimes solid or even exceptional advocacy efforts do not lead to desired policy outcomes. Advocacy initiatives that fail initially may be groundwork for future opportunities.
Evaluators must tell a compelling story about what advocates hope to achieve, how they tried to achieve it, and the extent to which external factors helped or hindered progress. The narrative about why advocates did what they did must describe context and its influence on all aspects of advocacy campaigns, from goal setting to strategy development to implementation.
Recommended Citation
Foster, L., Harrington, M., Hoag, S., & Lipson, D. (2016). Lessons About Evaluating Health-Coverage Advocacy Across Multiple Campaigns and Foundations. The Foundation Review, 8(5). https://doi.org/10.9707/1944-5660.1340
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