Advocacy events - Attendees

This indicator counts the total number of individuals who attend advocacy events hosted by the organisation within a certain timeframe. This indicator is useful to help understand the interest and dedication to the intended policy change or cause.

Calculation Method:

Count the total number of participants at each event to provide and overarching total of attendees. 

Data Collection:

Data to substantiate this indicator should be collected from project records kept on hosted events.

This can be done by either,

• providing sign-up sheets for in-person events
• including optional information boxes on online booking forms
• downloading attendee data from online platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meets, or Skype
• providing polls during online meeting with optional information boxes

If the desire is to understand the rate of those attending as compared to those invited, the indicator can capture this as a percent. However, this will be difficult if invitations are sent to mailing lists or advertised on social media. 

Disaggregation can also allow the organization to capture the number of the most relevant or targeted attendees – for example, government officials, private sector executives, celebrities, etc. This can be used to demonstrate the level of influence of an event.  

CSO’s should consider which information they should request based on their ability to maintain data protection and what is necessary for monitoring their advocacy objectives. See data points under "disaggregate by" below.

• Organisation 
• Sector 
• Location

Social characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity, race, disability, caste, class, etc.,) can and should be captured when necessary/helpful AND safe to do so.  

Definitions:

Hosted means any event in which the organisation is a recognised host / co-host and has been involved with providing resources for the event.

Advocacy event is an event with a specific goal for influencing decisions within political, economic, and social institutions for an intended purpose.

Limitations:

This is an indicator for monitoring and can show level of interest and engagement but is limited when it comes understanding influence and progress. Disaggregating by attendee and using alongside other indicators can demonstrate influence and provide evidence for attribution.