Government or Private Sector commitments made

Because policy change or system strengthening is difficult to attribute to individual organizations/NGOs, CSOs, it is useful to capture incremental shifts in government action, accountability and commitment. This indicator's purpose is to record explicit commitments made either verbally or in-writing by government or private sector actors which speak to the CSO's advocacy objective. This indicator is useful if a CSO is trying to increase government or private sector engagement or commitment, strengthen government or private sector policy/ practise. A commitment may be a sign that advocacy activities are influencing changes sought or may highlight where an organisation already has support and where they can push/refocus efforts.

Calculation Method:

Count total number of commitments made. 

Data Collection:

Minutes of meetings and/or events, speeches, records of parlimentary discussions, or statements made online of at public events can be used to contribute to this indicator. 

Examples of commitments:

• Agreeing to an action
  • Agreeing to further investigation or discussion
  • Agreeing to or raising the issue in future meetings 
  • Connecting CSO members with other relevant individuals / organisations
  • Raising a policy to vote
• Agreeing to financial commitment

• Activity
• Title of actor making commitment
• Type of action/objective 
• Date / timeframe
• Objective
• Formal vs informal commitment

Definitions:

A commitment is a stated agreement, promise or firm decision to give time and energy to an action.  This can be verbal or written statement, for example a promise to persuade further action within a committee or an agreement to publicly support a policy. Further examples of commitments are included below

Limitations:

This is just one indicator that captures influence. Indicators such as counting meetings or events, participation in meetings, and others can help build a larger picture of the influence an organisation is having on the private sector or government.