Measurement & indicators
Workshop on measurement and human rights
Measurement of human rights: a guide to tackle challenges
Authors:
Publisher:
Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, 2006
Drawing on a workshop that was held at Harvard in July of 2006, this booklet presents an introductory guide for practitioners who are interested in tackling the challenge of measurement in the field of human rights.
It provides an outline of the workshop, and provides a collection of frameworks and case-examples aimed at breaking down the barriers that keep human rights organizations from developing impact metrics that the rest of the world can understand.
The guide is also meant to caution those who are looking to metrics and quantitative indicators as the answer to the frustrating persistence of human rights problems.Understanding impact means not only finding numbers to quantify outcomes, but also understanding whether an approach is addressing the systemic causes of the abuse.A band-aid remedy may produce impressive numbers but never provide the cure; while the cure might not produce visible results immediately.
It says there are three key ways in which measurement can serve human rights organizations:
- · providing a snapshot of the size of the problem they are working on, in order to attract funds and communicate priorities, and advocate for change.
- · tracking changes to the problem, indicating trends and facilitating discussions on how to adjust strategies and tactics.
- · measuring impact; meaning the relationship between actions and outcomes and causality, in order to adjust organization’s strategy.
This booklet is targeted to the audience of human rights groups that stand in the middle who believe that measurement is a valuable endeavor and yet lack either the resources to realize a measurement program.
(adapted from the author's text)
