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Session Title: How Does Evidence Influence Policy Change? Examining Two Complementary Approaches With Two Complementary Evaluations
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Panel Session 552 to be held in BOWIE C on Friday, Nov 12, 10:55 AM to 11:40 AM
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Sponsored by the Advocacy and Policy Change TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Carlisle Levine, CARE, clevine@care.org
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| Discussant(s):
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| Veena Pankaj, Innovation Network, vpankaj@innonet.org
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| Ehren Reed, Innovation Network, ereed@innonet.org
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| Abstract:
If alleviating global poverty depends on successful pro-poor policies, then, CARE, like other international humanitarian organizations, can promote these policies by presenting evidence based on decades of working in more than 60 countries. With Gates Foundation support, CARE is testing this hypothesis via two initiatives. CARE's LIFT UP grant aims to build organizational capacity to more systematically use country-level evidence to influence U.S. policymakers. CARE’s Learning Tours grant provides Members of Congress and influential media and “grasstops” leaders with firsthand experiences aimed at increasing their support for improving maternal health and child nutrition globally. Working with external evaluators Innovation Network (Innonet) and Continuous Progress Strategic Services (CPSS), CARE is assessing the effectiveness of these approaches. Panelists will discuss how to measure the effect of country-based evidence on policy change and highlight how CARE’s overlapping evaluations, inform each other’s work, and increase CARE's ability to influence policy change.
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Using Complementary Evaluations to Assess Policy Change and Build Internal Advocacy Monitoring Capacity
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| Carlisle Levine, CARE, clevine@care.org
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Carlisle Levine (CARE) is leading a process to determine how CARE can leverage its program experience to increase the effectiveness of its advocacy efforts by testing two new and related approaches. To assess these overlapping approaches, CARE and its external evaluators defined measures of change and are now testing these measures. Through the LIFT UP evaluation commissioned from InnoNet, CARE is tracking its internal communication pathways from country level to policy advocacy. CPSS’ evaluation of the Learning Tours project offers an in-depth assessment of CARE’s attempts to increase the capacity and willingness of selected individuals to influence policy change. By determining the value of its investments in advocacy, CARE can adjust as needed to increase effectiveness. We will discuss the ongoing challenges of establishing the contribution of these approaches to advocacy outcomes, as well as the evolving methods CARE and its external evaluators are using to respond to this challenge.
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Defining and Evaluating Change Agents/Champions: An Evaluator’s Perspective
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| Lisa Molinaro, Aspen Institute, lisa.molinaro@aspeninst.org
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| David Devlin-Foltz, Aspen Institute, david.devlin-foltz@aspeninst.org
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David Devlin-Foltz and Lisa Molinaro (CPSS) are responsible for assessing the policy outcomes of CARE’s Learning Tours initiative. Panelists will discuss how we track current or potential champions and influential actors for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health before, during, and after the Tours. We will address tough methodological questions: Can we define what it means to be a champion or an influential for a given policy change? Can we differentiate between the expectations we should have for a policy champion and an influential? Can we successfully track the progress champions or influential actors have made? Can we help CARE translate these learnings into improved Learning Tours? Our panel will contribute to advocacy evaluation practice by showing how our tools and approaches are evolving. We will update our contribution to the field in defining behavioral measures of what it means to be a policy champion or an influential actor.
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