Public policies or practices changed

Demonstrating impact. Defined as changes in public policy or practice (including processes and structures) by decision makers in government (local and national), multilateral donors, intergovernmental forums or private sector actors you have targeted that will positively impact people currently living in poverty. Do not use for changes to the policies or practices of churches or civil society, or changes to your own internal or organisational policies or practices. The change needs to be a result of your influence, that of your partners, or movements or individuals you support, or through a coalition you have played a substantial role in. For examples please see the important comments section.

Keep a record of public policies and public practices changed, explaining how and to what extent you contributed to the change.

Ideally have a record to prove your contribution, for instance in an email or a record of a conversation. If the change has been put into the public domain, there may be a record in a news article, or on a government website. 

You should add a short narrative description of each public policy or public practice change you record and explain how it will positively impact people currently living in poverty, and also how and to what extent you contributed to the change. Even one or two sentences will be sufficient for this purpose.

Where possible, state in the short narrative description for each ‘public policy or public practice changed’  which of Tearfund’s corporate priorities of “Environmental and Economic Sustainability”, “Church and Community Transformation”, “Reconciled, Peace-filled Societies” and/or “Crisis to Resilience” it contributes to. 

For example, a good narrative description of a public practice change would be: “[Our contribution:] We trained the local church in community X on how to advocate to the local government. [The advocacy that we influenced to happen:] Following the training, church leaders and members started asking the local government to improve the local waste collection service. [Description of the practice change:] Previously, the local government had only provided waste collection to richer areas but not to community X. The local government now offers waste collection in the community three times a week. [How this change will positively impact people currently living in poverty:] This means that people living in the community no longer need to burn or dump their waste which is likely to improve their overall health and wellbeing and reduce environmental degradation. Corporate priorities contributed to: CCT and EES.”

This indicator does not tend to be disaggregated.

This indicator refers to “public” policies and practices, that is, laws, frameworks and practices by decision-makers that we are influencing, and not your own internal organisational policies or practices (such as Health & Safety, Child Protection, etc).

It can often take many years of sustained advocacy effort to see public policy or public practice changes. This means that you may not be able to report a public policy or public practice change every year.

‘Advocacy’ for the purposes of this indicator means ‘Influencing the decisions, policies and practices (including processes and structures) of powerful decision makers, to address underlying causes of poverty, bring justice and support good development.’ Advocacy is never just about raising awareness of an issue, a problem or a situation. It is always about trying to seek change in the public policies, practices, systems, structures, decisions and attitudes that cause poverty and injustice, so that they work in favour of people living in poverty.

A public policy or public practice change that will positively impact people currently living in poverty could include:

• Sometimes, there is no law or policy in place, and one needs to be developed. The ‘public policy changed’ here would be a new law or policy that you have advocated for.

• Sometimes, there is a law or policy already in place, but it may be unjust or not work properly, and it needs to be changed. The ‘public policy changed’ here would be for the law or policy to be amended and revised. 

• Sometimes, there may be a good law or policy in place but it needs to be enforced. A ‘public practice change’ here would be for the law or policy to be implemented as a result of your advocacy. 

• Sometimes, there is a good law or policy in place but it is implemented in a way that is unfair or discriminatory. A ‘public practice change’ here would be better implementation of the law or policy as a result of your advocacy.

• Sometimes, there is no law or practice in place, and it is simply an issue of changing attitudes. A ‘public practice change’ here would be for attitudes or practices of decision-makers to be changed.

• Sometimes, there is a law or policy in place that is adequate, but the government is threatening to change it. A 'public policy or practice change' here is about blocking the threatened changes and maintaining the current law or policy.

• Sometimes, the decision-making processes or structures of public authorities fail to include and take into account the needs of people currently living in poverty. A practice change here could be for the decision-making process or structure of the decision maker to be amended as a result of your advocacy, so that it now includes the voices of people currently living in poverty.

• For advocacy efforts aimed at multiple decision makers, you can count each decision maker that signs up to the policy, or changes its practice, as a separate policy or practice change. For example, if several multinational companies each start to take responsibility for their plastic waste as a result of your advocacy, each company’s initiative counts as a separate practice change. If five countries change their policy as a result of your global campaign, count five policy changes.

For more detailed guidance, as well as examples of different types of policy and practice changes that will positively impact people currently living in poverty, see Tearfund’s Advocacy toolkit (https://learn.tearfund.org/en/resources/publications/roots/advocacy_toolkit/) or contact a Tearfund advocacy advisor in your region’s Advocacy Matrix Team.

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