Pro-poor public policy or practices changed

Demonstrating impact. Defined as changes in public policy or practice by decision-makers in government (local and national), multilateral donors, intergovernmental fora or private sector actors you have targeted. Not churches or civil society, or your own internal or organisational policies or practices. The change needs to be a result of your influence, that of your partners 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 practices changed, and verify each quarter, noting as much as possible attribution - being careful to stick to the definition.

Ideally have a record of attribution, 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 practice change you record. Even one or two sentences will be sufficient for this purpose.

Please also state in the short narrative description for each ‘public policy or practice changed’ whether it contributes to Tearfund’s corporate priority of “economic and environmental sustainability”, “church and community transformation” and/or “fragile states”. 

This indicator does not tend to be disaggregated.

This indicator refers to “public” policies, that is, government laws and frameworks, and not HR policies (such as Health & Safety, Child Protection, etc).

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

“Advocacy” for the purposes of this indicator means “Influencing the decisions, policies and practices 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 pro-poor public policy or practice change 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 policy or 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 policy or 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 policy or practice change” here would be for attitudes or practices 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.

For more detailed guidance, as well as examples of different types of policy and practice changes, see Tearfund’s Advocacy toolkit (https://learn.tearfund.org/en/resources/publications/roots/advocacy_toolkit/) or contact Tearfund’s Advocacy Matrix Team. There is also a guidance note specifically for Tearfund country teams.