Background
CIVICUS’s unique value lies in our ability to make use of the combined approaches of (1) generating knowledge and timely analysis, (2) amplifying civil society narratives, (3) influencing policy making, (4) enabling activism in challenging contexts and (5) strengthening solidarity action through strategic alliances and innovative partnerships.
Most streams of work and partnerships only engage with one or two aspects, especially in the short to mid-term. Our outcome inventory in contrast tells a more cohesive story and how we achieve lasting impact through long-term commitment. It helps us, our partners, donors, and members to understand our unique holistic approach and interdependent nature of our work.
The impact stories in the inventory demonstrate the strength of solidarity and alliances and showcase the tangible and sustainable positive changes we have together achieved.
Methodology
The outcome inventory will be a collection of organizational evidence-based stories, built upon CIVICUS’s existing outcome harvesting methodology. We work with external consultants to verify them and present them in a way that shows real world results and how they are relevant to our audiences.
We strive to present a cohesive and concise narrative of organization-level contributions to advocacy, networking, and capacity strengthening. Evidence-based storytelling is based on Toulmin’s (2003) model of argumentation. Here, evidence will back up claims of institutional accountability, effectiveness or improvement.
The stories are hardly straightforward. There are ups and downs, challenges, and lessons along the way to making change happen. Because of this complicated path to progress, each outcome inventory story will be revisited at least once during each five-year strategic period. We will present only select stories demonstrating tangible change. Where there are links to our past work, instead of creating a new story, we will build upon existing threads to showcase interdependence and gradual progress.
