Governments, funders and private partners now expect organisations that lobby for change to prove their case with numbers as well as stories. At the same time, advocacy teams are often swamped with data from programmes, surveys, media and social platforms but lack the methods to turn it into a clear argument or to show whether their effort altered a decision. The result is campaigns that are hard to defend at budget time and partnerships that are valued on goodwill alone.

Participants in this programme work through the full evidence cycle for advocacy. It starts with defining a policy ask and the decision makers who hold it, then moves to sourcing and cleaning data, analysing it for patterns that matter, and visualising results for non-technical audiences. Later sessions cover tracking policy change, using outcome harvesting and contribution analysis to describe influence, and building indicators for partnerships such as joint delivery, resource leverage and coalition health. Ethical handling of data, consent and the risks of exposing partners are discussed throughout.

Teaching is practical. Participants work in Excel and Power BI on realistic case data, produce draft evidence briefs, and finish with a tracking framework and an action plan for their own advocacy portfolio.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Frame a policy ask as a clear, testable evidence question.
• Source, clean and combine public and programme data to support an advocacy argument.
• Map stakeholders and power relationships using influence and interest analysis.
• Visualise findings in charts and dashboards that decision makers can read quickly.
• Track policy change and media attention using simple monitoring methods.
• Apply outcome harvesting and contribution analysis to describe advocacy influence.
• Design indicators that measure the health and value of partnerships.
• Handle sensitive data ethically in campaigns and coalition work.

The programme suits professionals who build arguments, manage relationships or report on influence, including:

• Advocacy and campaign officers in NGOs and civil society networks
• Policy analysts and researchers in think tanks and public agencies
• Partnership and resource mobilisation managers
• Communications and public affairs specialists
• Monitoring, evaluation and learning officers supporting advocacy portfolios
• Government liaison and parliamentary relations staff
• Programme managers in development agencies and foundations
• Coalition and network secretariat coordinators

Participants leave the course with:

• A draft evidence brief built from real data around a chosen policy ask.
• A stakeholder and power map ready to guide engagement planning.
• A working influence tracking dashboard in Excel or Power BI.
• A set of partnership indicators and a simple scorecard to review them.
• A checklist for ethical data use in campaigns and coalitions.
• An action plan for strengthening evidence use in their organisation.

The programme treats data as a working tool for campaigns, so most time is spent on application. Delivery includes:

• Guided labs in Excel and Power BI using realistic advocacy and service data
• Case files drawn from health, education and governance campaigns
• Small-group drafting of evidence briefs with peer feedback
• Facilitated clinics where participants bring a live policy issue
• Short expert inputs on ethics, indicators and communication

Participants who attend the sessions and complete the practical exercises are awarded a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion issued by Vision Reach Global Consultancy, a record of skills they can add to their professional portfolio.