CRIN - Child Rights Information Network
A rights-based approach to development combines human rights, development and social activism to promote justice, equality and freedom. It holds duty bearers to account for their obligations, empowers people to demand their rightful entitlements, promotes equity and challenges discrimination. Monitoring is a fundamental approach to promoting human rights. The collection and dissemination of data about unfulfilled rights and about rights violations puts pressure on duty bearers to meet their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil human rights. This paper proposes a rights-based approach to monitoring changes in human and children’s rights, accountability, participation and equity by measuring different dimensions of change: changes in people’s lives, in policies and practices, in equity, and in participation and empowerment. These dimensions of change should be applied consistently to programme goals, priorities, objectives and become the basis for monitoring changes at different levels. As much as possible, rights-based monitoring and evaluation should draw on existing tools for measuring change. Relevant tools and frameworks can be found in the areas of gender, disability, participation and empowerment, advocacy, policy and legal change, behaviour change and governance. Rights-based monitoring and evaluation should prioritise actions with the greatest opportunity for impact and sustainability in the realisation of human and children’s rights. It should be kept as simple and practical as possible. An organisation’s reward system should be adapted to give incentives to staff and partners for using the dimensions of change, for critically reviewing and improving its own work, thereby reinforcing a rights-based programme approach. Internal policies and procedures should also reflect human rights principles with a view to promoting a culture of accountability, participation and equity in practice.
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