estimates obligations for progressive realization by using the ‘achievement possibilities frontier’ (APF).55 The APF reflects the highest level of enjoyment of a right ever historically achieved measured in reference to GDP per capita or other indicators that act as proxies for available resources. This approach provides an innovative method for setting benchmarks, which gives concrete expression to the idea that states’ duty to progressively realize ESC rights to the maximum of their available resources needs to be assessed in a way that is consonant with their level of economic development. Indices In the development field, indices such as UNDP’s Human Development Index and the more recent Gender Inequality Index and Multidimensional Poverty Index—which are formulated by calculating a composite score of several indicators—aim to provide measures of development and poverty that take into account broader elements of human well-being; responding to the ‘excessive preoccupation’ with statistical aggregates like GNP growth and national income figures as indicators of development.56 Similarly, Social Watch’s Basic Capabilities Index collates basic social indicators to offer an alternative non-monetary measure of poverty57 and Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index combines expert assessment with opinion surveys to give an overview of transparency and openness (or lack thereof ) in a country.58 In the human rights field, the appeal of an index that enables quick comparisons and ranking has also been felt. For example, Fukuda-Parr, Lawson-Remer and Randolph have calculated a composite score known as the Social and Economic Rights Fulfillment Index (SERF Index) comprising several indicators that are proxies for five ESC rights.59 Another example is the Reproductive Risk Index developed by Population Action International, which draws together ten reproductive health indicators into a ‘manageable set’ by putting them in one single measure that can guide advocates.60 Budget Analysis and Resource Monitoring Further, using human rights indicators to assess whether a state is employing the ‘maximum of its available resources’ in its efforts to fulfill ESC rights has proved a challenge because the Covenant itself ‘is, inevitably, devoid of specific allocation benchmarks’ on which such assessment might rest.61 To overcome this limitation, a number of non-government organizations, such as the International Budget Project (IBP), Fundar (Centro de Análisis e Investigación), the International Human Rights Internship Program (IHRIP) and many others have been adapting and adopting budget analysis techniques for monitoring human rights generally, as well as the rights of specific groups, such as women and children.62 Various techniques have been used to unpack the elements of the concept of maximum available resources, looking not only at government expenditures, but also at how governments raise revenues and the broader economic context in which they do so. In relation to government expenditures, for example, these efforts have shown that it is possible to gain insight into how effective, fair and efficient state expenditure is in those sectors that impact most on ESC rights by: • calculating allocation or expenditure ratios on ESC rights and comparing them to national or international benchmarks; • conducting ‘benefit incidence’ analysis to identify which groups are benefiting from public expenditures; or Assessing compliance with the obligation to fulfill economic, social and cultural rights 9