TIP: An “advocacy premortem” also may be useful here. A premortem is a hypothetical postmortem or after-action review that takes place at the beginning of an advocacy effort but imagines that the effort has already occurred—and has failed.  Advocates, funders, and other stakeholders are then tasked with identifying possible reasons for the effort’s failure. Each person independently writes down every possible reason that the effort might have failed, even issues they might not normally mention or that they fear are impolitic. Each member then shares one reason from his or her list until all reasons have been recorded and a collective list is generated.4 Participants then explore which of these events are most likely, how the team can watch for signals that things are going awry, and how the strategy might better anticipate these challenges. 6) What interim outcomes are relevant to know if the strategy is on track? Given the unpredictability of the political environment and the myriad factors that might affect policy change, it is important to assess an advocacy effort for more than just its ability to achieve a particular policy goal. In addition to ultimately contributing to a particular policy outcome, many advocacy efforts have a larger set of interim outcomes in mind as advocates try to build and sustain their influence in the policy process. For example, in addition to interacting directly with policymakers, advocates might build coalitions with other organizations or develop high-profile political spokespersons that increase their ability to move multiple policy issues. Or they might aim to develop a network of community-based advocates who become active grassroots voices. Sometimes policy goals take years to achieve; interim outcomes signal important progress to be achieved along the way. Capturing interim outcomes helps advocates check whether strategies are on track or where adjustments might be needed. It also ensures that evaluations do not unfairly conclude that entire advocacy efforts failed if policy goals are not achieved within an expected timeframe. The figure below identifies a set of possible interim outcomes for an advocacy strategy, depending on how that strategy is positioned in the framework. This is not an exhaustive list, but it points to common interim outcomes for advocates. All of them are about desired changes in target audiences, rather than about advocate outputs that are more commonly offered as evidence of progress. 4 Adapted from Klein, G. (2007). Performing a project premortem. Harvard Business Review, 85(9), 18-19. 10