This is the fourth in a set of four advocacy guidance notes, which can be read as a series or separately. The Basics Monitoring and evaluating advocacy work is relatively new territory for NGOs and donors. A great deal of time is spent modifying other evaluation systems to try and meet the unique and opportunistic characteristics of advocacy. The best attempts are likely to involve you collecting what ever information you can as you go along - orally, scribbling down notes and filing them, talking into a tape etc. The onus should be on doing it rather than worrying about doing it.
Monitoring is the collection of information about a project over time.
It seeks to understand what is happening. Evaluation is an assessment of the project at one point in time, including the successes and failures. It seeks to understand why what happened, happened. The initiative to begin monitoring and evaluating your advocacy work may come from a variety of motivations. The reason why you are evaluating your work will determine the techniques you use.