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Evaluating Social Movement Power: Initial Concepts and Indicators [AEA 2018 SESSION MATERIALS]

This session provided participants with a framework and indicators for understanding and assessing how social movements build power and make change. Though social movements are not new, there is considerable confusion differentiating social movements from other types of social change and a lack of literacy about how movements build power to transform the status quo. Existing evaluation approaches provide critical guidance for understanding the health and capacity of social movements but don’t go far enough in helping us understand whether movements are making progress toward their goals and translating capacity and strategy into long-term power for the movement. Session participants were introduced to a social movement theory of change, four types of movement power, and indicators for assessing movement power building.

What’s so innovative? Innovation Network’s Social Movement Learning Project team is conducting field-building research and developing new approaches for measuring social movements to better gauge movement health, effectiveness, and progress.

Session Resources