Twenty or 30 years ago, the human rights world paid no attention to measuring the impact of its work - indeed, it was almost a point of honour not to do so, and instead to bear witness to violations and to "name and shame" perpetrators. Partly under the influence of financial donors, this has changed. Human rights organizations have fallen under the influence of evaluation culture. However, dominated by a normative and legal agenda, they are still not very good at it. Meanwhile, the few scholars to focus on this issue have mostly suffered from the opposite defect. They have the sophisticated analytic skills that human rights activists lack, but usually have a weak understanding of the normative framework. Is there a way of bridging this gap?
Richard Carver's presentation will be based on his own experience, grappling with how to measure the impact of human rights work, usually without much success. He will try to persuade participants that Does Torture Prevention Work?, his 2016 work with Lisa Handley, has bridged the gap, applying sophisticated research methods to real world human rights issues. But can it be replicated? And how can we know what is the impact of the book itself?
The seminar is on Thursday 15 February, 16.30-18.00, in the Student Hub, White Space, on the 3rd floor of the Abercrombie building. All welcome. For the whole seminar series, check the full programme.
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