Over recent years, two new trends have converged in the work carried out by NGOs for human rights. On the one hand, there has been a growing shift of activism towards Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR). And on the other, NGOs have increasingly acknowledged the importance of assessing their own impact as a matter of accountability. However, besides the crucial importance of the matter, impact assessment is still a new topic for most NGOs.

This article, written by Koldo Casla (University of Denver, USA), presents a comprehensive explanation of the importance of human rights impact assessment for NGOs in the field of ESCR. Based on Fernande Raine's three-stage structure and the Dimensions of Change methodology adopted by organisations like Save the Children or Amnesty International, Casla explores some relevant procedural issues, and identifies several practices that Human Rights NGOs can adopt in order to assess their impact on ESCR.

This is a concept version. The final version will be published later this year.