The Voice - Summer 2021 - 11

ADVOCACY IN ACTION
OUTCOMES OF OSPE'S
ADVOCACY WORK
Advocacy is the pursuit of influencing outcomes such as changes in social, political,
economic, or organizational systems. But measuring the effectiveness of advocacy
work can be difficult if focused on a narrow set of outcomes. At OSPE, we know that
through our advocacy work, the image, influence, and income of the engineering
community is positively impacted.
Image: This refers to the reputation and value of the
engineering profession amongst members of the public
and key decision-makers.
Influence: Engineers should influence both social and
economic decisions that impact not only the profession
but society at large by actively participating in decisionmaking
processes for our province and country.
Income: To advance the economic position of engineers, it
is essential that OSPE continuously works to improve the
image and influence of the profession.
To measure advocacy work, it is important to focus
both on the interim outcomes as well as end goals. The
path to achieving a desired end goal is not as linear and
predictable in advocacy work as it is in other undertakings.
In evaluation literature, researchers focused on the
importance of interim outcomes are identified by the
American Journal of Evaluation as those that include
" changing attitudes or beliefs,
creating visibility, and building relationships.1
OSPE looks at both interim outcomes and end goals. We
measure progress by looking at the following:
1
Building Relationships
OSPE has formed strong relationships with municipal,
provincial, and federal levels of government, and
consistently communicates the priorities of the engineering
community to target ministries, departments, and agencies.
Through the years, OSPE has consistently and effectively
communicated the value of engineers and engineering
to decision-makers. As a result, the Society has seen an
increasing number of invitations to participate in both
formal and informal government. At times, the informal,
private consultations, held by a Minister's or Premier's
policy staff or bureaucrats are more valuable, as it provides
OSPE an opportunity to delve deeper into the issue to
discuss the nuances and unintended consequences of
certain policy changes. These closed-door meetings allow
for increased candour and less guarded discussion.
raising awareness,
" These are
outcomes that signify progress towards the end goal. This
progress is equally important and helps contribute to
OSPE's three core goals of enhancing image, influence,
and income.
Other examples of interim outcomes include changes to
legislation, policy, or practices. End goals include things
like a more innovative economy, lower energy prices,
diverse and inclusive organizations, sustainability and
environmental protections, amongst others.
To measure the effectiveness of our advocacy work,
In 2020, OSPE was invited to present to the Ministry of the
Environment, Conservation and Park's Advisory Panel on
Climate Change regarding the impact of flooding on new
homeowners. In total, OSPE received 24 invitations to
participate in consultations. This demonstrates increased
awareness of the valuable perspective engineers bring to
decision making processes that impact policies for the
province of Ontario and the country.
1https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1098214019855137
June 2021 THE VOICE
11
http:// https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1098214019855137
The Voice - Summer 2021

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