Defending Dignity A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions on Monitoring Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Chapter 13: Evaluating contextual factors KEY QUESTIONS • Why is it important to contextualize data? • What tools and approaches can we use to analyse contextual factors that affect people’s ability to enjoy their rights? • What tools and approaches can we use to analyse contextual factors that affect the State’s ability to fulfil its obligations? INTRODUCTION Parts II and III focused on how to collect and analyse quantitative data – including budgetary data – in order to answer the research questions that guide your monitoring activity. Part IV focuses on how to use that analysis to convincingly show whether and how a specific right (or multiple rights) has been violated, in order to advocate for greater accountability. Chapter 14 discusses how to organize findings and recommendations to form the basis of a compelling report. Chapter 15 introduces data visualization as a way to present evidence. Finally, Chapter 16 looks at how monitoring can support and strengthen broader advocacy strategies. As discussed in Chapter 5, quantitative data has limitations. Although it is well suited to answering questions like “how much”, “how many”, “to what extent”, “where” or “when”, it is more limited in terms of answering “why” a situation is the way it is. This is a crucial question to consider before deciding what conclusions to draw from your research. In particular, it is important to have a good understanding of contextual factors. Accordingly, this chapter looks at how to contextualize quantitative data with qualitative analysis. Specifically, it focuses on step four of the OPERA framework: Assessment. It outlines some tools and approaches for analysing broader contextual factors that affect people’s ability to enjoy their rights and the State’s ability to fulfil its obligations. 13.1. THE ‘A’ OF OPERA: ANALYSING CONTEXTUAL FACTORS AND LIMITATIONS Before making any overall conclusions about a country’s compliance with its human right obligations, step four of OPERA provides a contextual analysis, in order to reflect on the broader factors that impact on the ability of rights holders to claim the right(s) being reviewed, as well as the capacity of duty bearers to meet their obligations. Many of these issues will have been foreshadowed by the data collected in relation to the other steps in OPERA: outcomes, policy efforts and resources. But they are addressed more comprehensively here, by carrying out a kind of “political economy analysis”. In effect, this kind of analysis attempts to uncover why government efforts have not been more successful. This ensures that the broader context in which the State operates is taken into account as part of the overall assessment. This is the crux of the analysis that OPERA seeks to facilitate: distinguishing between deprivations that might genuinely be beyond the control of the State and those for which the State should be held accountable. This analysis, discussed further in Chapter 14, is essential to ensure that the conclusions you reach are accurate and the recommendations you make are well targeted and actionable. 130