Defending Dignity A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions on Monitoring Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Country name 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Cambodia 8.35 14.78 16.52 11.64 6.71 7.21 6.39 5.94 6.14 6.21 6.72 Laos 6.06 6.74 5.37 4.11 6.85 5.67 5.48 9.06 5.41 6.08 6.08 Myanmar 10.29 1.60 1.65 0.99 1.35 1.09 1.24 1.30 1.59 1.50 1.50 Thailand 9.77 12.98 12.37 12.36 13.74 14.47 15.82 14.70 13.93 15.35 14.21 Vietnam 6.26 6.00 5.49 5.24 7.48 9.20 8.04 8.52 10.10 10.15 9.47 HEALTH EXPENDITURE, PUBLIC (% OF GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE) 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 2002 2003 2004 Cambodia 2005 Laos 2006 2007 Myanmar 2008 2009 2010 Thailand 2011 2012 Vietnam Source: World Bank Data Presenting information visually allows the reader to quickly identify patterns, trends and outliers in the data. It helps to highlight information that may otherwise remain hidden. For this reason, it is a valuable tool for prompting your reader to think about an issue in a new way. Nevertheless, using data to create a narrative for advocacy requires a careful balancing act. It is important to: • Think strategically about the position of your audience: What do they already know or not know? What is it that you want them to understand and why? • Work outwards from the data: Be clear about what the data does and does not say. Consider whether the data needs to be simplified, contextualized or complemented with other data to make your key point. • Design your data: How will you bring your story together with the details in your data? How can you frame it in a succinct and compelling way without misleading or over-generalizing? • Find visual stories: What visual devices will you use to present the information in an engaging way? How will the visual design help organize and give meaning to the information? These questions can help you decide on the type of data visualization most appropriate for your report. 146