Executive Summary the fields of international development and human rights, for understanding how change can be effectively brought about. These insights have been adapted here to the field of preventive human rights monitoring by NPMs in closed institutions. There are numerous reasons why NPMs might want to adopt a systematic change perspective to their work: It contributes to enhancing accountability, it leads to better performance, it contributes to make their work transparent, and it strengthens strategic, conscientious and thoughtful use of resources. Concretely, ten building blocks are proposed for developing an effective follow-up strategy for NPMs. They are meant to constitute a first orientation for NPMs developing a sound strategy of follow-up. The ten building blocks are: 1. Situation analysis: An appropriate understanding of the factual situation in places of detention, its assessment in the light of human rights standards as well as analysis of the root causes constitute preconditions of any effective change strategy. 2. Visualising desired change: Concrete changes to be achieved at different levels can be depicted and then systematically used as orientation for the NPM’s work. 3. Clarification of assumptions: In a process of (self-)reflection, members of NPMs need to make explicit and discuss their assumptions about how change within the OPCAT mandate can actually be effected. Such a reflection process would benefit from inputs from different academic disciplines. 4. Stakeholder mapping: An effective strategy needs to be built on a sound understanding of relevant national and international actors as stakeholders, i.e. those who might have a (negative or positive) interest, resources, knowledge and relevant power to influence implementation of recommendations of NPMs. 5. Reflection on tools for action: Any strategically oriented approach to follow-up needs to thoroughly address the choice of tools and their suitability for achieving the desired change. 6. Strategic networking and communication: Planning of concrete actions to achieve desired change needs to be built on cooperation with other relevant actors who share some core beliefs. A strategic communications plan needs to address media relations. 7. Developing pathways of change: A practical change approach benefits from depicting the concrete change process in a visually simple form, e.g. in flowchart. Such a pathway of change can show the links between goals, strategies and concrete action. 8. Monitoring of implementation: There is a need for an on-going process of gathering relevant information in order to see whether there is progress towards achieving results and, if not, to adjust the strategy. 9. Evaluation: At specific intervals there needs to be a more rigorous and comprehensive approach to understanding the impact of one’s work and possible adjustment measures and learnings. 10. Learning: Learning is an essential element of any systematic change perspective. It should take place constantly, both at the organisational and the individual level. - 12 -