Chapter 12 — Advocacy Strategies It can also explain the main purposes of monitoring and of the report. The introductory section might also provide: • an explanation of the impetus for writing a specific report, including the main problems addressed and the fact that they may run contrary to legal standards and obligations; • an overview of the report’s structure and topics covered; • the overall domestic legal context, including international commitments, recent reform, and other issues or events that provide the backdrop to the report; • a brief statement indicating to whom findings are addressed and what the report seeks to achieve in publishing findings and recommendations; and • acknowledgements, particularly including of any donors of funding, but also mentioning authors (if their names are not on the title page) and other individuals who contributed to drafting or facilitating the production of the report. ÀÀ Methodology The methodology used in gathering information and compiling the report should be described either in the introduction or in a separate section following the introduction. This is especially important if the programme has not had a high profile. A description of monitoring methodology is important to support the credibility of findings. Trial-monitoring findings and conclusions will often provide the only objective overview of what is occurring in the justice system in places where information is incomplete, anecdotal or politicized. Particularly at the beginning of a programme, a report must establish the validity of the methodology that produced the information it offers and give the reader confidence that such information is reliable and objective. The section on monitoring methodology can include: • an overview of the scope of monitoring, including numbers and types of cases, courts and hearings monitored; • a description of how the information was obtained and what proceedings were monitored. It is useful to clarify whether findings resulted from direct observation; document review; secondary sources, such as interviews or court statistics; or from a combination of the above; • a description of who performed the monitoring, including the qualifications and training of monitors; and • any “disclaimers” that the programme deems necessary to make, such as that the report does not seek to second-guess the merits of specific judicial decisions but, rather, focuses on procedural issues, or that the report focuses only on problematic issues, rather than good practices. ÀÀ Presentation of findings and legal analysis Reports will differ in terms of the issues monitored, standards referred to and findings. Within the main body of the report, each distinct part is best presented by including the elements outlined above, which comprise: introducing the issue of concern, outlining the applicable law, describing the facts monitored, drawing a conclusion by applying the law to the facts, and issuing recommendations. Certain programmes add an analysis of select aspects of the domestic legal framework, when they are at odds with international fair trial standards. Most commonly, the pillar of monitoring reports is the presentation of monitoring results from actual cases as they proceeded through the system. Programmes have developed certain good practices in presenting examples from monitoring in their reports: • Illustrations of particular practices or problems. Using a few sufficiently detailed examples from individual cases is an excellent technique for illustrating a particular problem and persuading readers as to the validity of a programme’s concerns. Vivid evidence is provided by the most 115