The biggest challenge for human rights defenders and decision makers is applying sometimes abstract concepts from economic, social and cultural rights to public policy. The author argues for the measurement of economic, social and cultural rights as a means of monitoring and verifying national development outcomes, both from the perspective of claim holders (communities) and duty bearers (governments). The paper describes attempts to apply the human development index and other related indexes to development policies and approaches, alongside the measurement of economic, social and cultural rights.