intelligent measurement

Measurement and NGOs – contradicting voices

March 3, 2008 at 4:31 pm Leave a comment

For those working in the NGO field, measurement and evaluation implicates different issues, often in contradiction:

– Donors, that provide funding for programmes, increasingly ask NGOs to focus on evaluating the impact of their programmes – the long term results;

– At the same time, many donors require an annual feedback from NGOs on the progress of their programmes, which often focuses on outputs – how much was spent and on what;

– NGOs often desire to focus on measuring outcomes – what has been achieved as a result of programmes – as they provide more feedback on what has actually changed than outputs – but can be measured in a shorter time frame than impact (as I’ve written about before);

– NGOs, if they want to provide both a feedback on outputs, outcomes and impact means an increase in administrative overheads for programmes – something which donors are never happy about.

These issues, the potential contradictions and possible solutions are discussed further in this article “Measure what you treasure” (pdf)” from the InterAction Monday Developments journal.

Glenn

Entry filed under: Development evaluation. Tags: ngo evaluation, ngo measurement.