fome symposium 2015 | workshop 7: designing and evaluating impact-oriented projects: challenges for...
TRANSCRIPT
Impact Orientation
Designing and Evaluating Impact-oriented projects: Some Challenges and Lessons Learnt
11th FoME Symposium, October 1-2 , 2015Jens Koy, Freelance Evaluator, Bonn
How can foundations ensure long-term effects and lasting
changes?
How can impact be integrated into project design?
Results Chain / Theory of Change
ImpactOutcome
Planned / unplannedPositive / negative
OutputActivitiesInput
“controlled “by the organization / foundation”
ExampleImpact Democratization
The role of the media is strengthend (information & watch dog function)
Outcome Media in county X provide more information about national economy and national budget
Output 30 journalists trained
Activities 10 workshops5 foreign exchange scholarships….
Input 300. 000 €2 experts
Outcome-Indicator
Outcome:
Media in county X provide more information about national economy and national budget
Indicator: In country X the extend and quality of reporting (concerning national economy and budget) in one national and two regional newspapers are increased.
(SMART enough? Baseline?)
Strength of Outcome-orientation
• State of the art to foster effectivity and efficiency of programs
• Advanced concept: Not only planning! More emphasize on the effects / outcome of activities!
• Vision: More flexibility for the implementation of the project. Activities can be adapted to changing needs!
Risks of Outcome-orientation & „Solutions“
• Risk of narrow minded thinking-> open minded attitude - reality is not linear
• Risk of bureaucracy-> provide more flexibility + resources for adaptations to changing contexts
• Risk of information overkill-> Reduction to what you need & analyse; different stakeholders have different (information) needs
Lessons learnt - Evaluations
• Balance between “impact orientation” and “analysis of the quality of activities”
• Identify focus points of interest; don’t get lost in questions, structures and criteria.
• Foster more critical thinking in evaluations to learn more about organizational blindness and potential to improve projects
• Allocate more resources for implementation of the recommendations into the practical project work.
Thank you very much for your attention