How can you balance program impact measurement with program implementation demands?

Think about long-term, intermediate, and short term goals. What would it look like to completely solve the problem your nonprofit addresses? How do you measure success? What resources do you need to be successful? Make evaluation a natural part of your program design. Write down everything you want to measure. Determine the best way to measure that. Consider the resources you need to evaluate as well as implement your program. If you want to scale, you’re going to need to show results. Include evaluation in your program plans.

In my experience if impact evaluation is being seen as core element of operation it wouldn’t be seen as add on work or nice to do. It is also important to support teams and front life staff with skills, resources and easy to access information that they can see their part in collating data and the value of their contribution.

It is essential to clearly define the program's objectives and identify key performance indicators (KPIs) that closely align with these objectives. Following that, it is crucial to carefully allocate resources and create a well-structured budget plan. Lastly, adopting an adaptive management approach to challenges and risk management will enhance the program's resilience and effectiveness over time.

One thing that i find helpful is to align program goals with effective execution through planning and prioritisation while setting clear definitive objectives. I also find that making regular assessments on progress creates opportunities to realign what may not be right on the program. i have also noted that communication and adaptability are key for successful implementation while keeping overarching impact in mind.

When setting impact indicators it's important to define realistic indicators which are both definable and measurable. Everyone wants "world peace," "to end poverty," and "eliminate poverty," but these goals need to be defined in relation to the scope of your organization and its impact. While it's good to have dreams to aspire to, lofty goals you never reach do not inspire, nor do they hold your organization accountable. Can your organizations impact be measured in any meaningful way, and if not, how can it? I've numerous times been told by nonprofits they can't measure their impact. The issue, however, wasn't that it was impossible, but that they hadn't invested the time to learn HOW.

Open ended questions can mine data points that are specific to individuals versus pre-formed questionnaires (even though this can be harder to quantify). When working with people, look for qualifiable data points when possible. When possible, also make data public as it can be used for marketing, funding and also other orgs to assist full community impact.

A data development plan is a key next step after identifying indicators, whether you currently have access to the needed systems and information or not. This also a great way to create accountability with partners and stakeholders.

An important aspect is ensuring M&E is integrated into the implementation process and the implementation team supports data collection and management. The longitudinal data maintained by the program implementation team would be a great evidence towards the program's progress to its goal. Such data needs to be verified by the M&E team for its validity and accuracy and should supplement it with the measurement of outputs and outcomes. There should be learning reflections by the program implementation team with the data annually or biannually to measure the progress towards goal

Carefully and strategically plan your data collection/analysis methods. These methods are the tools and techniques that you will use to gather and interpret information about impact indicators, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, or statistical models. By planning these methods effectively, it can ensure resources, skills, and time to conduct them properly, and produce reliable and valid results. Plan for data management and analysis: Determine how you will store and secure data, establish data entry protocols, develop a codebook, and consider ethical considerations. Pilot test your methods: Select a small sample, implement data collection methods, gather feedback, evaluate effectiveness, and make adjustments if needed

In the scientific realm, the goal is to explore what's possible. Projects that I've worked on with private or public funding always indicated clearly how the methods and outcomes could be out of alignment if through discovery, new paths opened up. This is an area that is not well explored by many. Too many times the outcomes are a static correlation with the prescribed objectives and methods, and don't allow for chance discoveries that may open new pathways, or help gestate a clearer vision of what the goals should be, and pivot from there. This is the reason most R01's simply run out of gas...science doesn't travel in a straight line, and therefor it is imperative that the investigator(s) communicate as often as possible with the sponsors.

The most important aspect is to have the entire drawing board put up while planning the project to set key interventions and logically deduce outcome indicators against all outputs to reach the impact. Often people mistake outputs as outcomes and that's where when the mid term reports come in it seems there is something missing or things are not going well. Secondly outputs can have beyond expectation outcomes. Meta indicators are sometimes important to be considered and be studied for implications particularly in health, behaviour change, education or gender empowerment projects. Third is interventions are designed with milestones but expected outcomes may come late or even early because society is exposed diverse variables or influences.

This is perhaps the most important aspect. Making sure we measure the impact and share this with the implementation team is key for doing things better and getting better results. For example, at my current job senior leadership puts a big emphasis on sharing the evaluation results with the whole team working on the project. This helps us figure out a lot of things we didn't know before and gives us ideas for making the program even better while implementing. This practice also helps the evaluation team/agency in designing research and framing questionnaires for future impact studies.

Integrating impact measurement and program implementation creates a mutually beneficial relationship. Impact measurement provides valuable data for decision-making and strategy adjustments, while program implementation offers opportunities for data collection. By collecting and analyzing data on program outcomes, participant experiences, and stakeholder perspectives, organizations can make informed decisions, optimize strategies, and engage stakeholders in the evaluation process. Flexibility and adaptation are key when encountering challenges in data collection and integration enables adaptive management, evidence-based decision-making, and effective communication of program impact to stakeholders.

Part of the reason I answered the way I did in "Define your impact goals and indicators" is because of the additional tension that is created at this point of the process if 'the whys' are not addressed sufficiently. If that is the case, defining "impact measurement" becomes an exercise in justifying what the nonprofit would either like to do or feels it should continue doing. In other words, it's a solution looking for a problem. If the 'why you exist?' question cannot be sufficiently answered, it is clear you won't have objective measurements of impact.

Well that's important because sometimes we are wasting a lot of resources but are unable to generate the actual impact. We must prioritize accordingly.

this is very important for new/agile way of working. the time/effort you put in traditional method by that time overall landscape changes, perception changes. so starting with little thing, most important thing immidiatly with the resources you have will give a visibility perspective to achive final goal, plan what next

Critical review of the tools and data collection frequency is essential in an efficient measurement process that doesn't consume much of the programme resources. Eliminate all the unwanted questions, elaborations and probing questions in the tools to avoid extensive data collection. Use digital platforms for data collection so as to avoid expenses on the paper based surveys , errors in data entry and skipping errors on data collection. Ensure qualitative data collection is inclusive and representative of various beneficiary groups across gender, disability, caste and age groups. Limit the sample size to the minimum relevant for the evidence and statistical significance

Feedback is very crucial. The ability to analyse "negative feedback " and positive one too is important. Acting upon all the feedback in a professional way opens doors for additional fruitful feedback. Many a times managers/leaders miss opportunities to grow at a personal level due to the inability to accept feedback.

After working in non-profits for 10 years, I can say using feedback and results is a game-changer. It's like having a compass to steer your actions in the right direction. Learning from what works and what doesn't not only helps improve your strategies but also keeps your team motivated by celebrating successes and facing challenges head-on. Sharing these lessons learned creates an open environment where everyone's input is valued. This collaboration builds trust and strengthens the organization's ability to make a positive impact over the long haul. In the non-profit world, using feedback isn't just a step; it's an ongoing process that keeps your efforts on track and effective.

This is the most relevant way to balance, although no one and no culture likes feedbacks. We believe in constructive and “lean” feedback that needs mindset transformation

Once you create your "measurable" action plan, you execute your action plan. Throughout the process, and at key inflection points, assess and rinse. Rinse and repeat, or rinse and repeat differently. Don't get married to your strategies.

For those who need leadership to understand whether or not the org is truly measuring impact, this is their opportunity to bring this to light by answering: "What would it matter if we closed our doors tomorrow?" Nothing? Or, that the real need already is–and will continue to be–addressed by 100 other organizations?

In my experience there are three ways to balance impact measurement and program implementation; first periodic communication between program team and M and E team to discuss changes in program implementation and most importantly why these changes are necessary; secondly, monitoring reports during implementation should be qualitative too and not only quantitative, this will help understand changes during implementation and how that could affect impact; third, agility in M and E plan is necessary to accommodate changes , goal is fixed , impact is fixed but tools , samples and data collection methods shouldn’t be rigid , it has be flexible and innovative based on changes happening during implementation.

Often the operations/program team and M&E are not in sync while rolling new programs and that delayed ops. It’s always good to balance both, by understanding operations efforts on M&E and how M&E is designed keeping ops and stakeholders in focus.

In my expereince there are lot of ways to do this. For Impact measurement the most important, Impactful capability needs to be identify and than distribute implementation focus accordingly. some times use case driven, weitage can help us to measure impact of somethings

M&E integrated program implementation would be the better option since they both are part of the cycle and cannot be segregated. The Program implementation team should be aware of the program result cycle rather than just focusing on the execution part and should be able to track whether the activity implementation contributes to the program result framework starting from outputs to the project goal. They should be able to maintain the data at regular time points that evidence program progress. It can supplement the impact measurement either on program closure or even after that. Implementation responsibilities should never hinder M&E, as it is part of the program implementation.

Our approach focuses on three key areas: We identified specific changes we wanted to see in our members' lives, such as improved social integration and increased self-sufficiency. These goals guide our mission and help us measure our success. We adapt our resource allocation to meet the needs of our programs, ensuring a balance between on-the-ground activities & administrative tasks like impact assessment. Feedback from members is invaluable. It helps us refine our programs and increase satisfaction. For example, responding to feedback, we introduced smaller group activities, which led to higher engagement & satisfaction. Adaptable, responsiveness, and prioritizing our members' needs are key to enhancing programs and strengthening them.

Pour moi, toutes les 6 réponses proposées par l'IA de façon combinée apporteront une réponse adéquate à cette question. Aussi, il faudra penser dès la planification, à la conception d'outils de collecte efficaces en situant les différentes Responsabilités, les délais, les ressources et les moyens de vérification.

L'équilibrage entre la mesure de l'impact d'un programme et les exigences de sa mise en œuvre est un défi important, mais très essentiel pour assurer le succès global du programme. Il est donc nécessaire de veiller à la synergie des différents éléments proposés ici pour maximiser les résultats.

Focus on developing personal leadership skills so that the team can be impacted in a positive way. The more you grow as a leader the more your team grows and matures