What are indicators?
An indicator is a “quantitative or qualitative factor or variable that provides a simple and reliable means to measure achievement…” In other words, they give a signal (an indication!) of something of importance to a development project or programme.
Why use indicators?
Indicators can help you to:
What makes a good indicator?
There is no such thing as the perfect indicator. The art of setting indicators for a project / programme is to ensure that you have enough information about both what you are working towards (i.e. specific changes in the lives of poor people) and how you are getting there (i.e. implementation of projects).
Issues to consider include:
· Validity - Does the indicator actually a measure the underlying concept it is supposed to measure?
· Value of the information - Of the options available to you, which indicator gives you the most important information to help you monitor or evaluate your programme?
· Specific and measurable - The indicator needs to be clearly stated. If data are not available from secondary sources, then the task of collecting the relevant data has to be feasible and achievable.
Types of indicators
There are two broad types of indicators:
1. Process Indicators / Milestones
These indicators relate to the implementation of projects and programmes. They give information about how things are progressing in relation to the stated timetable and plans of the project / programme. They are typically about “Activities” or “Outputs”. Examples here could be:
· Number of workshops completed
· Stated satisfaction level of partner organisations
To evaluate a programme, to say what value it has had for the target communities, we need to be able to produce sound evidence of exactly what impact the programme has had on their lives. This may be the impact that we planned that it would have, but there may be others, positive or negative.
The term commonly used to talk about this evidence is "impact indicators". These are signs (facts, figures, statistics, collections of personal testimonies etc) that indicate what effect, or impact the programme is having.
However, a common mistake is to measure only whether the planned activities took place, or their immediate outcomes. But measuring activities actually only indicates what processes we have used to try to achieve a longer term impact - these are process indicators. They don't tell us if the programme has had the desired impact.
Activities have outcomes, which may or may not lead to the desired impact. For example, an outcome of activities like training community members in how to reduce the risk of becoming infected with HIV, may be that people start buying more condoms. The sales figures for condoms in the area and people's reports in surveys and questionnaires that they are buying and using them indicate that the activities have had this outcome - these are outcome indicators. They don't tell us if the programme has had the desired impact either.
The impact is only achieved if the condoms are used correctly and consistently and this leads to a measurable reduction in HIV infections. Statistics at STI clinics, surveys and questionnaires may provide the evidence that will indicate to what extent this impact has been achieved - these are impact indicators.