Defining Social Projects Indicators and Targets

Free Webinar: Social Impact Project Essentials (Click to Sign Up)

If we were to survey organizations designing social impact projects and other stakeholders about the main reasons why projects fail, a good number of them would come up with one answer: weak indicators and ambitious targets.

Designing social impact projects using the Logical Framework requires an important emphasis on indicators and targets as the foundation for continuous monitoring and evaluation.  Maintaining this focus ensures the success of the project.

Successful projects are not those shielded against possible failure throughout their implementation. Rather, an optimum design of a social project would focus on developing the best indicators and achievable targets in order to measure whether the project is going the right way or not.

Designing good indicators and setting achievable targets in a social project allows stakeholders to make timely decisions in order to change or adapt the course when things are not going exactly as planned. Indicators and targets thus become the main source of information of the progress of the project toward its final target.

Types of Indicators 

Using the Logical Framework there are four main types of indicators:

1. Process indicators: correspond to activities related to the execution and implementation of the project. Process indicators define the measures of what needs to be done. They measure use of the financial resources and human capital toward the achievement of the products or deliverables of the project.
2. Product Indicators: correspond to the output level; they measure quantity and quality of the products delivered by the project by using the resources identified to perform the activities.
3. Result Indicators: correspond to the outcome level; they measure whether the products delivered contributed to the achievement of the related outcome to which they were linked. Product or Outcome indicators are related to the changes that are directly attributable to the delivery of the products.
4. Impact Indicators: correspond to the purpose or impact level; they measure the long term changes or effects in the overall situation toward which the project was contributing to a solution.

Process and Product Indicators measure the factors that contribute to the achievement of the outcomes and purpose, whereas Results and Impact Indicators measure the overall effect of the project on a specific social group and its long term benefit.

To learn more, click on the image to register for the webinar: 

 Are your indicators SMART?

 The basic way to think about indicators is by using the SMART methodology:

1. S – Specific:

Indicators need to be very focused on what they are trying to measure. They should focus on just one variable, therefore ensuring specificity at the time of the monitoring and evaluation. Some projects fail because some of their indicators are trying to measure several things in the same indicator. When that is the case, the specificity is lost and the indicator becomes useless.

1. M – Measurable:

Indicators should be written in such a way that they allow defining a target for its measurements. Another important reason why projects fail is that the definition of the indicators doesn’t allow the possibility for measurement. When that is the case, targets could potentially become unrelated to the indicator itself, therefore the information provided via monitoring and evaluation of that indicator is not accurate.

1. Achievable:

Intimately related to the “R” of Realistic, when designing and selecting indicators and targets to measure achievement of some of the elements of the project, designers need to take into account the possibility of achieving those indicators and not set themselves up for failure. For example, setting an indicator such as “Number of Health Workers trained in safety while handling patients displaying similar symptoms to Ebola”, designers could set a target of “100 health workers trained during the first week of the project”. If they know that their capacity is for only 50 a week, yet they include 100 to make the number look better to funders, they are unfortunately dooming the project to failure. Designers of the project could set up the target for 50 to reach their maximum existing capacity, they could set up a lower number, or they could stretch their capacity and set up 55. In any case, it is vital that they know their capacities in order to set and select achievable indicators and targets.

1. R – Realistic and relevant:

Since indicators and targets are a measurement of whether the project is going the right way during its implementation, they should be realistic. Designers should not include indicators and targets that are impossible to measure.  They should also not include indicators and targets that don’t provide enough information about the project so that the stakeholders can make decisions to change course if needed. Similarly, indicators and targets should be relevant to the activity, output or outcome they are trying to measure. If you are training health workers on safety matters regarding handling patients displaying similar symptoms to Ebola, it would be more relevant to include an indicator of number of Health Workers trained, rather than number of handbooks printed. The first one gives relevant information on number of participants, whereas the second one doesn’t give the appropriate information.

1. T – Time Bounded:

Indicators and targets need to include dates in which they will be accomplished. Using the example above, for the indicator “Number of Health Workers trained in safety while handling patients displaying similar symptoms to Ebola”, suggested Targets could be:

1. 50 Health Workers by the first week of the project; or
2. 200 Health Workers by the fourth week of the project.

Here, designers are including two targets for the same indicator, but at different times. This allows them to perform ongoing monitoring and decide whether they are meeting their targets. If not, they could make decisions in order to implement changes and bring the project back to a success course.

Designing your Indicators and Targets

To define the best indicators and targets for a given Social Impact Project, the most basic requirement is to at least include a component of Quality, Quantity and Time (QQT). These components will make the variable (indicator) measurable in terms of quantity (change, products, etc.), quality and time frame.

Using the previous example:

1. Define the variable: this is the actual change that will be measured. “Number of Health Workers trained in safety while handling patients displaying symptoms to Ebola”,
2. Quantity: defining the quantity means adding a target to the indicator. When projects are designed for longer term it is convenient to include targets to measure continuous results (monitoring) during the implementation of the project.
3. Quality: a number of indicators only include a quantitative variable to measure accomplishment. This measurement is the target of the indicator. In the example used before, the quantitative value is “50 health workers” the first week of the project and “200 health workers” by the fourth week of the projects. Now, what about the quality component of the training received by those health workers. Would it be the same to meet the target of 200 health workers trained by the fourth week regardless of the real knowledge and learning derived from the training? This is a critical question to address when designing indicators and targets. Sometimes quality indicators are included in the logical framework, yet they need to be associated to a numeric value in order to verify its accomplishment. Some other times the quality component is included in a quantitative indicator. For instance, expanding the example used before: “Indicator: Number of Health Workers trained in safety while handling patients displaying similar symptoms to Ebola with 85% approval rate in the final test”. Here, there is a variable identified and a quality component as well.
4. Time: include the timeframe in which they will be accomplished and measured.

A short list of help

If you are designing a social impact project, these questions can help guide you to define better indicators and targets:

• Specificity:
  • What will the indicator and target measure? How is it related to the activity, output, outcome or purpose it is trying to measure?
• Measurability:
  • Does the definition of the indicator allow establishing a unit of measurement in order to monitor and evaluate partial and final results?
• Achievability:
  • Is it possible to achieve this indicator with the quality and within the time frame indicated?
  • Have others used and measured this indicator before? Does the project’s funder recommend this or other similar indicator?
• Relevance and realistic:
  • What is the reason to measure this specific indicator?
  • Does the project team have the resources to measure the indicator and its targets in each of the time frames established?
  • Are the indicators aligned with the mission of the project?
• Timeframe:
  • What is the date in which the results of the indicator would be available?

If you have any questions, leave them below and I am more than happy to help!

About the Author: Enrique Rubio is an HR Professional at the Inter-American Development Bank. He is an Electronic Engineer and a Fulbright scholar with an Executive Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Syracuse University. Enrique researches and writes about leadership and HR and seeks to explore the overlaps of productivity and leadership in the business and non-profit world. Enrique is also a competitive ultrarunner.

 #social #innovation #social #impact #nonprofits #projects #impact #entrepreneurs #indicators #targets #logical #framework #logframe