Measuring Impact - Nicva

14 Measuring Impact – Case-studies of impact assessment
Ideas underpinning impact assessment
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Ruchir Shah,SCVO
Introduction 3.1
The approaches described in the following four chapters are completely separate studies, but
they are based upon some shared common concepts. These concepts are broadly:
• a definition of impact that is broader than an organisation’s aims and objectives;
• a shared understanding of evaluation terminology;
• a bias towards qualitative approaches;
• the engagement of multiple stakeholders;
• the idea that all organisations operate as part of a wider system or network
of organisations.
This chapter explores these ideas in order to explain the approaches used later in the
following four chapters.
Definition of impact assessment 3.2
Impact assessment has a broader aim than performance measurement. Performance measurement
tends to focus on the efficiency of the organisation, or how well resources have been transformed
into meaningful outputs. The aim of impact assessment is broader, and can involve the
investigation of an organisation’s effect on the system or environment in which it operates.
Performance measurement looks at the extent to which an organisation has met its targets. This
will usually fail to capture any unanticipated long-term or collective impact. Impact assessment
is broader than the monitoring and evaluation of performance. 4 Therefore it does not necessarily
need to take into account the organisation’s aims and objectives – although most existing
tools do adopt this approach. Instead, impact can be assessed by focusing on a project or organisation’s
presence within a wider context of partnerships, networks and relationships.
4 Distinction also made by Adams (2001)