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