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your project
and its outcomes
your project
and its outcomes
by Sally Cupitt with Jean Ellis
for Charities Evaluation Services
contents
Introduction
Defining outcomes
10
10
14
18
18
19
Sources of help
20
Further reading
20
Glossary
21
22
introduction
What are outcomes?
Many voluntary sector organisations are familiar
with describing what they do and who they work
with. But you also need to describe the changes,
benefits, learning or other effects that happen as
a result of your work. These are your outcomes.
This booklet
This booklet has been written for trustees, staff
and volunteers who are involved in planning,
monitoring and evaluating their project. The
aim of the booklet is to help you describe the
outcomes you want your project to achieve.
Working with outcomes need not be difficult. This
guide offers a simple, step-by-step approach to
identifying and assessing your projects outcomes.
introduction
Chapter one
understanding outcomes
Defining outcomes
reduced isolation.
The relationship between the terms inputs, outputs, outcomes and impact can be represented like this:
Inputs
Outputs
Outcomes
Impact
The inputs to your project enable you to deliver outputs. These bring about outcomes, which may
eventually lead to an impact.
From inputs to impact
Case study: The Womens Project
The Womens Project aims to reduce unwanted teenage pregnancy
by offering support and groupwork to young women.
Inputs
Staff
Budget
Venue
Advertising
Outputs
One-to-one support
sessions
Groupwork
Outings
Outcomes
Increase in young
peoples:
confidence
awareness of
alternatives to young
parenthood
access to education
and training
opportunities
Impact
Reduction in:
social exclusion
teenage pregnancies
Intermediate outcomes
Intermediate outcomes describe the step
changes that happen before a desired outcome is
reached. For example, users of a drugs project are
likely to undergo various changes before they stop
using drugs (the desired outcome). They need
to want to give up, be confident that they can,
and know how to do so. In this case, increased
motivation, increased confidence and increased
knowledge are all intermediate outcomes.
Service users, or the project itself, may not always
reach a particular outcome within the projects
lifetime, so it is important that you keep a note
of the intermediate outcomes that do occur,
in order to do justice to your projects work.
Intermediate outcomes are especially important
in some prevention work. For example, increased
individual confidence or skills may be important
for preventing unemployment.
Intermediate outcomes
Case study: The Training Service
The Training Service is an employment project, working with socially disadvantaged people. It offers
long-term training courses and individual support. The service can describe many changes that its users
often go through their intermediate outcomes.
Overall aim
Intermediate
outcomes
Users have:
improved motivation and aspirations
improved confidence and self-esteem
increased communication and social skills
improved job-search skills
increased work skills.
Outcomes
understanding
outcomes
Where do
outcomes occur?
individuals
families
communities
organisations
the environment
policy.
Outcomes in organisations
Outcomes in individuals
These are some examples of outcomes in
individuals:
maintenance of independence
being rehoused.
Outcomes
for older
people
Outcomes
Local BME services:
improve their access to
for BME
organisations
funding
increase their workforce
knowledge and skills
develop partnership
working
increase their sharing
of resources and good
practice
develop their services, to
better meet local needs.
The local BME sector:
is consulted by key agencies
more often, and is better
able to respond
benefits from more
agreements with
outside bodies
is involved in more local
planning structures.
The local infrastructure example above draws some of
its outcomes from the NAVCA (National Association for
Voluntary and Community Action) performance standards for
infrastructure organisations. These can be downloaded for
free from the NAVCA website (see Sources of help, on
page 20).
Examples of outcomes
Families
Reduced isolation
Reduced levels of conflict
Improved relationships
Communities
The environment
Policy
SMART outcomes
Big Lottery Fund (BIG) asks applicants to identify
SMART outcomes at the point of application.
SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable,
Realistic and Time-based. In practice, this means
that BIG expects applicants to include what is
referred to in this publication as a target in the
understanding
outcomes
Chapter two
identifying and
assessing outcomes
10
Timing
Money
im
To enable
users to
improve their
employment
situation
To increase
income and
reduce debt
To improve
housing
conditions
Ob
jec
tiv
es
Sp
e
cifi
ca
im
s
Ov
era
ll a
To enable
users to
improve their
social and economic
situation by accessing their
entitlements
To offer a casework
service
To offer an advice
service by telephone,
drop-in sessions and
appointments
11
identifying
and
assessing
outcomes
12
Example outcomes
3 Consider timescale
Think about what outcomes are achievable within
the lifetime of the project. For some projects,
longer-term outcomes may be hard to achieve
within the funding period. Such projects may
need to identify intermediate outcomes that
are achievable.
5 Keep it simple
There may be many outcomes of your work,
but it is usually wise to limit the number you
collect information on. The level of outcomes
monitoring should be in proportion to the size
of your project. Also, you are more likely to
succeed by starting with a very simple system,
and extending it later, if necessary. To keep your
outcome monitoring simple, you will need to
prioritise key outcomes the ones that tell you
most about your progress. Ensure also that you
only collect information you need.
13
identifying
and
assessing
outcomes
Outcome indicators
Case study: The Training Service
Outcomes
Outcome indicators
Level of punctuality
How often users attend
Ability to communicate appropriately with colleagues
Ability to complete tasks
Questionnaires
questionnaires
observation
interviews
Very good
Good
I really need to
work on this
15
identifying
and
assessing
outcomes
16
Observation
Interviews
Interviews involve going through a series of
questions or topics with someone. They can be a
good way of exploring difficult issues, especially
with people who are not able or do not want to
write things down. Interviews can be formal or
informal, and may include the use of visual tools,
such as pictures, to help communication and
encourage people to take part.
Date
Name of user
Outcome indicator
Evidence
Staff member
Outcome indicator
Evidence
Staff member
Evidence
Staff member
Name of user
Name of user
Outcome indicator
17
identifying
and assessing
outcomes
Chapter three
using outcomes
information
18
Understanding outcomes
information
Putting outcomes information in
context
Outcomes information often needs to be
presented with other information to make sense
of it. Your outcomes monitoring will only tell you
whether an outcome has occurred or not. For
example, if a project stated that half of its users
had improved their literacy skills, we might also
want to know things like:
Whose outcomes?
It may not be possible to link an outcome to a
specific project activity. And many organisations
working in your area may have an effect on the
situation. Get information from more than one
source if possible, to strengthen the case for your
role in the change. You can also show how you
have worked together with other agencies to
obtain outcomes.
Using outcomes
information to benefit
your project
19
using
outcomes
information
20
sources of help
further reading
4 Coldbath Square
London EC1R 5HL
Phone: 020 7713 5722
enquiries@ces-vol.org.uk
www.ces-vol.org.uk
CES offers training and consultancy, and publishes
information on monitoring, evaluation and quality
systems. Training courses on outcomes are
provided.
Outcomes online
www.outcomesonline.org.uk
glossary
Aims
The particular changes or differences the
organisation or project plans to bring about.
Qualitative
Qualitative information is descriptive, and is
presented in words.
Baseline data
Facts about the characteristics of a target group
or population and its context, ideally gathered
before the start of a project.
Quantitative
Quantitative information is given as numbers.
Impact
Broader or longer-term effects of a projects
activities, outputs and outcomes.
Inputs
Resources put into a project to carry out an
activity. Inputs may be human, material or
financial, or can be expressed as time.
Intermediate outcomes
Steps along the way to end outcomes. They are
often smaller changes that need to happen before
the final, desired outcome can be reached.
Monitoring
The routine, systematic collection and recording
of information about a project, mainly for the
purpose of checking its progress against its plans.
Objectives
The areas of activity a project plans to carry out in
order to achieve its aims.
Outcome indicators
Pieces of information that show whether expected
outcomes have occurred. They can be qualitative
or quantitative.
Outcomes
The changes, benefits, learning or other effects
that happen as a result of your work.
Outputs
All the detailed activities, services and products
you do or provide.
Overall aim
Describes why an organisation or project exists
and the broad effect it wants to have. It may be
contained within the mission statement.
Targets
A defined level of achievement that an
organisation or project sets itself to achieve in
a specific period of time.
21
glossary
Charities Evaluation Services (CES) is an independent charity with unrivalled expertise in monitoring,
evaluation and quality assurance systems in the voluntary sector.
CES produces a range of publications, including PQASSO, the quality system specially designed for small
and medium sized voluntary organisations.
Open training
We also run a programme of training courses covering monitoring and evaluation and quality systems
from our accessible central London venue. Courses include:
Implementing PQASSO
Analysing data
Evaluating diversity.
Contact us for our full training brochure on 020 7713 5722, via our website, www.ces-vol.org.uk or
email enquiries@ces-vol.org.uk
Consultancy
Our consultancy service is flexible and provides support for organisations that want to understand and
implement monitoring, evaluation and quality systems.
External evaluations
CES has carried out evaluations of a large number of organisations over the last 15 years as well as working
with funders to evaluate their programmes and funding strategies.
Practical Monitoring and Evaluation: A Guide for Voluntary Organisations, 2nd edition (2005)
PQASSO (Practical Quality Assurance System for Small Organisations) 2nd edition
23
about
Charities
Evaluation
Services
26
section name
4 Coldbath Square
London EC1R 5HL
t + 44 (0) 20 7713 5722
f + 44 (0) 20 7713 5692
e enquiries@ces-vol.org.uk
w www.ces-vol.org.uk