Questions about planning projects, outputs and outcomes, monitoring and evaluation, and involving beneficiaries in programme design.
What are the key elements of a beneficiary feedback mechanism?
We do a survey at the end of each programme cycle and it gives us some useful data, but by the time we have the results the programme is over and we can't act on the feedback until the next round. I want something more real-time — a way for beneficiaries to give us feedback […]
What is the difference between outputs, outcomes, and impact in a project?
I always get confused between these three terms and I've been a bit embarrassed to ask before because everyone else seems to know. We're putting together a grant proposal and they're asking us to describe our 'outcomes and impact' and I want to make sure I'm answering the right question. Like if we run a […]
What project management principles should CSOs follow?
We've had a couple of projects that didn't go brilliantly — not complete disasters but they ran over time, there was confusion about who was doing what, and the final reports felt like we were scrambling. I know we need to be more organised about how we manage projects but I don't want to go […]
How do we set up a simple M&E system for a small CSO?
We collect loads of data — attendance registers, photos, feedback forms — but honestly none of it feeds into anything useful. When donor reports are due we kind of write up what we remember happening rather than drawing on solid data. I know we need a proper M&E system but everything I've read seems very […]
How do we involve beneficiaries in programme design and evaluation?
We design all our programmes internally and then consult with communities once things are pretty much finalised. I know that's the wrong way round but we're always working to tight funder timelines. We did a focus group at the end of our last project and got really useful feedback that would have changed how we […]