Questions about planning, monitoring and evaluation, outcomes, and project management principles for CSOs.
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 […]