What is Impact Evaluation?

What is Impact Evaluation?

Impact evaluation as the name suggests is the assessment of a project in order to see whether there has been any developmental change. Impact Evaluation depends on thorough techniques to decide the results that have been achieved can be attributed to a particular intervention depending on the circumstances prevalent. Take this as an example, imagine that the government decides construct a dam that would be generating power. Once the dam is completed, the outcome of creating that dam will be that, there will be electricity production for whole community. However, what is the impact? Keep in mind that the term Impact is a high level indicator that defines the overall change that takes place between 3 to 5 years. Therefore, if there is electricity production in a community, the impact of that could be more job creation. Why, because with electricity being produced, naturally that power will be used to start various kinds of manufacturing businesses such as welding, construction and so on and so forth.

Impact Evaluation try's to answer the question– what might have happened without intervention occurring at a community. The motivation behind conducting an Impact Evaluation is to help answer how well a project or programme had performed. This kind of evaluation is a high level Evaluation that which requires skilled evaluators to determine whether really, the project or programme intervention actually was responsible for producing such a change.

WHEN TO UNDERTAKE THIS KIND OF EVALUATION

An Impact Evaluation should possibly be embraced when its proposed use can be obviously recognized and when it is probably going to have the option to create valuable discoveries and lessons, considering the availability of resources. An evaluability appraisal may should be done first to evaluate these perspectives.

An Impact Evaluation should always be undertaken in my opinion and this is because, as implementers you want to know the truth and this very truth will help justify to the world as to why additional funding is needed. Usually an impact evaluation can be conducted 3 to 5 years after the project or programme has ended. However, there is need for dedicated budget to successfully conduct an Impact Evaluation.

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WHO SHOULD PARTICIPATE IN THE IMPACT EVALUATION

It is critical to thoroughly consider who ought to be included in this activity, why and how in each progression of the Impact Evaluation should these people get involved. The motivation for conducting an Impact Evaluation should be clearly outlined from the start. It is also critical to define what exactly will be achieved by conducting such an activity. Ideally, this evaluation should answer the question whether overall change has been achieved and whether it can be attributed to a certain developmental intervention.

In making the Impact Evaluation more participatory, all relevant stakeholders should be included in this assessment. Stakeholder's include all those affected by the project or programme such as the (I) beneficiaries themselves (II) Government (III) private sector players and NGOs etc. Key questions that should be answered are the following;

> What purpose will stakeholders serve in the project or programme
>When is their participation feasible
>Who should be left out or included among the stakeholders.

METHODS OF CONDUCTING IMPACT EVALUATION

The criteria for conducting impact evaluation lies in the an international standard which has been used by many Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) evaluation criteria. This criteria is based on 5 principles namely; relevance and fulfillment of objectives, developmental efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability. Further information on this link