In a Word Development is about people—it is about how they relate to one another and their environment, and how they learn in doing so. Outcome mapping puts people and learning first and accepts unexpected change as a source of innovation. It shifts the focus from changes in state, viz, reduced poverty, to changes in behaviors, relationships, actions, and activities.

Rationale

Development agencies must show that their activities make significant and lasting contributions to the welfare of intended beneficiaries. But they may well be trying to measure results that are beyond their reach: the impacts they cite as evidence are often the result of a confluence of events for which they cannot realistically get full credit. The questions that they cannot easily answer are

  • How can assessment of impact move beyond attribution to documenting contributions to social change?

  • How do you methodically and reasonably capture the richness of what is occurring in projects or programs?

  • How do you effectively involve stakeholders in monitoring and evaluation of projects or programs?

  • How do you effectively integrate monitoring and evaluation into projects or programs from the planning stage?

  • How do you decide what to monitor and evaluate?

  • How do you notice, explain, and respond to unexpected results?

Outcome mapping exposes myths about measuring impacts and helps to answer such questions. A project or program that uses the framework and vocabulary of outcome mapping does not claim the achievement of development impacts, nor does it belittle the importance of changes in state. Rather, it focuses on its contributions to outcomes (that may in turn enhance the possibility of development impacts—the relationship is not inevitably a direct one of cause and effect). More positively, because outcome mapping limits its concerns to those results that fall strictly within a project or program’s sphere of influence, development agencies can become more specific about the actors they target, the changes they expect to see, and the strategies they employ.Footnote 1

Definition

Outcome mapping is a (still evolving) method for planning, monitoring, and evaluating development activities that aim to bring about social change. It was developed in 2001 by the International Development Research Centre to clarify what human, social, and environmental betterment projects or programs hope to contribute and then focus monitoring and evaluation on factors and actors within their direct sphere of influence. The fundamental premise of outcome mapping is that for each change in state there are correlating changes in behavior that are best encouraged if continuing responsibility has been devolved to local people and local institutions.

The Stages of Outcome Mapping

The full process of putcome mapping involves three stages of thinking:

  • Intentional Design This stage helps the project or program design team clarify and reach consensus on the macro-level changes it would like to support and to plan appropriate strategies. The design team should clearly express the long-term, downstream impacts that it is working toward, bearing in mind that the project or program will not achieve them single-handedly. These desired impacts will provide reference points to guide strategy formulation and action plans, rather than serve as mere performance indicators. Progress markers, which will be used to track performance, should be developed for each boundary partner . They will identify the incremental—and often upstream—changes that the project or program sensibly hopes to influence, prompt behavioral change , and build the foundations of sustained social change. After clarifying what changes the project or program hopes to influence, the design team should select activities that maximize the likelihood of success. In short, the intentional design stage articulates answers to four questions: why, how, who, and what.

  • Outcome and Performance Monitoring This stage provides a framework for monitoring actions and the progress of the boundary partners toward outcomes. The performance monitoring framework builds on the progress markers, strategy maps, and organizational practices developed at the intentional design stage. There are three data and information collection tools: an outcome journal to monitor boundary partner actions and relationships, a strategy journal to monitor strategies and activities, and a performance journal to monitor the organizational practices that keep the project or program relevant and viable. These tools will provide workspace and processes and help the design team reflect on the data and information that it has collected and how these can be used to improve performance.

  • Evaluation Planning This stage helps the design team set priorities to target evaluation resources and activities where they will be most useful. Evaluation planning outlines the main elements of the evaluations to be conducted.

Benefits

People involved in national and local policymaking, staff and consultants of development agencies, and field personnel can use outcome mapping. Used prospectively, it can help

  • Understand and influence more effectively human and ecological well-being.

  • Plan and measure social change in projects or programs.

  • Foster social and organizational learning.

  • Identify individuals, groups, and organizations with whom one might work directly to influence behavioral change.

  • Bring stakeholders into the planning and monitoring and evaluation processes.

  • Strengthen partnerships and alliances.

  • Plan and monitor behavioral change and the strategies to support those changes.

  • Monitor the internal practices of projects or programs so that they remain effective.

  • Design an evaluation plan to examine particular issues more precisely.

The Importance of Participation

Outcome mapping is based on principles of participation and iterative learning. It is usually initiated through a participatory workshop led by an internal or external facilitator who is familiar with the methodology. It purposefully includes those implementing the project or program in the design and in data and information collection to encourage ownership, use of findings, and adaptation. It is a consciousness-raising, consensus-building, and empowering methodology. The process for identifying the macro-level changes, selecting the monitoring priorities, and designing the evaluation plan is intended to be participatory: wherever feasible, it should involve the full range of stakeholders. Engagement means that stakeholders will derive benefit and be credited for fulfilling their development roles; projects and programs will be credited for their contributions to this process.