Outcome Mapping
Contents |
Strengths:
- participatory and partner-focused
- learning- and process-oriented, creative
- focus on changes in behaviour (outcomes)
- is designed for use in complex, changing environments
- can be combined with other methods
- is very useful when working with media-professionals
Weaknesses:
- takes time and commitment
Limitations:
- does not have its first focus on accountability
- often needs to be combined with Logframe Analysis to meet the donor's demands
- in many cases only elements of the method are used as part of planning activities
Short description:
Outcome Mapping is an integrated method of planning, monitoring and evaluation which takes complexity of developmental problems into account. This method provides for a participatory process that builds a culture of organisational learning and evaluative thinking into a project. It also enables a project team to react quickly to changing situations.
The main focus of Outcome Mapping is to measure changes in the behaviour of people and organisations with whom a development initiative works with most closely: behavioural change that can be observed through a monitoring and evaluation process. These measured “outcomes” of the project’s partners are considered to be a guiding “map” in the complex, changing and at least partially unknown territory the project team chooses to be active in.
Outcome Mapping was first established by a group of Canadian evaluation experts working for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) who developed this framework in opposition to the commonly used Log Frame Analysis (LFA) approach. While LFA is an intervention-focused approach, Outcome Mapping is designed to be partner-focused. However it is possible to combine both approaches.
Used to:
The method is applied in a large variety of projects in development. But it is especially used in capacity-building, organisational development, community projects, and, in general, to facilitate a creative planning and flexible monitoring process.
Outcome Mapping relies on very clear language. It avoids unnecessary bureaucracy and allows for flexible and creative adjustments. Therefore, it is very well received by journalists and other media-experts.
How to put into practice:
It is best to use Outcome Mapping starting with the planning phase of a programme, but it can also be applied later. It is useful to have a person in charge of facilitating and leading the whole process, either an external consultant or a team-member who would need some M&E experience and a 4-day-course in Outcome Mapping.
As a first step in putting Outcome Mapping into practice, a "vision statement" is developed through a participatory process involving the people the project team works with, the so-called “boundary partners”. In a following step a list of future outcomes (again, behavioural changes) is put together and later used as a basis for monitoring and evaluation. These guiding outcomes (so called “progress markers”) are the building blocks of a flexible project theory which gives orientation to all the people involved. With the so-called "strategy-maps"-tool strategies are developed in order to help the partners achieve their outcomes.
Examples:
In media development the Outcome Mapping framework was for the first time used in SjCOOP - a mentoring-project for Journalists in Africa and the Middle East run by the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ):
http://www.outcomemapping.ca/resource/resource.php?id=156
Final report of SjCOOP:
http://www.wfsj.org/projects/page.php?id=55
Online resources:
Outcome Mapping: Building Learning and Reflection into Development Programs (2001):
http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-26266-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
Making Outcome Mapping Work: Innovations in Participatory Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (2009):
For further study:
Many basic resources can be found on the website of IDRC's evaluation department:
http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-26266-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
The "Outcome Mapping Learning Community" is a very active and creative community of M&E experts which assembles and discusses many resources on the method:
Author(s):
Jan Lublinski
Contributions from:
