bond.org.uk

The Bond Effectiveness Programme: developing a sector wide framework for assessing and demonstrating effectiveness

July 2011

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Issues to cover

•Overview of Bond

•Drivers of Bond’s work on effectiveness

•Overview of the Bond Effectiveness Programme (BEP)

• The Im-Prove it! Framework

• Key points to take away

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The membership body for UK international development organisations

• 1993: 61 members• 2010: 370 members

• Small NGOs – 43% of membership

• Medium NGOs – 34%• Large NGOs – 12%

• Bond aims to build a diverse, inclusive, informed and active UK NGO sector

• A key part of what Bond does is to strengthen the sector by facilitating learning and sharing, building skills and knowledge and creating common approaches

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Why a programme on effectiveness now? Drivers of BEP

1. Growing recognition that as a sector we need to improve the rigor of how we assess and demonstrate our effectiveness

2. Need to stop reinventing the wheel on issues of assessing effectiveness. We often develop approaches and tools in isolation that are similar but slightly different. Greater collaboration and sharing is more cost-effective

3. Shifts in the operating environment (political, donor, public, media) and the need to provide a coordinated response

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1. Developing agreement and supporting implementation of:

• Sector wide framework of indicators, data collection tools and assessment methods to improve the consistency of how NGOs measure, learn from and report results (Im-Prove it! Framework)

• Online effectiveness self-assessment and resource portal that enables benchmarking with peers, sign posts to existing tools, and supports improvements in effectiveness systems and capacities

2. Building knowledge and skills to support members in measuring and managing effectiveness through training, peer learning and support, piloting, and resource development (eg Value for Money)

3. Creating an enabling environment that encourages and supports organisations to deliver improvements in their effectiveness through engagement with donors, NGO leaders and promoting greater transparency about performance

…a process of supporting UK NGOs in improving how they assess, learn from and demonstrate their contribution to social development; this involves:

The Bond Effectiveness Programme (BEP)

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Im-Prove it! Framework: what is it?

• A framework grounded in the distinctive contributions that NGOs make to international development that will support organizations to assess, learn from and report their effectiveness more confidently and consistently

• The framework will support organizations, depending on their ‘way(s) of working’ and ‘thematic areas’ of work, in identifying:

• What to assess – what is considered good evidence of change?

• How to assess – what are the best methods for collecting and interrogating this

evidence?

• What to report – what evidence should be reported to what stakeholders?

• The framework will provide the sector with:

• A platform for systematic learning and sharing on assessing effectiveness

• A common framework that individual organisations can draw on and adapt to

their own context

Influencing decis

ion

makers

Delivery of essential

goods & services to the

poor

Education

Governance &

accountability M

arke

ts &

Livel

ihoo

ds

Infrastructure

services

Heal

th &

HI

V/AI

DS

Environmental

sustainability

Rights & empowerment

Care and

Protection

Citizen mobilisation

and engagement Organisational

Capacity development

Enterprise developm

ent Bui

ldin

g Pu

blic

su

ppor

t for

de

velo

pmen

t Voice

InclusionTransparency

LearningTriangulation

The Im-Prove it! Framework

Education

Governance &

accountability M

arke

ts &

Livel

ihoo

ds

Infrastructure

services

Environmental

sustainability

Rights & empowerment

Care and

Protection

Thematic areas: “The long term changes in the lives of poor and marginalised people that NGOs seek to contribute to”

Heal

th &

HI

V/AI

DS

Influencing decis

ion

makers

Delivery of essential

goods & services to the

poor

Education

Governance &

accountability M

arke

ts &

Livel

ihoo

ds

Infrastructure

services

Environmental

sustainability

Rights & empowerment

Care and

Protection

Citizen mobilisation

and engagement Organisational

Capacity development

Enterprise developm

ent Bui

ldin

g pu

blic

su

ppor

t for

de

velo

pmen

t

Ways of working: “the distinctive strategies adopted by NGOs to contribute to change”

Thematic areas: “The long term changes in the lives of poor and marginalised people that NGOs seek to contribute to”

Heal

th &

HI

V/AI

DS

Significant changes in people’s lives

Policy change achieved & implemented

Way of working: Influencing decision makers

NNGO

Changed attitudes, behaviours & actions of

decision makers

Improved public awareness & understanding

Media attention generated

Mobilised supporter base

Strong alliances between actors created

Build alliances & coalitions on specific

issue

Media outreach on specific issue

Public awareness raising on specific

issue

Mobilising public / supporters on specific issue

lobbying and advocacy of decision

makers

More control

More att

ributable to NG

OLess controlLess att

ributable to NG

O

Engage & link with southern partners

on specific issue

Research & develop policy on specific

issue

Education Health & HIV/AIDS

Markets & Livelihoods

Rights & empowerment

Care & Protection

Infrastructure services

Private sector

Multilateral & regional

orgs

Bilateral donors

Governance & accountability

Environmental sustainability

Thematic areas

Way of working

Influencing decis

ion

makers

Delivery of essential

goods & services to the

poor

Education

Governance &

accountability M

arke

ts &

Livel

ihoo

ds

Infrastructure

services

Environmental

sustainability

Rights & empowerment

Care and

Protection

Citizen mobilisation

and engagement Organisational

Capacity development

Enterprise developm

ent Bui

ldin

g pu

blic

su

ppor

t for

de

velo

pmen

t Voice Inclusion

TransparencyLearning

Triangulation

Core principles for assessing effectiveness:“The principles that need to be reflected in any assessment of effectiveness to ensure it supports the development process, generates data that is sufficiently robust, and drives ongoing improvement”

Ways of working: “the distinctive strategies adopted by NGOs to contribute to change”

Thematic areas: “The long term changes in the lives of poor and marginalised people that NGOs seek to contribute to”

Heal

th &

HI

V/AI

DS

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1. The Im-Prove it! Framework is not about creating a single definitive way of assessing effectiveness –it’s about, where possible, encouraging greater harmonisation and consistency in the sector

• identifying the similarities in what we do rather than the differences

2. The Framework is about providing a collective resource that UK NGOs can draw on when developing their own context specific M&E frameworks

3. The Framework is about providing organisations with the tools to be able to tell a more robust story of how they are contributing to change

4. The Framework is a work in progress and even when it is ‘complete’ will continue to evolve

Key points to take away