New Report Highlights Global Trends in Measurement and Evaluation

Technology is revolutionising traditional measurement and evaluation practice, a new report has found.

The Global Innovations in Measurement and Evaluation report from the charity think tank NPC outlined eight global trends in measurement and evaluation which it said had opened up new opportunities for the social sector.

The report highlighted how the use of technology allowed charities to gather different types of data on bigger scales, and how increased data availability and processing power enabled organisations to gain new insights.

Sponsored by Bates Wells Braithwaite, the Department for International Development (DfID), the NSPCC, Oxfam GB and Save the Children, the report drew on interviews from 12 experts and an advisory group.

NPC chief executive Dan Corry said the findings of the report would “expand the measurement and evaluation toolkit” and allow for “increased effectiveness and understanding of social interventions”.

“We see rapid advances in the tools available, many of them technology enabled. As datasets multiply and evidence bases are built, we can share, manage and use data in new ways,” Corry said.

“Measurement can be done in real-time, helping us to steer our ship.”

The eight trends highlighted include user-centric evaluation, shared measurement and evaluation, theory-based evaluation, impact management, data linkage, big data, remote sensing and data visualisation.

The report also highlighted case studies from charities across the world leading in innovation.

An Australian charity was highlighted for excellence in shared measurement and evaluation in one of the eight case studies.

“The Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC) used shared measurement tools, benchmarking and progress reports to understand and improve outcomes for palliative care patients, as well as to assess the performance of the sector at a national level to inform research,” the report said.

“Adopting an effective shared measurement approach and providing well-designed support to participating organisations, the PCOC program has demonstrated improvement across the sector on all the nationally agreed benchmarks.”

Oxfam GB head of program quality Claire Hutchings said the report, which highlighted examples of charities leading the way in global trends, would inform better service delivery and public policy decisions.

“Good measurement and evaluation is key to good programme design,” Hutchings said.

“We hope the report will encourage dialogue on how evaluation is changing and evolving, and help stimulate ideas and further innovation.”

The NPC report can be assessed here.