To whom are these guidelines addressed?
These guidelines are a practical tool for development agencies that are looking to introduce an outcome and impact assessment system.
What is the utility of these guidelines?
They offer users a quick and simple introduction to the complex subject of outcome and impact assessment. This resource is structured on a modular basis. In it, existing knowledge, tried-and-tested methods and practical examples are clearly arranged and vividly presented. It allows organisations to develop and implement – in a few steps and in line with their practice – a system that is adapted to the circumstances.
Why were these guidelines drawn up?
The Zewo Foundation would like to promote widespread adoption of systematic impact assessment in practice and encourage aid agencies to develop and implement tailor-made outcome and impact assessment systems.
Who developed these guidelines?
These guidelines are based on the insights provided by the inventory and needs analysis of impact assessment for Swiss NGOs, which the Zewo Foundation conducted for 220 aid agencies in partnership with Interface Policy Studies, Research and Consulting. Zewo and Interface continued their partnership to develop these guidelines. A working group made up of experts from development circles and from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) collaborated with us and had a significant influence on the production of this tool. We would like to thank the members of the working group – Bernard Du Pasquier (Heks), Diether Grünenfelder (EcoSolidar), Maya Natarajan (Iamaneh Switzerland), Constanze Bunzemeier (Enfants du Monde), Peter Schmidt (Helvetas) and Gerhard Siegfried (SDC) very warmly for their committed work and their valuable contributions. We would also like to thank the Seval Development Cooperation working group, led by Ruedi Felber (ETH Nadel), for their constructive feedback during consultation. Our thanks goes out to the expert support team of Herbert Ammann (SGG), Ernst Buschor (Jacobs Foundation), Christian Varga (Caritas Switzerland), Michael Meyer (University of Vienna) and Mark Zumbühl (Pro Infirmis) for their scientific monitoring of the project.