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Measuring impact

Angeline Akai, a teacher who is blind, with a child in the classroom
Angeline Akai, a teacher who is blind, with a child in the classroom © Georgina Cranston / Sightsavers 

Sightsavers has commissioned a report to inform the way in which we measure the impact our work is having on the ground, in the countries we work in.

This report, which has been amended to be relevant for a wider NGO audience, is based on the authors’ many years of experience, reading of key documents and 11 in-depth qualitative interviews with key informants.

The report presents the key debates and issues around impact assessment and performance measurement for UK development NGOs. Specifically it discusses what other NGOs, donors and experts in the field think the situation actually is.

Key findings

One of the findings is that there are no easy answers to impact assessment! The subject itself is still of great interest to both donors and governments, but is complex and difficult. These complexities are in part due to the existence of many different definitions of ‘impact’ in the NGO sector.

Overall the report discourages assessing the impact of an organisation as a whole. There was a general consensus from the interviewees, and the authors' experience, that it is better to look at the impact of a specific intervention or programme and possibly to compare relative impacts of different interventions or approaches.

In addition to this, attempts to collate these impacts and present an overall organisational impact were not only very difficult, but also complex and unlikely to be accurate.

You can download a copy of the report here:


 

Statistics

Working with partners last year, we helped to:

  • Treat over 23.2 million people for potentially blinding conditions
  • Restore the sight of 244,909 people

Related Information

  • It costs just £15 for a universal Braille kit to help visually impaired children study