What You Need to Know About Baselines and Targets

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What You Need to Know About Baselines and Targets

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Presentation Outline

• Defining Baseline data
• Tips in Collecting Baseline data
• Uses of baseline data
• Performance Targets
• Why the emphasis on targets?
• Tips in Performance target setting

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Defining Baseline Data

• A baseline is a quantifiable point from which to
  begin an effort and from which change can be
  measured and documented.
• Performance baselines reflect, as closely as
  possible, the value of each performance indicator
  at the start of USAID-supported activities that
  contribute to the achievement of the relevant
  strategic element.
• The baseline of a milestone indicator describes
  the status at the start of the intervention. (See
  ADS 203.3.6)

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Important Notes about Baseline Data

• Where baseline information is inadequate, many
  IPs initiate a data collection effort
• The first set of data collected on these
  indicators becomes, in effect, the formal
  baseline against which targets are set and future
  progress is assessed.

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Uses of Baseline data

• It is used to assess progress towards the
  achievement of goals and
• It is used to provide a comparison for assessing
  program impact

Important Note Without an accurate baseline,
variances may not be detected addressed with
corrective action plans
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Tip 1 Collecting Baseline data

• Keep it focused- Ensure
• that the right dataand only
• the right datais collected,
• that repetitions are avoided
• Keep it meaningful.-Use correct measures to
  collect meaning and useful data

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Tip 2

• Keep it consistent- Data must be collected
  routinely and data collection should be based on
  a set of agreed-upon definitions.
• These definitions need to be universally
  understood by employees, managers, partners,
  suppliers, and even clients/beneficiaries

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Without a yardstick, there is no
measurementwithout measurement, there is no
control. Anonymous
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Performance Targets

• Performance targets are
• quantifiable estimates or
• expected results to be
• achieved within a given
• time frame 
• It is against these targets that performance
  improvement will be measured. 

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Types of Performance Targets

• Quantitative
• - Numerical in nature
• - They identify how much of a change is
  expected from year to year.
• - Depicts an increase or decrease.
• (TIP Series Number 8)

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Types of Performance Targets

• Qualitative
• - Descriptive in nature
• - Qualitative information can be transformed
  into quantitative scales against which targets
  can be set
• (TIP Series Number 8)

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Performance targets answer.

• Absolute level of achievement
• Example 7000 new jobs created
• Change in level of achievement
• Example Yields Per hectare increased by 5 from
  1996- 2002

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Importance of setting targets

• It is a standard requirement for USG funded
  projects
• Provide justification for funding programs
• Serve as guideposts for judging progress towards
  long term goals

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Importance of targets

• Provides the road map for performance
  improvement.
• Used to learn and make changes thereby benefiting
  project or program
• Measures the efficiency and effectiveness of
  improvements to project or program outcomes or
  outputs.

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TIP 1 Setting Performance Targets

• Review baselines and trends
• Current and/or historical performance
• data in the relevant areas. This
• information must be considered
• in the context of the factors that contributed
  to the trends and whether or not those factors
  will still be relevant in the future.

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TIP 2

• Know customer/beneficiaries expectations of
  progress
• While targets should be set on an objective
  basis of what can be accomplished given certain
• conditions and resources, it is useful to get
  input
• from customers regarding what they want, need

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TIP 3

• Use a collaborative approach by involving the
  relevant stakeholders
• Experience, perspective, and expertise should be
  leveraged at all levels of the organizationin
  particular from service providers who have
  critical insight into what is truly possible to
  achieve.  This type of collaborative approach
  improves the chance that the relevant individuals
  will take ownership and be willing to be held
  accountable for progress.

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TIP 4

• Seek experts opinion and research literature
• - Experts should be knowledgeable about the
  program area as well as about local conditions.
• - Similarly, a review of development
  literature, especially research and evaluation
  findings, may help in choosing realistic
  targets.

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TIP 5

• Check Similar Program Accomplishments elsewhere
• Checking progress of other IPs or other
  development agencies and partners achievements
  with similar programs and using this information
  to set ambitious but achievable targets is known
  as bench-marking.

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TIP 6

• Targets should be realistic Achievable
• Targets must be challenging, in that they
  stretch the organization to improve but are
  realistic enough to be attained. 

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TIP 7

• Finally
• Set annual performance targets.
• This approach is similar to the preceding,
  except it is based on judgments about what can be
  achieved each year, instead of starting with a
  final performance level and working backwards.

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Thank YOU