®
Applying outcome thinking
to your program
A discussion guide
Date | Other Information, if necessary
Recap of session #1
!! Basic terms and concepts
•! inputs •! outcomes
•! activities •! indicators
•! outputs •! results/end goal
!! Fundamental tools
•! Theory of Change and an Outcomes Map
•! Logic Model
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Confirming expectations
!! What do you want to get from this
work?
!! What value will this work have?
!! What do you hope will come from
this effort?
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Keep in mind…
!! This work can:
•! Help you hone your program focus & program strategy
•! Help you look for and identify changes in your clients
•! Uncover where you may not be succeeding
•! Get you thinking about program design & intended results
!! It cannot (by itself) prove that your program is the cause of
change in your clients or community.
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Steps we will follow
!! Identify the End Goal (result) that your organization is working
towards
!! Build your Theory of Change
Activities that lead to End goal /
Short-term outcomes
desired result
Intermediate outcomes
!! Complete your Logic Model
Outcome
Inputs Outputs
indicators
!! Make a plan for collecting & using data
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Define your end goal/result
!! Ultimately, how would you describe the community goal that your
program seeks to achieve?
!! Examples
•! Our community’s children will grow up free of the fear of violence.
•! All families and individuals in our community will be economically
self-sufficient.
•! Our community’s children will reach their full potential.
Applying outcome thinking to your program
The end goal or result…
!! Should be the ultimate result of your (and others’) efforts – what
you strive to achieve in your community.
!! Is generally greater than what your program
alone can achieve.
!! Can best be identified by pressing the question, So that…?” –
until you reach an end point.
!! Ask yourselves:
•! What change do we hope to see in the community?
•! What is our work contributing to as an end goal for our community?
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Building your Theory of Change
!! Reflects your assumptions about how your activities will ultimately
contribute to the change (community results) you are working
towards
!! Links strategies to intended results by articulating your
assumptions
!! Explains how and why the desired change is expected to come
about
!! Is conveyed in an Outcome Map
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Outcome map – example
Program
activities
Short-term
program
outcomes
Intermediate
outcomes
Others possible…
End goal / Our community s children
community result reach their full potential
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Completed Outcome Map
Program Small group Mentoring Enrichment
activities tutoring program & recreation
Short-term Students school Students have Students
performance ambitions for confidence and
program further education self-esteem
outcomes improves & career improve
Intermediate Students opportunities Students peer cohort
outcomes for further education establishes a norm of
Others possible… expand high achievement
End goal / Our community s children
community result reach their full potential
Applying outcome thinking to your program
First, identify your clients
!! Clients are those people whom your organization works with and
seeks to impact. They are the people in whom you are hoping to
see some change as a result of your program.
!! Ask yourselves:
•! Who are our clients?
•! Who do we work with and focus on?
•! How would we describe them?
•! What needs or issues are we trying to address?
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Second, identify your activities
!! Activities are the major components of your program, or strategies
for achieving your end goal.
!! Ask yourselves:
•! What are we doing for the clients we have identified?
•! How do we serve them?
•! What are the categories of activities that capture the major elements of
our program?
!! These are the activities that are entered into the ovals at the top of
the Outcome Map.
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Outcome Map – In progress
Program Small group Mentoring Enrichment
activities tutoring program & recreation
Short-term
program
outcomes
Intermediate
outcomes
Others possible…
End goal / Our community s children
community result reach their full potential
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Third, identify short-term outcomes
!! They are immediate changes in your participants,
or your community’s conditions, that you expect to result from
your program activities.
•! Changes in knowledge, attitude, behavior, skills, or condition.
!! Ask yourselves:
•! What would success look like for a client?
•! What change/difference do we expect in our clients’ lives?
•! How would their circumstances, knowledge, or behavior change if we
were to be successful?
!! These are entered in the maps first row of boxes.
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Examples of short-term outcomes
!! Adolescents will know specific steps they can take to prevent
HIV.
!! Students will show improvement in their reading skills.
!! Immigrants will improve their English speaking and
comprehension skills.
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Outcome Map – In progress
Program Small group Mentoring Enrichment
activities tutoring program & recreation
Short-term Students school Students have Students
performance ambitions for confidence and
program further education self-esteem
outcomes improves & career improve
Intermediate
outcomes
Others possible…
End goal / Our community s children
community result reach their full potential
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Fourth, identify intermediate outcomes
!! These are next-level changes in your participants, in their families,
or in the community, that follow from the immediate, short-term
outcomes.
!! Ask yourselves:
•! If we achieve ________ short-term outcome, then what do we assume
will result from that?
•! We seek to achieve the short-term outcome so that what will happen?
•! What do we assume will result from success in our short-term client
outcomes?
!! These are entered in the maps next level of boxes.
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Examples of intermediate outcomes
!! Adolescents will know specific steps they can take to prevent
HIV – so that they will use prevention methods whenever they are
at risk of infection.
!! Students will show improvement in their reading skills – so that
they can improve their overall school performance.
!! Immigrants will improve their English speaking and
comprehension skills – so that they will be qualified for better-
paying jobs.
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Completed Outcome Map
Program Small group Mentoring Enrichment
activities tutoring program & recreation
Short-term Students school Students have Students
performance ambitions for confidence and
program further education self-esteem
outcomes improves & career improve
Intermediate Students opportunities Students peer cohort
outcomes for further education establishes a norm of
Others possible… expand high achievement
End goal / Our community s children
community result reach their full potential
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Completing your Logic Model
!! Articulates the elements of your program – from inputs through to
results – and the relationships among them
!! Extends the Theory of Change to account for:
•! Inputs
•! Outputs
•! Indicators
!! Becomes the basis for identifying data to collect to determine
program outcomes
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Logic model format
Inputs Activities Outputs Outcomes Indicators Result
(resources)
Coordinator After-school 28 students in Students school Report cards show Participants:
programs: twice-weekly peer performance half- to full-grade !! Have dreams of
Two stipended
tutors !! Tutoring & small-group improves improvement in academic and
tutoring sessions Students have core subjects career
Part-yime !! Enrichment for an 8-week
counselor program: culture, ambitions for Test scores achievement
period, 4 times per further education increase by 10
Sports/activities arts, year !! Pursue
environment & career percent academic and
specialist Six half-day
!! Sports & Students Students identify community
Study & sports cultural confidence and 10-15-year achievement
facilities recreation enrichment trips
program self-esteem aspirations !! Perform well in
with 28 students improve
Innovative Teachers report higher education
materials !! Mentoring 4-team sports
program student behavior is and careers
leagues with 12- improved
game seasons
28 mentor
matches sustained
for 30 week min.
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Identifying inputs
!! Inputs are the resources needed to carry out your program.
!! These can include:
•! Program participants
(incl. description of clients) –! Materials
•! Staff & volunteers –! Facilities
•! Funding –! Training in methods
–! Training & development time
!! Ask yourselves:
•! Whom (What clients) are we best suited to serve?
•! What resources are needed to implement our program well?
Applying outcome thinking to your program
What are your outputs?
!! Outputs are the “products” of your work activities intended to lead
to the desired outcomes in clients.
!! They are units of service or counts of activities that your
organization provides.
!! Ask yourselves: How many people have received what kinds of
service from us? For example, how many:
•! Elderly received diabetes management brochures?
•! Youth attended our HIV prevention training?
•! Children were tutored last quarter?
Applying outcome thinking to your program
What are indicators of outcomes?
!! Indicators are observable and measurable evidence that your
outcomes are being achieved
!! They are specific and can be seen, heard or demonstrated
!! Ask yourselves:
•! What will allow the clients and us to know that any change has
occurred?
•! What data/information can be collected that captures or reflects the
change we believe has resulted from our program intervention?
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Identifying good indicators
!! Good indicators are difficult to develop.
!! The most obvious are not always:
•! Appropriate: They may measure the wrong things
•! Accurate: They may be subject to variations, error
•! Constructive: They may skew the program to yield
better indicators, not better outcomes
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Sample outcomes & indicators
Outcome Indicator
!! Participants stop !! # and % of program members who report they
smoking have quit smoking by program’s end.
!! # and % of program members who have not
relapsed one year later.
!! Teens know how to !! % of participants who can name four methods
protect themselves from for preventing the transmission of HIV at the
HIV conclusion of the workshop.
!! Youth resolve conflicts !! Reduced number of discipline referrals from
without resorting to the 7th & 8th grade classrooms.
violence
!! Reduction in # of students’ self-reported
incidents during prior 2 weeks.
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Assessing your indicators
!! Is it a measure of the outcome – not a predictor, cause or effect of
the outcome?
•! Ask yourself: How would you tell if the outcome was achieved?
!! Can it be seen, heard or read?
!! Can you reasonably and manageably collect data on the
indicator?
!! Is the indicator useful? Will it really help you understand if your
program is working?
•! Check with your stakeholders about whether your suggested indicators
are good evidence of change.
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Think about data collection
!! Data can come from many sources:
•! Surveys: by mail, in •! Observations & reports
person, on phone, as
part of an event •! Case records: including
progress against client plans
•! Interviews: in person
or on phone; one-on-one •! Physical/cognitive tests
or focus groups •! Official records: school, medical
!! Data collection must fit your organizations time, ability, budget in
order to be sustained
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Identifying useful data
!! What changes would your staff observe in clients? How can that
be measured?
!! What normal data must be collected and maintained – by your
program, the school, other services? – that might show change
over time?
!! What simple tests might you design that can show increases in
knowledge, skill?
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Data collection planning
Outcome Indicators Data source Data Frequency / Key players
collection time frame
method
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Guidelines for data collection
1. Engage staff or volunteers on whom you’ll depend:
•! They need to fully understand and support this effort
•! You need their familiarity with the clients and program
•! They can be valuable for testing any instruments
2. Rely on established sources of program design for pre-tested
instruments and guides whenever possible.
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Guidelines for data collection
3. Clarify and make data collection part of your program routine.
Specify:
•! When data should be collected: At what milestones?
•! With whom data should be collected: A sample or all participants?
•! Who will collect data – and how will they be trained, prepared,
supported?
•! To what extent must confidentiality be preserved, and how can you
provide for that?
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Guidelines for data collection
4. Develop a timeframe for testing, reviewing, adjusting and re-
testing – and acknowledge that this is part of the work.
5. Articulate now who will use the information and how – so that
use of the data for planning and program modification is built in.
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Steps: A plan to collect & use data
1.! Involve those who will be involved in data collection
2.! Choose or develop your data collection instruments
3.! Establish procedures to guide data collection
4.! Test run your processes; assess; adjust
5.! Commit to reviewing and analyzing the data – both to inform the
program and to adjust your logic model
Applying outcome thinking to your program
Key players?
!! What happens next?
!! Who is key?
!! What’s the check-in point to
assess progress, troubleshoot,
adjust plans?
Applying outcome thinking to your program
The payoff for your efforts
Information you collect will make a difference in…
!! Guiding program decisions and course corrections
!! Making your case to funders
!! Distinguishing your agency in the eyes of prospective staff, board,
volunteers & donors
!! Lending focus to your work
Applying outcome thinking to your program
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