What is the difference between evaluation and impact assessment?
Evaluation and impact assessment are often used interchangeably, but they aren’t the same. What matters most is that you think about the impact you want to create, as early as possible, and do something to make that happen.
Evaluation = How you can improve your activities
Evaluation is a broad term. You can evaluate almost anything, and you can think about it in (at least) two ways.
- Evaluating your work in order to improve the process of how you deliver your activities, in order to improve the outcomes for your beneficiaries; and,
- Evaluating your work to improve the outcomes of your work for your beneficiaries.
You can conduct an evaluation without explicitly measuring if a change has occurred for your stakeholders.
Impact assessment = How you can measure if a change has taken place
Impact is measured based on an assessment of whether your activities led to a (series of) change(s). Often, and for true impact assessment, you should measure a situation beforehand and after the intervention or activity has taken place. In some contexts, this isn’t possible. For example, if you try to understand your impact at the end of a project or where you can’t collect data at the beginning.
Sometimes, the type of change that occurs might be unexpected and you can only see evidence of this at the end. In theory, you can conduct an impact assessment without assessing how your activities could be improved.
Want to learn more about measuring impact? Start our free online self-study module Measuring impact.
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Nicole McNeilly is onderzoeker, evaluatiedeskundige en bemiddelaar. Ze werkt als Impact Adviseur voor Europeana en als freelance consultant (NM Research and Consultancy) in de culturele en creatieve sector.