International development organizations looking for funds to support their goals must be able to produce quantifiable results. Donors are constantly asking for impact and development projects must show a qualitative impact that donors can quantify, producing some outputs is not enough. For most organizations their current approach will not be able to meet these new demands, they need new skills and tools to meet the expectations from of donors and beneficiaries.

 

Donors demand quantitative performance, requiring that development projects are able to demonstrate the quality of their work. The numbers must be verifiable because the projects must not only predict their outcomes but also prove them. Results-based project management (RBPM) is a management approach where an organization ensures that all its processes, products, and services contribute to the achievement of the desired results. It depends on clearly defined accountability for results and requires systematic monitoring, self-assessment, and reporting on progress.

“A result is a change that can be described and measured, and it’s the consequence of a cause-effect relationship.”

RBPM provides a coherent framework for strategic planning and management by improving learning and accountability. It is also a broad management strategy aimed at achieving important changes in the way projects operate, with improving performance and achieving results as the main focus. Organizations can achieve this by defining realistic targets, monitoring and evaluating progress towards the achievement of expected results, integrating lessons learned into management decisions, and reporting on performance.

Development projects should use RBPM with partners to plan, implement, monitor, and measure the changes, rather than focusing on activities conducted. Using RBPM, the project and its partners can ensure that the resources contribute to the delivery of quality outputs, and result in the expected outcomes and impact. Active participation of key stakeholders is at the hearth of RBPM; participation allows the opportunities to get knowledge from stakeholders to identify and validate critical assumptions about the project design, its environment, and risk assessments; it ensures the project has clearly defined accountabilities and is transparent in its performance monitoring and reporting.

 

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