1. Think Tank Initiative
Policy Engagement and Communications
Workshop
Welcome!
April 28-30, 2014

2. Think Tank Initiative
Policy Engagement and
Communications Workshop
Monitoring and Evaluation Strategies
April 28, 2014
Shubha Jayaram and David Olson

3. M&E: The results chain
3 | R4D.org
Inputs
• The things needed for implementation, e.g. money or staff
Activities
• The actions undertaken, e.g. hosting a seminar or meeting
Outputs
• Quantifiable, short term results, e.g. number of people attending a seminar or meeting, policy
briefs, tweets, or Facebook followers
Outcomes
• Medium term results, e.g. better informed policymakers
Impact
• Long term results, e.g. policy change
Measurement is often heavily skewed towards outputs and activities
as they are easier to measure!

4. Potential Metrics for PEC*
I. Exposure (many are outputs)
• Media mentions
• # and type of publications
• Citations
• Government citations or
references
• Ratings
II. Resources
• Quality, diversity and stability of
funding
• Reputation of researchers
• Influence (e.g. quality and
extent of networks)
III. Demand (many are outputs)
• # and quality of events
• Digital traffic
• Official access to policymakers
• # of publications sold /
downloaded
IV.Policy Impact
• Policy recommendations
adopted
• Testimonials and feedback
• Quality of work
Experts suggest 15 possible metrics
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* Adapted from Communications and Impact Metrics for Think Tanks, CIGI, 2013

5. Group activity (20 minutes)
 Each think tank to find one other organization to work with
 Each pair to discuss and share the following:
 What is your M&E strategy?
 What are the M&E tools that you use?
 What metrics are you adequately capturing and in what areas do you
face difficulties?
5 | R4D.org