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Good Practice Toolkit

Commitment 4.3:
We invest in quality assessment of our work.

Compliance Indicators

Compliance with the Commitments will be assessed against the following Compliance Indicators. All of the applicable Compliance Indicators must be met by every ACFID Member to be considered compliant with the Code. Each of the Compliance Indicators has one or more compliance Verifiers. Verifiers are the description of evidence that is required to substantiate compliance with each Compliance Indicator. Guidance is also provided.

4.3.1 Members assess the quality of their strategies, designs and plans.

Strategies, designs and plans are critically assessed against a set of criteria or equivalent, including whether initiatives are consistent with the member’s charitable purpose and not-for-profit status. 

Guidance

Using a documented appraisal/selection process with clear criteria or principles increases the shared understanding amongst staff and partners of the range of expectations your organisation may have in regards to the nature and quality of initiatives and it enhances transparency, accountability and rigour. The process could be undertaken by staff or a committee with external specialists. You can download an example of an initiative appraisal/selection tool in the Resources Section below.

Download and read ACFID’s PMEL Guidance tool from the resources section below for further guidance on developing planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning frameworks and tools that meet this requirement.

4.3.2 Members monitor their development and humanitarian initiatives.

  • Policy, statement or guidance document committing the member to monitoring their development and humanitarian initiatives. 
  • Monitoring framework, tools, templates or approaches that consistently show evidence of monitoring in practice. 

Guidance

Your policy, statement or guidance document could include: an outline of the principles underpinning your organisation’s approaches to monitoring, evaluation and learning; and an outline of the procedures or practices required to achieve this.

Your approaches could include: scheduled reporting processes with associated report templates or guidance to enable consistency and rigour; scheduled field visits with associated report templates; guidance on evaluation terms of reference and methodologies to enable consistent approaches, quality and rigour; and scheduled and resourced events to share learnings amongst staff and partners.

Your monitoring framework, tools and templates could include: an articulation of expected outputs and outcomes, associated methods for measuring this (indicators, targets or equivalent), how this information will be collected and by whom and these processes should be adequately resourced with time, people and funds.

Download and read ACFID’s PMEL Guidance tool from the resources section below for further guidance on developing planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning frameworks and tools that meet this requirement.

4.3.3 Members evaluate their development and humanitarian initiatives.

  • Policy, statement or guidance document committing the member to evaluation of the effectiveness of their development and humanitarian initiatives. 
  • Evaluation framework, tools, templates or approaches that consistently show evidence of evaluation in practice.

Guidance

Your policy, statement or guidance document could include: an outline of the principles underpinning your organisation’s approaches to monitoring, evaluation, and learning; and an outline of the procedures or practices required to achieve this. Some member organisations choose to have a standalone evaluation policy to guide their evaluation exercises.

Where projects run for a shorter time, the evaluation could be undertaken at the completion of the activity. Where the project runs beyond a period of three to five years, further evaluation could be undertaken on a regular basis.

It is recognised that evaluations will be commensurate with the scope and financial commitment of a particular activity and may be undertaken through other assessment initiatives such as reviews, thematic evaluations, meta evaluation, and so on. Beyond this, evaluations can draw from a range of approaches and methodologies. They can be conducted internally or externally as appropriate. They can be undertaken formatively or summatively.

Download and read ACFID’s PMEL Guidance tool from the resources section below for further guidance on developing planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning frameworks and tools that meet this requirement.

 

Good Practice Indicators

The following Good Practice Indicators describe a higher standard of practice than that set out in the Compliance Indicators. While Members do not need to meet the Good Practice Indicators to be considered compliant with the Code, they will self-assess against these indicators once every three years. This provides a clear pathway for Members to strengthen and improve practice over time.

  • Multi stakeholder learning events are hosted and/or engaged with (this may include conferences, workshops, presentations, etc).
  • A yearly schedule of reflection and learning events is in place.
  • Mechanisms are in place to ensure findings are shared and feedback is sought from primary stakeholders in accessible ways.

Good Practice Guidance

Here are some practical suggestions for your organisation to further deepen and improve practice over time.

Organisational

  • Develop operational plans including activity schedules, monitoring and evaluation plans, budgets and risk management plans to guide the implementation of the development activity. These documents ensure shared understanding between you and your partners and provide an objective basis to monitor, measure and report progress.
  • Focus on the impact or long term outcome of an activity – this will encourage the analysis and articulation of how the changes will likely occur and who the main actors or change agents are in this process.
  • Undertake this analysis and planning with the full participation of partners, community members and other important stakeholders
  • Jointly define with your partners and other stakeholders what success or progress will look like and how it will be assessed and measured. This could involve defining indicators and targets or could be done in a more open-ended manner.
  • Establish monitoring and evaluation systems that regularly and systematically include the participation and leadership of partners, community members and other critical stakeholders
  • Use a range of data collection methods and tools, both qualitative and quantitative, for monitoring and evaluation processes
  • Present findings and seek feedback in an accessible and appropriate way to your stakeholders
  • Demonstrate a commitment to mutual accountability through sharing results, good practices and lessons learned with stakeholders
  • Make program review reports available throughout your organisation, to partners and other stakeholders and on your website.
  • Organise events or opportunities for stakeholders and staff to reflect on lessons learned and explicitly incorporate them into forward planning
  • Use data to inform decision-making, to adjust approaches where necessary and to continually improve performance.
  • Through your appraisal processes, link project funding and approval to organisational strategies, priorities and mission.
  • Plan and budget for your monitoring and evaluation at the project design stage.
  • Use the finding of evaluations to inform future programming and provide learning within the organisation as well as feedback and accountability to implementing partners or projects.
  • Appoint staff or use consultants with expertise in monitoring and evaluation methods.

ACFID Resources

A guide to support planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning

This resource is WaterAid Australia's guide to adaptive programming principles for planning, monitoring, and managing initiatives in complex, evolving environments. It outlines how to design learning-oriented initiatives, monitor progress for both accountability and learning purposes, and manage in response to change. It is suitable for organisations working in complex situations and contexts.

Developing an Effectiveness Framework- A toolkit for small and medium sized NGOs

This resource is about developing effectiveness frameworks for small and medium-sized Australian NGOs. It provides guiding principles and practical assistance for creating these frameworks at both program and organisational levels. It is suitable for Australian smal-to-medium NGOs seeking to enhance their effectiveness and accountability through structured frameworks.

Empathy, power and advocacy: how photovoice is transforming EWB’s qualitative data collection

This resource introduces the use of 'photovoice' as a qualitative participatory evaluation method. This method has been incorporated into Engineers Without Borders Australia's (EWBA) monitoring and evaluation toolkit. It is suitable for organisations interested in enhancing qualitative data collection approaches, particularly in community-based projects. This resource also supports QP1, QP2 and QP5 in locally-led development approaches.

Enhancing Research Impact in International Development: A Practical Guide for Practitioners and Researchers

This resource aims to guide Australian-based practitioners and researchers in the development sector to optimise the impact of their projects by developing initiatives aligned with an organisation's charitable purpose and not-for-profit status. It is suitable for organisations looking for practical tools and strategies assess their initiatives. It is relevant to the Code to amplify the impact of their programming, charitable purpose and not-for-profit status.

Measuring Social Change: Principles to Guide the Assessment of Human Rights-Based Approaches to Development

This resource, developed by ACFID, is about developing effective models and practices for practitioners. It is suitable for organisations seeking to optimise and evidence their operational strategies, designs, and plans. This is relevant to the Code by ensuring that initiatives align with their charitable purposes and not-for-profit status. This is essential for organisations aiming to enhance their impact while staying aligned with their missions.

Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Guidance Note

This resource is about the core principles of planning, monitoring, evaluation, and learning (PMEL). It is suitable for all organisations seeking to strengthen their PMEL practices. It is relevant to the Code in supporting members to develop policies, guidance documents, and approaches in monitoring their initiatives consistently. The resource also advocates for transparency by publishing evaluation results on websites, and sharing them with partners and stakeholders.
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Other Resources

Development Evaluation Policy

This resource is the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's (DFAT) policy and guide to robust evaluations for advancing Australia's international development program. It is suitable for organisations seeking to align their evaluation practices with DFAT. This is relevant to the Code because effective decision-making ensure program effectiveness and accountability.

Handbook on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for Development Results

This resource is a handbook focusing on the UNDP's framework for monitoring, and evaluation practices. This framework aligns with the UNDP evaluation policy, and the UNEG ‘Standards for Evaluation in the UN System'. It is suitable for organisations seeking to align their practices with global standards. This is relevant to the Code because members must demonstrate consistent evidence of monitoring in practice.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning: our Collective Conscience

In this blog, Katie Chalk, from World Vision Australia and co-chair of ACFID’s MEL Community of Practice, reflects on the powerful role that effective monitoring, evaluation and learning can have in challenging the status quo and how members are working together to do this better.

Principles of Accountability

This resource is about enhancing accountability to stakeholders through the Global Accountability Project Framework. It is suitable for organisations wanting to improve their accountability practices. This is relevant to the Code in ensuring that programs, activities, and initiatives are critically assessed against specific criteria aligned a members' charitable purpose(s).

Unplugged: Participatory Action Research in Practice

This resource is a recorded webinar featuring Lana Woolf from Community Powered Responses on developing an community-led evaluation process using an approach termed Participatory Action Research (PAR). It features a Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) project with local communities in Eastern Indonesia. This is suitable for all organisations that value participatory approaches to monitoring and evaluation. This relevant to the Code in demonstrating evaluation in practice, and intersects ...

Unplugged: Using story as a participatory research & community development method

This resource is a webinar recording of Lana Woolf from Community Powered Responses on the use of storytelling as both an approach to community development and participatory evaluation in practice. It is suitable for organisations interested in innovative M&E methods and co-creation approaches. It also supports QP1, QP2 and QP5 by highlighting the importance of participatory methods in fostering inclusive practices

Video – Spotlight on the Code: Australian Himalayan Foundation

As part of Spotlight on Quality Principle 4, we speak with Tshering Lama O’Gorman, previous Head of Programs at Australian Himalayan Foundation about how they work closely with local partners and communities when designing, monitoring and evaluating programs. “At a distance one makes all these predictions and thinks that it should be going this way but actually only the local people know what’s happening…Every local area has its own complexities.”
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