Indicator Development

LERNZIELE

The participants: - Should understand the main tasks and functions of indicators. - Know different forms of indicators and their requirements. - Know about the key elements of indicators and indicator definitions. - Be able to develop indicators in a participative and appropriate way. - Be able to decide about the quality of different indicator proposals. - Be able to use indicators for different purposes.

INHALTE

Indicators determine our lives – not only as evaluators or commissioners of evaluations. We are using clocks indicating time, signal lamps indicating standby functions, bioindicators indicating environmental conditions, litmus paper indicating the degree of acidity, national products indicating economic power, and so on. In general, indicators are used for preparing decisions in a very broad variety of situations – and we are using indicators because we are not able (at least in the situation) to measure the object directly. A good indicator will help make the right decisions on behalf of its evidence. As evaluators, we need indicators to assess the quality of the evaluand, particularly its direct effects or indirect impacts. The main target of this workshop is to introduce into the steps for developing indicators and to emphasize the main elements that must be respected.

KOMPETENZBEREICHE

Methodenkompetenzen / Methodische Kenntnisse

DURCHFÜHRENDE PERSON/EN BZW. INSTITUTION/EN (INKL. KURZER VORSTELLUNG)

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Meyer, Professor for Sociology at Saarland University in Saarbrücken and Adjunct Professor at Uganda Technology and Management University, Kampala.

UMFANG (DAUER)

Date: September 9-13, 2024. Plenary sessions: 2:00 – 5:00pm CEST.

ZIELGRUPPE(N)

The workshop is appropriate for all people who are working with indicators. This includes: - Evaluators and commissioners who use indicators for assessments. - Practitioners and project managers who use indicators for monitoring. - Policymakers and parliamentarians who use indicators for decisions.

SONSTIGE ANGABEN

Indicators are part of our everyday work-life, and a lot of decisions are made on results of indicators, e.g. what was it like before we started our program and how did it develop until now, what can be influenced by what measures, what works and what not, what will probably last and how risky are our activities. Indicators are used because they are available, they are reducing the complexity of social facts and therefore they are easy understandable and giving us clear advises for conclusions. Therefore, we are depending on the quality of indicators sometimes without even recognizing the risks we are facing by using poor indicators, merely preferred because they are cheap and easy to access. This workshop will give you an overview of how to “live” with indicators and its limitations – there are no “perfect” indicators. Furthermore, it will help you optimizing your indicators and indicator systems by giving you some advice on indicator development.

TEILNAHMEVORAUSSETZUNGEN

This is a workshop on beginners’ level. No previous knowledge about indicators or indicator development are necessary. There is also no linkage between the workshop and specific topics, so no advanced knowledge in any field of development cooperation is needed. Some experiences in measurement are for sure helpful, but also not a requirement for this course. There are no prerequisites for starting this course, but before the face-to-face week the participants should have worked through the material on the internet platform carefully and completely.