Clusters Indicators, targets and monitoring

Indicators and targets

Cluster Objectives and Cluster Activities both need defined targets. A target is expressed by an indicator, and an expected value. An objective or an activity may often be attached to 2 targets : one in terms of material result, and one in terms of assisted population.

Example :

A nutrition Cluster Plan may mention :
Activity / Indicator / Target
Treat Severely Malnourished children in Province ABC / # of TFC open / 5
# of SAM children treated / 5.000

The target must express what is considered necessary and realistically feasable by the Humanitarian Community within the time period of the plan. In most cases, the target will not be the same as the overall estimated need, or the total affected population. Reasons for this may be lack of access, under threshold level of need, poor cost efficiency, etc…However, lack of resources (actors and funds) should NOT be a criteria for diminishing the target. An intervention considered necessary and feasable should be included in the plan and in the target, even if resourcing perspectives are poor.

Output and Outcome indicators

Outputs: The products, goods and services that an intervention delivers to a target population, for example, the quantities of food distributed, or the number of people in need of food who received it.

Outcomes: The likely or achieved short- and medium-term effects of outputs, for example the decrease of the malnutrition rate among a population that received food distribution.

Cluster Objectives may be linked to Outcome Indicators or Output indicators, while cluster activities will usually be linked to output indicators.

How to select appropriate indicators

* The relevant indicators will depend on the Cluster Objectivesand Activities.

* The Humanitarian Indicators Registry (ir.humanitarianresponse.info) is an online tool developed by the Global Clusters Coordinators, and proposing for each cluster a list of commonly used indicators corresponding to most humanitarian activities. Recognizing that indicators cannot be fully standardized, the registry is meant to help countries either select standard indicators, or adapt them, making their own custom indicator. Indicators flagged as “key” are strongly recommended, in order to facilitate analyses across countries.

* The guidance note on Humanitarian Indicators Registry provides a number of explanations and recommendations on how to select humanitarian indicators.

* Selected indicators should be SMART: Specific (to what it is supposed to measure), Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound within the planning period. No indicator is or isn’t SMART by nature, as this depends of the context: Morbidity rate at the scale of a whole country is an indicator difficult to measure, therefore not SMART, while the same indicator is indeed measurable and SMART, when applied to the population of a camp.

* The selection of indicators should be done with considerationfor the feasibility and cost of data collection : who will measure the indicators, how, when, and are resources available for doing this. A limited amount of accurate data on a few key indicators is better than lots of poor quality data on many or poorly defined indicators.

* Percentage versus absolute values :

Some indicators may be expressed under the form of a percentage.

Example :

A NFI cluster Plan may mention :
Activity / Indicator / Target
Distribution of NFI kits / % of IDP households receiving kits / 80%

Using percentages is often confusing. Reading the target does not tell us how many households are concerned / how many kits will be distributed. It does not allow to estimate the costs. And monitoring the result requires to have a precise counting of the IDP population.

In such cases, it is preferable to state hard figures

A NFI cluster Plan should mention :
Activity / Indicator / Target
Distribution of NFI kits / # of IDP households receiving kits / 4.000

The need for baseline data

Some indicators require to have baseline data: If we set as an objective “reduce child mortality by 50%”, it is necessary to know what the child mortality is before the intervention.

Other indicators do NOT need baseline data. The activity “Build 200 latrines in 3 IDP camps” will use the indicator “latrines built”, with no need of baseline.

Monitoring

Response monitoringis the activity of tracing results of the humanitarian activities: along the year, actors will report their results, whicl will be compared with the targets.

Example:

The Cluster Plan will mention : / The monitoringreport will mention :
Activity / Indicator / Target / Result by date xxxx / Achievement / coverage
Treat Severely Malnourished children in Province ABC / # of TFC open / 5 / 3 / 60%
# of SAM children treated / 5.000 / 4.000 / 80%