It’s strange: Indicators are a key ingredient in Results Based Management. Yet there is not much detailed guidance on how to select them, how to design sets of indicators, and what a good indicator is.
Most of the best guidance is hidden in books on broader topics like on Monitoring and Evaluation Systems.
We at the Results Lab have our own favourites. Most of them you can download for free. Here we go:
- USAID TIPS on ‘Selecting Performance Indicators’ and ‘Baselines and Targets’ (most detailed with steps, checklist, types of targets, etc.) FREE
- Chapter 3 in ‘Building Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Systems for HIV/AIDS Programs’ by Pact (not specific to HIV/AIDS, to the point, includes indexed measures)
- Chapter 3, Step 3 in ‘Ten Steps to a Results-Based M&E System’ by Jody Zall Kusek & Ray C. Rist (includes predesigned indicators, constructing indicators) FREE
- Step 2 in ‘Developing M&E Frameworks’ by Anne Markiewicz & Ian Patrick (detailed and includes target setting)
- P. 162 in ‘Making M&E Systems Work’ by Marelize Goergens & Jody Zall Kusek (very short but still useful) FREE