The next level of shared measurement

It isn’t enough to transform lives for the better. We seek to make them measurably better.

Pact’s commitment to learning and using a metrics- and data-based approach to development is apparent in everything we do; from our annual Measuring Pact’s Mission report that details our impact at the global and national levels to our leading contributions to international dialogue around monitoring and evaluation.

Last year, Pact took a significant step on our transformational journey through a partnership with DevResults, a Washington, D.C.-based company that provides a web-based tool for tracking development data. Through a cloud-based, centralized measurement system, our staff from across more than 25 countries can access project data from a central location instead of relying on a variety of separate systems.

Why is this important?

Pact’s leadership, our partners and donors can access real-time data, helping them make more informed decisions in a timely manner. It has the potential to help us do a better job by understanding what really works and where adjustments may need to be made. And it can help our funders allocate resources more effectively.

But Pact has a grander vision for how data can contribute to evidence-based decision-making, not just internally, but for our partners, donors and the wider development community as well. This vision would include a common understanding of what to measure and tools that foster collaboration and make our data more open.

Standardizing our data in a web-based format that can be shared with donors and partners is one step toward greater collaboration. Toward shared measurement—an approach that can help organizations better collaborate by more fully understanding our impact as a sector working in pursuit of the collective goal of eradicating poverty.

Pact programs in four countries—Ukraine, Nepal, Myanmar and Zimbabwe—are currently utilizing the DevResults platform, with Kenya, Nigeria, Malawi, Swaziland and Colombia coming on board this year.

This tool is just one way Pact is pushing the boundaries of current practice and making good on our philosophies of openness, transparency, and accessibility of knowledge and information. Along with partners in the development community, we are exploring shared measurement and leveraging open data for collective impact through Locus, a landmark initiative dedicated to finding new solutions to old development challenges.

Stay tuned for results from our journey!