Impacttool
Anyone who is familiar with Erasmus+ will also be familiar with the term “impact”. This term also gives rise to many questions, however. What exactly does it mean for your project? How can you ensure that a project has the largest impact possible? We would like to help you achieve this result.
! IMPACT (Desired impact)
The larger and broader social or other changes which also take place as a result of other players and factors:
- You have analysed this change and designed the project in such a way that it will contribute to this change.
- However, you cannot measure this outcome. The project will only have a small influence in this respect.
- Examples in KA1 include improving the connection between young people and the labour market.
+ OUTCOME (Expected impact)
The smaller or greater changes which you wish to achieve when you have carried out the activities. Changes which “stick”.
- The effects of the project, the output, lead to this change.
- These changes are long-term and continue to exist after the project comes to an end.
- They become visible immediately or up to 6 months after the project.
- The expected impact is anticipated to contribute to the desired impact.
- Examples in KA1 include changes in teaching quality, behaviour, motivation, skills, and so on.
= OUTPUT
The products which derive directly from the activities:
- People use different terms for outputs. They are sometimes called deliverables, or labled milestones of the project.
- Outputs often include actual results which are stated in the scope of the work or work plan, such as the number of mobilities, events held, products developed, messages communicated (supported by attendance lists, reports, current products, and so on). We do not regard these actual results as changes.
- All the output together must lead to the expected impact.
- Examples in KA1 include staff mobility focused on the new teaching techniques for inclusive education and established collaboration with the art academy in Madrid.
> ACTIVITIES
Which activities within the project will be carried out during the project period?
- You design activities which lead to the output and consequently the results which you would like to see.
- In other words, determining the selection criteria, type of partners and supervision is BASED on the expected results.
... INPUT
All the resources which are required for the project to function.
You need financing, staff time and expertise to implement the activities.
Read moreExplanation and more information
Choose the segment for which you are using the tool.
MOBILITY |
PARTNERSHIPS |
|
When we talk about mobility within Erasmus+, we mean gaining experience abroad. For example, this process might involve enhancing your knowledge and skills or getting to know new cultures. Such mobility applies to students, staff members, youth and youth workers. |
Collaborating, sharing knowledge, innovating: these aims are all possible within the international partnerships. You can develop new insights together or exchange best practices. Collaboration between schools or other European organisations is possible. For the education and youth sector. |
It is important for Erasmus+ projects to have the greatest possible effect and to be as successful as possible. To this end, the National Agency Erasmus+ focuses strongly on what we call impact. This term refers to the change which is achieved partly as a result of a project, for the benefit of an individual, an organisation and society as a whole.
We have developed the Impact tool to help you with this process. This tool will help you:
- to think about the intended change and the design of the project;
- to check whether you have sufficient confidence in the proposed interventions;
- to think about the times in the project at which you can monitor and/or adjust progress.
Before you get started with the Impact Tool: please note that in project planning different terms are often used for similar things. Even within the Erasmus+ Programme Guide, the choice of words changes. In order for you to make sense of the changes, we have developed a table comparing different terms:
IMPACT TOOL |
PROGRAMME GUIDE |
ALTERNATIVE TERMS |
| impact | desired impact | goal, overall objective, general objective |
| outcome | expected impact | specific objective, project purpose, strategic objective |
| output | output, deliverable, milestone | results, intermediate results |
| activities | activities | activities |
| input | input | recources |
Do you have any questions? If so, please contact us. We will always be happy to help.
IMPACT ! desired impact under indirect influence
What fundamental change do you want to contribute to?
Contribution to wider change in society
- Active citizenship
- Increasingly equal opportunities
- Improved employability
- Improved economic development
- Improved research
This is where you start discussing your ideas. Think about what the future holds for your target group, what should they achieve in five years and what did your project contribute to that change. Invite a wide variety of people linked to your project to improve the quality and relevance of your work, this group may include youth and social workers, members of the governance board and teachers. Obviously your target group, youth pupils, students, is the most important group to talk to. This discussion will lay the groundwork for later decisions regarding what you do with whom in order to achieve the greatest possible impact.
Impact is a wider socio-economic change, it goes without saying that you will not achieve this desired change by means of your own project alone. There are many more factors that your own project does not influence directly, such as the immediate living environment of the target group. These are factors, whose influence on the target group, you might not fully understand. It is therefore important to include the target group in project design at an early stage. Allow them to participate, co-design and decide over what the project should look like. This way your project matches their needs and you will ensure that it contributes to the desired change which you have described.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
Reflection questions: Let go of your project idea for a while. Ask yourself critical questions.
- As an organisation, why do you actually want a mobility project?
- To which larger development or change for your target group would you like to contribute? Consider changes at various levels: students/pupils, teachers, the organisation and beyond the organisation.
- Who exactly are the beneficiairies, or is the target group of your project?
- Which other stakeholders are involved, how do they see the target group?
- To what wider change will the use of the project’s outcomes lead? Describe this development in terms of observable changes? (What is it that you can actually see?)
- What is the role of your organisation in achieving change for your target group, does this fall within the mandate of your organisation?
- How does an Erasmus+ project help you achieve that change?
APPLICATION FORM
The information which you compile here can be interesting for the following sections of the application form.
- What is the desired impact of the project at local, regional, national, European and/or international level?
- Why do you want to carry out this project?
- What are its objectives?
- How does it link to the objectives of the E+ Programme and this specific Key Action?
- What are the issues and needs that you are seeking to address through this project?
REFERRALS
During this phase, you will mainly immerse yourself in the context. You can use the following tools.
EXAMPLE
ASSIGNMENT
The project has been completed for a couple of years. You can look back on the mobility project with pride and satisfaction. It certainly contributed to the positive change which you are now seeing.
Write down its legacy (max. 20 words) in the project design form. If you cannot fit it into 20 words, think carefully about what you really want to achieve with this project.
Start with: Thanks in part to our project…
Describe this legacy in terms of CHANGE and to WHOM the change applies.
OUTCOME + expected impact under direct influence
What is your project's contribution to that change?
Delivered by your project
- Improved self-confidence
- Utilisation of new skills, knowledge and behaviour
- Actively cooperating stakeholders in education/youth work
Look at the “dream” above. In order to contribute to desired impact, you need to attain (behavioural) changes with the stakeholders of your project.
Reflection questions
- Which changes are required in order to achieve this larger “impact dream”?
- What change/effect among your target group, within your organisation or at other organisations do you have to achieve in order to contribute to impact?
- How will the target group utilise the tangible items, skills, attitudinal changes resulting from the project, in order to achieve the desired changes?
- When will your project be a success? Formulate this as SMART as possible.
- Have you considered the effectiveness and equity of your intervention?
- Which change/effect among your target group, within your organisation or at other organisations do you wish to achieve? Consider a change in behaviour or a changed situation in the environment of the target group. Do not state “The staff members will know more about teaching techniques”, but “The staff members will teach better”.
- During this phase, it is helpful to have an “external” party dig deeper and think along with you. What will be the actual result of this project? How does this project contribute to your dream?
- In the event that the answers are still too vague, dig deeper: Which change do you need to this end?
- If you are very specific, also ask: Why? When you have the answer to that question, ask again: Why? Dig deeper in order to get right to the heart of the matter, until you reach the level at which you can assume that you will have made a significant contribution to your dream at the end of your project.
APPLICATION FORM
The information which you compile here can be interesting for the following sections of the application form.
- Why do you want to carry out this project?
- What are its objectives?
- How does it link to the objectives of the E+ Programme and this specific Key Action?
- What are the issues and needs that you are seeking to address through this project?
- How did you choose your project partners?
- What experience and competences will they bring to the project?
EXAMPLE
ASSIGNMENT
Now complete this table for your project.
OUTPUT = can be controlled
What tangible results are needed?
Tangible results needed to reach outcome :
- Trained professionals / volunteers
- Trained pupils/students/youth
- Professionals and youth with international exposure
- E-tools/tool kits
- Publications / intellectual outputs
- Policy documents / research results
- Online platforms
Look at the above “dream” (desired impact) and the outcomes (expected impact) which you subsequently described. The project will achieve outcomes when the target group shows an independent and structural change in the way they work, their attitude or their behavior. The project supports this change by creating tangible results that can be put to use by the target group. These tangible results we call output, or sometimes they are called deliverable.
Creating well designed outputs requires a lot of coordination and communication amongst the project partners. The project iExpress Myself (Koninkijke Visio) is a good example of this process.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- Which concrete results will you achieve?
- Why did you choose these results?
- How do you know that the target group will use these outputs?
- Have you included all the tangible results that are needed to achieve outcomes?
Check: Do the answers still correspond to the answers that you gave for Steps 1 and 2? Do the answers to the questions tie in with the impact and outcomes? Why?
APPLICATION FORM
The information you compile here can be of value to the following questions in the application form.
How many participants will you have? What will you deliver in specific terms?
EXAMPLE
ASSIGNMENT
Now complete these tables yourself.
ACTIVITIES > can be controlled
Which actions do you have to take?
Activities such as
- Workshops
- Training sessions
- Discussion groups
- Reflection activities
In Step 2, you specified several desired changes for your target group, your own organisation or possibly beyond your own organisation. How do you think that you will develop these tangible results within your project?
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- Which activities will you use to this end?
- Do you need any special activities regarding supervision/mentoring?
- Does your organisation have all the right skills and expertise to implement these activities succesfully, or do you need to attract project partners?
- Is capacity building for staff within this project embedded in your HR policy?
- Did you consider the efficiency of your activities? (e.g., group size, mode of instruction or interface)
- Are you sure that these activities will deliver the outputs?
- Can these activities be carried out with Erasmus+ funding? If not, are alternative funding/ resources available?
Check: Do the answers still correspond to the answers that you gave for Steps 1, 2 and 3? Do the activities tie in with the answers to the questions under impact, outcomes and output? Can this fact be substantiated, on the basis of either experience or research?
APPLICATION FORM
What information you have compiled so far can be of value to the following sections of the application form?:
- Please outline chronologically the main activities you plan to organise.
- Please describe for each activity the background and needs of the participants and how these participants will be selected.
- Please explain the context and objectives of the activities you are planning and in which way that they meet the objectives of the project.
- Which learning outcomes or competences are to be acquired/improved by participants in each activity?
EXAMPLE
ASSIGNMENT
Complete these tables for your own project.
INPUT … can be controlled
What are your resources?
Resources are used to implement activities. It is important to note that in a project activities are the only place where resources can be utilized. Results in the other levels of change in the intervention logic (output, outcome and impact), follow from the activities carried out. Resources can fall into different categories:
- Time (staff)
- Finances
- Materials
- Services
Look at the activities above. Input is required in order to initiate these activities. Such as funds, time and materials.
- Which resources will you use in order to achieve your activities, output and impact?
- How do you know that this process will ultimately lead to the desired outcomes and impact?
- Is it realistic to expect that you can carry out the planned activities with this input?
- Are these resources available from Erasmus+, or from elsewhere within your organisation?
- Are you sourcing inputs in line with the Erasmus+ programme (see conditions in the Erasmus+ Programme Guide)?
- Have you considered the economy of your input use?
- How sustainable are your inputs (both environmentally sustainable and durable)?
Check: Do the answers still correspond to the answers that you gave for Steps 1, 2, 3 and 4? Do the answers to the questions tie in with activities, output, outcomes and impact? Why?
EXAMPLE
Example school X
“The coordinator of the project will be given one free day per week to steer this project in the right direction. In addition, € 35,000 of subsidy funds will be invested in this project.”
Outcomes in terms of changes in knowledge, skills, behaviour, practice:
For staff/volunteers
For pupils/students/participants
For the organisation
In order to achieve this outcome, we need the following concrete results (output):
To this end, we will need to carry out the following activities:
For this purpose, we will use the following resources (input):
ASSIGNMENT
Complete the table for your own project.
DOWNLOAD THE PROJECT DESIGN FORM
CHECK IMPACTTOOL 1/2
You will monitor during your project whether you are carrying out all your activities properly and on time. Do your activities lead to output? This aspect is part of your project management.
(Are we doing things correctly?)
You really want to know as well whether your project is leading to the changes/effects which you described. In other words, is your output leading to outcomes?
(Are we doing things correctly?)
This process might seem tricky, as these outcomes occur after your project or outside your direct sphere of influence. Nevertheless, it is possible. The best method is to think in advance what will happen and come up with relevant outcome indicators.
Look at the outcomes.
- Which indicators can you formulate for the anticipated changes? Make them SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.
- Which information (qualitative and quantitative) do you need to this end?
- Where can you find information which will help you to see whether you are on the right track?
You will see that you can already check for signals halfway through your project which indicate that things are genuinely changing, for example.
Why would you do so?
- It often provides you with some great stories for the people and organisations involved in your project
- It offers you the chance to modify your activities in order to ensure that your project has a greater effect.
Application form
What information you have compiled so far can be of value to the following sections of the application form:
Monitoring/Evaluation
Project management
Referrals
During this phase, you will mainly analyse the activity schedule decide on required inputs and associated cost. You might find the the following tools useful:
- Activity Based Budgeting
- Most Significant Change
- Learning Histories
- Outcome Mapping
- Value For Money
- Erasmus+ Programme Guide (see 'Funding rules' under de specific Key Actions)
Example
Outcome
Outcome Indicator(s)
How will you measure it?
When will you measure it?
Pupils: The enhanced lessons will deepen the pupils’ immersion in the teaching materials. This situation will ensure improved final results in a more challenging learning environment. It will also improve their international outlook.
At least B2-level English in writing / speaking / listening / reading.
- Observations in the classroom
- Testing
Weekly observation and testing as soon as the lesson cycle comes to an end.
Teachers: As a result of their immersion in the English language, the teachers will improve their language skills, which will allow them to teach with greater self-confidence and in greater depth. They will also enhance their range of teaching materials by learning from other teachers and school systems.
At least C1-level English in writing / speaking / listening / reading.
Local disk of lesson ideas
- Peer feedback
- Observations in the classroom/classroom visits (assessment form)
- Discussions in sub-meetings
- monthly classroom visits
The results will be discussed during meetings of the sounding board group
School organisation: The school will expand its international outlook mainly as a result of the new contacts with the British schools; the international network will grow. This process will create a new dimension in the range of education, which will allow the school to profile itself towards primary schools, parents and the inspectorate.
TTO visitation: Acquisition of the TTO certificate
- Evaluation of the TTO school policy plan
- TTO visitation
Annual evaluation of the school policy plan
Indicator(s)
The aim of outcome indicators is to measure what you actually wish to measure, which is not the number of meetings but their effect.
How will you measure it?
Analysis of reports, focus group interviews, semi-structured interview, individual evaluation (e.g. online questionnaire), observations, storytelling.
Assignment
Complete the table for your own project.
DOWNLOAD THE PROJECT DESIGN FORM
CHECK IMPACTTOOL 2/2
Increase your impact by involving the right people and organisations. Involve people both within and beyond your organisation. Increase the effects of your project by ensuring that the right people are "participating" ("advertising" your project, not "feeling threatened", "wanting to learn from you", and so on). While you will notice some of these aspects during your project, thinking about them in advance will allow you to plan properly.
Referrals
During this phase, you can use tools such as:
Example
Who is involved in my project and who ought to be involved in my project?
Which role do they play?
With which message do I wish to present them?
How can I involve them from the outset?
Other teachers or directors within the school
Important to create support for the project and convey the results in a convincing way.
Providing insight into the added value of participation in international projects, so they are also encouraged to start using the newly acquired knowledge, skills and behaviours.
Organising study meetings.
Other teachers or directors beyond the school
Important to disseminate the results and share good practices
Providing insight into the added value of participation in international projects, so they are also encouraged to participate and to benefit from each other’s expertise.
Organising network meetings.
Parents
Important to create support for the implementation of the project
Profiling the school by means of internationalisation.
Paying structural attention to TTO and Erasmus+ projects in the newsletter/on the website.
New pupils
Important to future-proof the school
Conveying the importance of speaking several languages and an international outlook for future prospects on the labour market.
Updating the website with news reports before, during and after the Erasmus+ project in order to profile the school.
Employers
Important to ensure alignment with the knowledge, skills and attitudes which are required in the globalising labour market
Training the employees of the future in such a way that they develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes which tie in with a globalising labour market. Providing insights into the added value of international projects.
Being involved in network meetings, news reports and presentations. Visiting companies with pupils/teachers.
Assignment
Complete above table for your project.
