ICARDA Indicators Reference Manual (IRM)
Monitoring and Evaluation Framework
ICARDA implements several W1/W2, W3 and bilateral projects. Wheras every project is designed to meet particular donor requirements, such as reporting against the status of the Plan of Work and Budget (POWB) or performance indicators derived from donor results frameworks, it is difficults to make inference on the level of contribution the projects make towards the achievement of the ICARDA Strategic Plan 2017-2026. To bridge this gap, the M&E Unit initiated the development and mainstreaming of consistent and actionable indicators linked to each of the strategic research priorities and cross-cutting themes in the ICARDA Strategic Plan 2017-2026. The indicators have the unique potential of enabling aggregation of results from various projects, provided they are measured consistently across the projects.
The Indicators Reference Manual (IRM) is formulated through a consultative process. Scientists were invoved in determining which SRPs/CCTs their teams contribute to. Subsequently, the broad consultations were held with teams by their SRP/CCT groups. A presentation of the draft indicators was made to the Program Committee (PC) of the Board of Trustees in November 2019, and the PC strongly endorsed the initiative.
The indicators will be incorporated into the indicators module of the MEL Platform. Scientists will be able to adopt/retrieve institutional indicators, link customized indicators to institutional indicators, but also have the room to define idiosyncratic indicators to meet individual project requirements. The adopted/linked indicators will provide an avenue for consistent results measurement and reporting of strategic results across ICARDA projects.
The indicators are categorized into 4 indicator levels (groups) corresponding to the segments of the impact pathway i.e. activity/process indicators (variables for tracking planned actions/tasks), output indicators (variables for tracking the immediate results from the activities that ICARDA and its partners carry out), outcome indicators (variables for tracking the immediate effects resulting from the use of outputs delivered by ICARDA and its partners) and impact indicators (variables for measuring or estimating the long-term results). Table 1 contains a matrix of indicators that the M&E Unit has designed for the corresponding SRPs/CCTs. The indicators include 5 process/activity indicators, 9 output-level indicators, 31 outcome-level indicators, and 3 impact-level indicators and (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Illustration of the number of indicators and the result levels they are associated with
Table 1: List of Indicators and the corresponding SRPs/CCTs
Indicator ID | INDICATORS | SRP 1 | SRP 2 | SRP 3 | SRP 4 | SRP 5 | CCT 1 | CCT 2 | CCT 3 | CCT 4 |
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PR-1 | Monetary value of projects/programs/operations | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
PR-2 | Number of partnerships in which ICARDA is a party | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
PR-3 | Number of accessions in long-term storage and safety duplicated at two levels | ✔ |
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PR-4 | Number germplasm requests received | ✔ |
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PR-5 | Share of international nurseries recipients reporting performance trial results | ✔ |
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OP-1 | Number of research and development innovations | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
OP-2 | Number of ICARDA research papers published in peer reviewed journals | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
OP-3 | Number of datasets generated by ICARDA scientists | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
OP-4 | Number of people trained/ Number of people attending capacity development events | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
OP-5 | Number of accessions distributed | ✔ |
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OP-6 | Number of International Nurseries distributed |
| ✔ | ✔ |
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OP-7 | Number of farm households reached with material technology packages |
| ✔ | ✔ |
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| ✔ | ✔ |
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OP-8.1 | Quantity of seed/planting material of improved varieties accessed by farm households |
| ✔ | ✔ |
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| ✔ | ✔ |
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OP-8.2 | Number of improved livestock breeds accessed by farm households |
| ✔ | ✔ |
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OC-1 | Number of research and development innovations | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
OC-2 | Alternative Metrics ('Altmetric') Score for ICARDA publications | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
OC-3 | Number of ICARDA-origin crop varieties released by national partners |
| ✔ | ✔ |
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OC-4.1 | Number of farm households that have adopted improved crop varieities and management practices |
| ✔ | ✔ |
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| ✔ | ✔ |
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OC-4.2 | Number of farm households that have adopted improved livestock breeds and animal husbandry practices |
| ✔ | ✔ |
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| ✔ | ✔ |
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OC-5 | Number of policies, legal instruments or investments modified in design or implementation, informed by ICARDA research | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
OC-6 | Area under ICARDA-promoted improved crop varieties and recommended agronomic management practices |
| ✔ | ✔ |
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| ✔ | ✔ |
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0C-7.1 | Yield of ICARDA-mandated crops |
| ✔ | ✔ |
| ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
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0C-7.2 | Yield of ICARDA-mandated livestock |
| ✔ | ✔ |
| ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
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OC-7.3 | Rate of yield change for ICARDA-mandated crops and livestock |
| ✔ | ✔ |
| ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
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OC-8.1 | Diversity of farmers' crop production |
| ✔ | ✔ |
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OC-8.2 | Rangeland biodiversity |
| ✔ | ✔ |
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OC-8.3 | Change in rangeland ground cover |
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OC-9.1 | Share of the improved breeds in total livestock population |
| ✔ | ✔ |
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OC-9.2 | Share of livestock under improved livestock managment | |||||||||