Goldilocks Toolkit

IPA collaborated with the Center for Effective Global Action to gather lessons from more than a dozen non-profits and social businesses on how to successfully monitor and evaluate social programs. By highlighting best practices and providing lessons on applying the CART Principles to data collection, the toolkit serves as a resource for learning and accountability for organizations of all sizes.

Design

A solid theory of change is the foundation of strong program design and a sound monitoring and evaluation strategy. These tools explore how to build a theory of change and link it to a CART monitoring strategy.
 

Monitor

Monitoring is critical to learning and accountability, but it is often undervalued. These tools aid in the development of a monitoring plan and system that reflects the CART principles and incorporates useful management practices.
 

Evaluate

A poor evaluation is worse than no evaluation at all. These tools provide guidance on what it takes to measure impact credibly and responsibly, and to generate data that is both actionable within your organization and transportable to others.
 

Collect and Store

Even the best designed evaluations and monitoring strategies will collapse without good data. These tools are meant to be used with a theory of change to ensure the collection of credible, actionable, and transportable data.
 

We thank Google.org for their generous support in the production of the Goldilocks Toolkit.