Participatory impact assessment : a report on a DFID funded ActionAid research project on methods and indicators for measuring the impact of poverty reduction.

Review of the background, methodology and key findings of an applied three year research project designed to find more reliable participatory impact approaches and locally relevant indicators of change. Different methods for the assessment of impact were tried out with a wide range of communities and local organisations that ActionAid had previous direct contact with. Major findings of the research include the need for field workers to be more selective in their use of participatory techniques, the importance of tracking long term changes in peoples' key indicators and the need for NGO's to support an 'impact assessment culture' in all that they do and the systems that they follow.