Often, in your interventions, you are trying to contribute to change in quite a complex context. You try to influence or support crucial stakeholders to change in the direction of the goals or impact that you are after.

But… these stakeholders just don’t seem to be taking that decision, that action, or changing their behaviour in the way you are hoping for. So, you end up with nothing to show for as a positive outcome of all your hard support, advisory, or influencing work over quite some periods of time! Your outcome indicator says ‘no’. Still no change to report.

In this overview, we’ll explore what progress markers are and how you can use them to show change towards your challenging outcome.

What are progress markers and why are they important?

One way to solve this is by using progress markers, which we borrow from an approach to changes in complex societal contexts called Outcome Mapping. In this approach, the powerful stakeholder’s hoped-for behaviour change is called the outcome challenge.

Seeing this outcome become a reality may be difficult. But what if you know, or can reasonably predict, the small steps that this stakeholder might take on the way to the hoped-for outcome?

If you know the context quite well, you will be able to determine what you may expect to see the stakeholder do first, then what you would like to see them do next, and ultimately what you would love to see them do, before they make the change that is the outcome you are after. Along these markers, you have less and less influence over the stakeholder, and there are more and more influences from other actors and factors.

These progress markers (see example below) need to represent changes that are easily observable. You design them to show progress as a logically interconnected body of markers that likely precede the outcome challenge.

How progress markers work in practice

Let’s take an outcome challenge from a programme in Cambodia: ‘Garment factory owners in Phom Penh have good employment conditions and stimulate the government to improve rules and regulations accordingly across the country'.

This outcome may take a lot of (concerted) efforts and years to be happening, so all the while the related indicators say ‘no’.  

The partners in the programme know the garment industry context well, and have been able to construct a likely ladder of progress markers at the start of this ambitious programme. The ladder shows how garment factory owners are expected to agree to improve working conditions in their own individual factories (this is an influence of the programme), how they then may implement these measures, and how they might make collective agreements. All these steps are observable changes contributing to the realisation of the outcome challenge. So at any time during the programme, some of these changes may be visible, the programme can respond accordingly, and the changes can be reported on.

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Progress markers example in a graphic for M&E

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How you can apply progress markers

Here’s how you can start using progress markers in your project or programme:

Progress marker graphic showing the steps to reach the outcome challenge, related to monitor and evaluate programmes.

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  1. Get together with the stakeholders of the programme, preferably including the change agents themselves. Combined, they are knowledgeable of which changes may be observable before the outcome challenge is reached
  1. Draft as many progress markers as are useful for your context. A helpful ladder is the ‘expect to see, like to see, love to see’ escalation shown in the diagram above: from early engagement to expanding influence and interesting others to contribute to realising the outcome challenge
  1. Track regularly: Monitor your markers consistently and make adjustments to the markers as needed.
  1. Review what you observe: Use the data collected to evaluate success and inform decisions on the course of the programme.

Progress markers say ‘yes’!

As you have seen, progress markers:

  • Show transformation in one stakeholder or stakeholder group
  • Show the move from initial to more profound changes in behavior
  • Are more informative than a single indicator for a challenging outcome
  • Are a set of steps illustrating complexity and logic
  • Are observable and possible to monitor

At MDF, we are guiding clients in defining those progress markers that are most meaningful and sensitive to showing small changes on the ladder to an important stakeholder making an important change in a complex context. Our goal is for you to have progress markers that say ‘yes’!

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Want to master the use of progress markers and other practical M&E tools?

Join our Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (M&E) training where we explore how to effectively measure change in complex contexts. Our consultants will guide you through hands-on exercises to help you design and apply tools like progress markers, ensuring your projects show meaningful results.

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