About
The Salvation Army Global Indicator Manual
This manual has been put together to provide a menu of indicators that can be used to monitor project outcomes and support you in preparing project proposals on the Hive.
To help us follow best practice, the indicators included in this manual (and how to report against them) are largely drawn from global standardised indicators and surveys, and therefore the wording and approach to measurement should be kept consistent with what is outlined in this manual.
This manual is written for territories with minimal project management or impact measurement capacity. It is not designed to provide indicators for all International Development and Relief programmes. There is scope for additional indicators to be added to the Hive and included in the ‘additional standardised indicators’ section at a later date.
Outcome indicator types
An outcome indicator measures change (for example, improved behaviour).
There are three types of outcome indicators, two of which are included in this manual:
Global Indicators: These indicators are the ones which unite us and will enable us to measure outcomes across all projects globally within a particular thematic area. These indicators will appear automatically within project proposal templates on the Hive once a thematic area or areas are chosen and unless there is good reason not to use them it is requested that these are measured for all projects. This will provide consistency in terms of best practice reporting as well as crucially improve the way that we use the data being reported to learn and improve. These indicators all begin with ‘G-‘ and are found in section 1 of the manual or under their relevant thematic area on Indikit.
Additional Standardised Indicators: The manual also includes a list of other indicators that are likely to be relevant to our projects. These will be available from a drop down list when building a logframe on the Hive. Using standardised language enables us to aggregate data across all projects. This is a fluid document and indicators can be added by request. These indicators all begin with ‘S-‘. These are found in sections 2 and 3 of the manual or under the relevant thematic area on Indikit.
Some of these indicators have an asterisk in the label (eg S-HEA2*). This means that the indicator is externally validated – it will be available either on Indikit or via another respected organisation. Where possible externally validated indicators should be prioritised over those that have been designed internally as there is evidence that the data is useful for understanding how to improve programmes and also enables us to contribute data to global initiatives such as the Sustainable Development Goals.
When the most relevant indicator falls under a different thematic area to the one the project falls within. It is still possible to use those indicators when they apply. For example, a health project may wish to additionally measure food security as a result of nutrition elements of a project. G-AGR2* may therefore be added as an indicator to the logframe.
The intention is not to limit outcome reporting. Where capacity allows, projects should report on additional outcome indicators such as those in regional strategies and in the additional standardized indicators section of this manual. Given the breadth of activities that happen under some of the thematic areas, it is also recognised that outcome indicators more specific to projects (custom indicators) will be required in some circumstances.
Custom Indicators: It will still be possible to design your own indicators for all projects if none of the standardised ones are relevant. The logframe also makes provision for using qualitative indicators
Output and reach data
An output indicator measures what the project delivers (for example, trainings conducted).
The development section of the manual generally does not include indicators on project reach. This is captured through a separate table in the Hive templates and can be aggregated by thematic area, or geography as required. Further guidance on how to measure this will be made available. It is assumed that output indicators of project reach and coverage are already captured, and instead focuses on outcome indicators (that capture what happens as a result of the project outputs). This manual also is restricted to collecting quantitative information that gives indication of the outcomes of our work. It is acknowledged that this on its own is not the full picture and these indicators are supported by our impact measurement work and stories from our projects and programmes.
However, in emergency contexts the outputs and reach of a project are more relevant and it is more realistic to collect this type of data in an emergency context. Therefore the emergency indicators in section 3 of the manual contain both outcome and output level indicators.
Cross Cutting Themes
This manual does not currently include outcome indicators for our cross cutting themes. Where evidence of consideration of these themes is captured in proposal templates, a ‘marker’ will be assigned on the Hive to indicate that a project includes intentional efforts to address:
● Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, including Gender, Disability, and Inclusion
● Climate change and the Environment
● Linking Relief to Recovery and Development (LRRD)
● Personnel Development
● Safeguarding, including Child Protection, Adults at risk, Prevention of Sexual Exploitation Abuse and Harassment, and Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking (MSHT)
Background and process
The indicators selected in this version of the manual have been selected following a review of the indicators in the previously developed manual and identification of a global best practice indicator that most closely aligns with both this indicator and the types of activities delivered under the thematic areas. Selecting a global best practice indicator and accompanying survey question that has been tested and validated in multiple global contexts increases confidence in the validity of the data being reported, provides consistency and comparability, and crucially removes the need for the Salvation Army International Development to pilot and validate indicators across multiple contexts prior to rolling out use of the Global Indicator Manual.
A first draft of the manual was circulated to thematic area leads requesting feedback. Where an alternative validated indicator and accompanying survey question has been provided, this has been incorporated into this latest version. In other instances, we have followed the same process of reviewing the revised indicator and identifying a global best practice indicator and accompanying validated, easy to ask survey question most closely aligned with the feedback.
Where an indicator was not suitable as a ‘Global Indicator’ it will be included in the additional standardised indicators section of this manual. Reasons for not selecting these as global indicators may include that they are too specific to be collected for all projects delivering on the thematic area, or they are more focused on reach (outputs) than they are on outcomes and impact. On the odd occasion, the agreed thematic global indicator is about reach as consensus on an appropriate outcome indicator could not be reached. This is referenced in the ‘source’ details, and at a later date the relevant working groups should seeks to identify an appropriate thematic outcome indicator.
We will continue to review how each indicator is being used to report on projects and it may be that given indicators need to be refined/replaced. It is important however to give time for these indicators to be tested well and embedded into our ways of working. Therefore, where reasonable, changes will be minimal over the next 18 months.
For more information
We are in the process of developing a new training course (to be piloted in 2026) to help staff understand and use the indicators in this manual. This course will also help us better design, manage, report and improve our projects and use the Hive as part of SMILES.
This manual is an iterative document that will be refined and added to. Please therefore view this as the first step in our work to standardise and consolidate reporting and learning across our projects. Your feedback is very much encouraged to keep improving this. Please send any comments to ihq-ids@salvationarmy.org .
About IndiKit
This Global Indicator Manual is built on the IndiKit platform. You can see the original IndiKit website here which contains many more sector recommended indicators.
IndiKit was developed by the Czech organization People in Need (PIN). It aims to make monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of relief and development interventions easier and better - by helping humanitarian and development workers to use well-formulated project indicators and to correctly collect and analyse the data required for each indicator.
IndiKit does not intend to cover an exhaustive list of indicators - its primary focus is on those indicators whose use requires more detailed guidance. PIN has done its best to ensure that this guidance is methodologically correct, useful, and concise. IndiKit's content is aligned with existing sector standards and was reviewed by M&E and technical specialists from non-government organizations, Global Clusters, UN agencies, and universities. However, keep in mind that the proposed guidance cannot be valid in all contexts – you always need to adapt it to the local realities.
IndiKit works on the idea that all aid practitioners should have an opportunity to further improve its content. Everyone is therefore invited to propose new indicators, improve the existing ones and share the key lessons gained when using different indicators.
PIN would like to thank the Czech Development Agency for its initial financial contribution to developing IndiKit, its partner organization Ayuda en Acción for supporting the Spanish version of IndiKit, and the following organizations whose staff provided useful feedback on IndiKit's content: ACF, CRS, Valid International, Tearfund, and PIN's Alliance2015 partners Concern Worldwide, Helvetas and ACTED.