Our
technical rationale is based
on the hypothesis that any project activity will have an impact on the
social,
economic, and environmental setting of a community, and that a good
project
will attempt to maximize positive impact on one or more of these, and
to
minimize negative impact on the same.
The policy-related rationale is that any measure of
any institution to
improve relevant performance is incomplete without
a) a public and independent
discourse on what “is relevant” and
b) related public accountability.
The IDEAS rating procedure is designed to combine both, and to enhance
awareness among a wide public.
In addition, the standardized modular rating
procedure allows transparent benchmarking.
IDEAS offers a tool which is
designed to appraise development cooperation projects with intended
long term
impact, and their combinations, in a standardized way. This is done by
applying
a standard rating procedure with modules for single-objective and
complex
projects expressing the rating results both in a descriptive and a
numeric
part. The former allows to include qualitative considerations and
aspects not
otherwise covered, the latter is essential to use it as a tool for
comparison
of similar projects, project groups, and even organizations, i.e., as
tool for
benchmarking.
The concept includes three main rating modules: Project performance,
intervention risk, and project/organizational transparency. In an
overview,
policy in reference to risks, transparency and performance of an
organization
can also be rated.
Project performance is expressed in all ratings by
scoring specific elements of social
sustainability, cultural adaptability, economic sustainability, and
project
management. Depending on the project objective, a score with elements
on public
life sustainability, and ecosystems or ecological sustainability is
added.
Intervention
risk is an “intermediate” assessment
between actual project
and the organisation’s other activities. It focuses on
questions how chances
and risks are seen for a project or programme in a specific country, or
in a
specific region of such a country.. It may be linked to one or more
project
rating(s), or to a rating on general transparency of an
organization’s
activities.
Transparency
is expressed through
the rating of availability and reliability of data on the respective
mentioned
elements. This allows to rate both projects on which information is
readily
available (favourable transparency rating) and projects on which
institutions
or project managements are tight-lipped (less favourable transparency
rating).
The rating can be applied in any project stage, the only precondition
being
availability of information. It can therefore be used as ex ante
planning,
monitoring, and ex post appraisal tool.
The rating can be result of anything between a pure desk
exercise to a
detailed field study. Of course, reliability grows with the
latter. The
rating is designed as a tool to standardize the way projects are looked
at and
thus allows policy dialogue and comparisons. It should not be
confounded with
an intention to standardize projects as such, as the individuality of
any
project is respected and taken into account.
The concept is designed as an
internet-based tool for wide use and discussion. Access, public
discourse on
the modalities of this framework, and transparency rating are expected
to contribute
to better quality of project design and execution, better monitoring
and
accountability, and to comparability among projects.
IDEAS
is an
NGO with the objective to contribute to better quality and transparency
of
development cooperation. IDEAS was founded in Switzerland in 1994 as
association.
© IDEAS, 2001-2008
