Our impact
Impact is at the heart of everything we do. We measure the success of our programmes against four key metrics – income uplift, business survival rate, financial resilience and women’s decision making power.
Why we measure
Measurement is crucial because it allows us to assess the impact of our programmes, making data-driven decisions to improve their effectiveness – helping us achieve our mission of helping women entrepreneurs lift themselves and their families out of poverty.
Our Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) team works closely with in-country colleagues across Hand in Hand’s global network to collect accurate data from our project members through routine project monitoring and periodic project evaluations. These valuable insights enable us to refine and improve our projects throughout their lifecycle.
What we measure
Income uplift
Members increase revenue to make more money from their businesses.
Business survival rate
Enterprises are still operational more than one year after launch.
Financial resilience
Members are able to get through a financial shock, such as a bad harvest or unexpected medical bill, without having to sell an asset or get into debt.
Women’s decision making power
Women are able to have their say about the things that matter to them, such as household purchases, healthcare and being able to leave the home to visit family and friends.
We also measure outputs and outcomes such as training graduation rates, application of target business practices, number of enterprises and jobs created, savings amounts, access to credit, and market linkages.
We also use a simplified Most Significant Changes approach, asking our members to tell us what the most significant change in their life was after completing a Hand in Hand project. This helps us understand the broader impacts of our projects on our members’ livelihoods and quality of life.
Supporting the SDGs
Hand in Hand’s four metrics align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including:
Source: sustainabledevelopment.un.org
Source: sustainabledevelopment.un.org
Source: sustainabledevelopment.un.org
Source: sustainabledevelopment.un.org
Our impact
84%
of women with the power to make decisions for themselves
93%
average increase in income
82%
businesses still operational after one year
42%
can get through a financial shock without selling an asset or going into debt
Based on 10 projects with over 72,000 members in Kenya, Tanzania, and Afghanistan that ended between 2021 – 2023.
Independent evaluation
Hand in Hand regularly funds independent, third party-evaluations of our programmes to bolster our efforts in monitoring and evaluation.
Talk to us about our monitoring and evaluation
Amalia Johnsson
Deputy CEOAmalia has worked in international development for more than 12 years, specialising in financial inclusion and supporting rural livelihoods. Prior to joining Hand in Hand, she was Head of Financial Sector Development at Nathan Associates, overseeing the organisation’s portfolio of financial sector focused work.
ajohnsson@hihinternational.orgTel: 020 7514 5091