Impact
Documentation

The Need

Stakeholders are still trying to gauge how effective your programs actually are

There is powerful work being done across thematic areas in the Indian social impact space. The impact of the work has been hard to quantify in several situations either due to lack of short-term tangible indicators or due to the unpredictable, (intentionally) disorganised nature of the interventions or a series of other complexities associated with working in the specific topic areas.

There is one approach that can help navigate this challenge — documenting the intangible, qualitative elements of the work, and its impact.

Perspective on Documentation

Qualitative documentation can be a game changer for funders

Our work over the past 10 years has allowed us to closely interact with a diverse group of funders & donors (international + local), district and state govt. bodies, partners and other key role players in the ecosystem. There is a consensus among these members that “qualitative data” does play a valuable role in showcasing the efficacy and impact of interventions. For some, they are indicators to show credibility and quality of work, for others, they might be a critical differentiator when comparing the depth of impact between different projects and interventions.

Qualitative documentation can be in the form of mini-stories, photo essays, voices of members directly or indirectly associated with the interventions, observational pieces, video essays, and a gamut of other communication materials. They can also be a series of “work-in-progress” information that highlights how the interventions are progressing. The goal is to showcase the “intangible wins” in the most honest, and genuine way possible.

The information documented will always be unique to the organisation associated with it, making it one of the most powerful brand-differentiating means. When backed by a strong narrative, these materials showcasing qualitative impact can be a game changer for organisations in the social impact space.

Program Overview

Powerful photos, videos and stories bring out the nuanced intangible impact of your work

The Impact Documentation Project is a 9 week sprint that includes planning, a week long field visit, collating, building and archiving of photos, videos, stories, testimonials, and mini-reports.

Strategic Planning: Identifying the location, themes and topics to cover, people that we want to interview, content we want to capture and showcase
Documenting: Spending one week in the field to capture stories across themes, photos, mini video clips of the work, spaces, and testimonials
Curated/ Designed Materials: Alongside having a diverse set of raw content that can be used across mediums, we also design and curate a few flagship materials like a report/ brand film/ microsite that is curated specifically for a particular audience.
Archiving and Organising: Labeling, archiving and making all the materials accessible for the entire organisation
Training & Adoption: Impact documentation is an ongoing process. We ensure that org team members shadow us and learn how to continue documenting the project as it develops.

How will it help you?

Your qualitative impact can be a strong differentiator you from others

A diverse and fresh set of qualitative data and content (stories, photos, videos) that can be used across communication mediums like pitch decks, update mailers, funder reports, social media, website etc.
An opportunity to show the unique flavour of your work on ground that will differentiate you from other orgs/ work in a similar space or genre.
A way to capture the nuanced details of your work - the multi-stakeholder collaborations, validation and testimonials, emotion and mindset/ behavioural change in the community you are impacting.
A large quantity of information that can be used to build your brand presence and voice
Capacity building for being able to do this internally in a sustainable manner