Submitted by Victor on
You’d be forgiven for assuming that outcome harvesting requires you to have a license to drive a tractor. But it’s OK to let go of the wheel, as it’s yet another example of the NGO world stealing words from other industries.
Outcome harvesting describes an evaluation process which identifies changes in something and then looks at whether and how an intervention led to those changes. The term is readily used when evaluating the impact that an NGO campaign or initiative has had.
However, at this point you may still be wondering what harvesting has to do with any of this. It’s simply a fancy term to describe the process of collecting - much like a farmer collects wheat or potatoes. But in this case, it's about collecting information on changes that potentially came about following an intervention.
But if you, like us, believe the farming terms should stay in the farmyard, you can describe the same evaluation process by simply saying you’re evaluating changes or outcomes - which in itself implies the collection of data.
PS. This isn’t the first time farming terms have cropped up in NGO literature; let’s not forget about cross-fertilisation.