The Outcome Mapping Learning Community is an informal group of over a thousand members from around the world. It acts largely as a dynamic platform for sharing knowledge and experiences relating to Outcome Mapping, a methodology for planning, monitoring and evaluation of projects and programmes developed by the International Development Research Centre. Members come together to solve problems, to showcase and trade their discoveries and good practices, and to support one another in applying Outcome Mapping.

In order to capture, record and disseminate the knowledge shared through the community, a practice of summarising and synthesising discussions has emerged. This book is a product of that practice and is designed to be a reference and a summary of how OM is evolving and being adapted and applied around the world.

The knowledge and experience presented here broadly fits around four strands which carry through the various discussions and topics:

1. Application: Applying OM in the most efficient and effective way
2. Adaptation: Adapting OM to fit the purpose and making sure it is appropriate for the users
3. Contextualisation: Ensuring OM is sensitive to the local geopolitical, socioeconomic and thematic context
4. Communication: Best practices for communicating OM to partners, donors, colleagues and peers

This book is divided into two sections. The first section is a series of syntheses which pick up the lessons from the discussions and presents them by topic: OM steps, OM in specific sectors, complimentary tools and approaches, communicating and advocating for OM and complexity and OM. The second section is a collection of twenty discussion summaries, representing a year’s worth of knowledge shared among community members. Please note this is provided for reference and is not intended to be read from cover to cover.

We want to ensure that these discussions are not static so if there is anything you would like to comment on or contribute to, then please do interact via the community website:
www.outcomemapping.ca.