The appraisal process is not a decision making algorithm; its objective is to support decision-making.
The assessment should move beyond a narrow focus on Benefit Cost Ratios (BCRs). The BCR is important, but it does not reflect all the impacts interventions may have on the strategic objectives that decision makers are trying to achieve.
Most likely there will be impacts which cannot be monetised and so cannot be included in a BCR. The use of VfM categories, which allow decisions to incorporate non-monetised impacts alongside the BCR, enables a fuller assessment of
interventions to be made.
Impacts included in the VfM assessment (monetised and non-monetised) should be:
- grounded in solid evidence
- based on a robust theory of change, linking inputs and activities to outcomes.
All relevant impacts identified by the theory of change should be considered in the VfM assessment and adequate allowance is made for additionality when making the assessment, otherwise there’s a risk incorrect conclusions might be drawn.
Leave a comment