# Impact management for public sector bodies

> Monitor and account for programmes and subsidies

Source: https://narrate.works/with/public-sector-bodies
Language: English (Nederlands: https://narrate.works/met/publieke-organisaties)
Publisher: Narrate (Narrate B.V.), https://narrate.works

For Public sector bodies

# Monitoring and evaluation for public sector bodies

Show what your programmes and subsidies achieve, with a monitoring and evaluation framework built for funder and audit requirements, and one you can learn from.

Organisations we work with

## What you get

### Built for ERDF and ESF+ reporting

An intervention logic and indicators that match programme requirements, with evidence kept in order for the final report and audit

### Accountability that holds up

Clear methods and honest conclusions you can explain to councillors, auditors and residents

### More than outputs

Insight into outcomes and social value, so you know what your programme changes, for whom

### Partners on the same page

Shared outcomes agreed with officials, partners and residents, captured in a theory of change

### Your own capability

Coaching and implementation support, so your team can run monitoring and evaluation itself

Photo: [Fons Heijnsbroek](https://unsplash.com/@fonsheijnsbroek_amsterdam_photos?utm_source=narrate&utm_medium=referral) via [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=narrate&utm_medium=referral)

## Why we do what we do

Read the film as text

1. We all want to know
2. our place in the world.
3. Thin grey lines join dots into a web.
4. We like to believe that what we do is part of something larger.
5. It is.
6. Together we make our surroundings, our brands, our communities.
7. We shape the work of others, as they shape ours.
8. The web grows dense.
9. We live in one web of cause and consequence.
10. Each path tells a story, part of a larger narrative.
11. A system of meaning.
12. So what is our impact?
13. Whose lives do we touch?
14. What changed? For whom? How much? And what part was ours?
15. Intended or not, for better or worse.
16. Knowing that changes what you do next.
17. A dark line draws a path through the web. Impact management helps you see it, steer it, and use it.
18. A large word: Lead. A purple path runs through the web. Lead with purpose, and fund your mission.
19. A large word: Improve. A green path runs through the web. Learn what doesn’t work and design for better.
20. A large word: Engage. A blue-green path runs through the web. Share your story, and bring others into it.
21. A large word: Account. A blue path runs through the web. State your claim, and prove it.
22. A large word: Discover. A yellow path runs through the web. Find your next impact before it happens.
23. “How do you measure impact?”
24. It sounds hard.
25. It isn’t.
26. It’s not about the how.
27. It’s about
28. Portraits of people fill the screen.
29. A large word: Who.
30. About rights-holders, whose lives are touched.
31. And stakeholders, whose choices shape them.
32. The people stand side by side, at the same height. A wave of colour runs through the web. Every voice, every perspective, equally weighed.
33. The web turns many colours. Pluriform and equivalent.
34. Who determines what.
35. And what determines how.
36. That’s it. No more, no less.
37. We count what can be counted, and listen to the rest.
38. Coloured paths wind across the web. We find the stories that connect the dots, and make sense of the whole.
39. We love our craft:
40. to ask the questions,
41. to measure what matters,
42. and narrate what works.
43. One dark path remains. Let’s reveal your path.
44. The word narrate, with the line: impact in numbers and stories.

## What we often hear

“Our ERDF grant needs solid impact reporting, and our team lacks the time for a monitoring framework.”

We help you design a lean framework that meets the requirements without overloading staff, and support your team in running it themselves

“The board wants results within this term, but the change we work on takes longer.”

We help you identify intermediate outcomes and early signals that show credible progress while long-term results develop

“Departments and partners collect overlapping data for the same programme. Partners get frustrated.”

We help you align indicators and data flows between departments and partners, so information is collected once and used more widely

“The press, freedom of information requests and the audit office are watching. A bold impact claim is risky.”

We help you substantiate outcomes with transparent methods and reporting that state limitations clearly, so your claims hold up

“The board wants visible results, our team clear processes and partners a real say.”

We facilitate sessions that bring these expectations together in shared, measurable outcomes everyone can support

“On paper we introduced the new process, but departments work as they always did. We only notice late.”

We look with your team at the gap between paper and practice, starting with who needs which information. With coaching your team then runs it themselves.

“Our programme really delivers, but I can’t turn it into a clear story for residents and councillors.”

We help you translate findings into accessible public reports and short briefs for decision-makers

“A permanent M&E role for a temporary programme can’t be justified. So who does the work?”

We combine interim support, coaching and templates, so your team can keep the work going once the engagement ends

## What you may be wondering

We have no time for a big monitoring project. Do we need one?

No. The scan takes a few weeks. Then you choose a lean framework that meets the requirements without overloading your team.

What if the auditors look back years later?

We record methods and supporting evidence from the start. So you can find them when the auditor calls.

Will our team actually use it?

We start from who needs which information, not from a form. With coaching, your team then runs it themselves.

## To read

- [The glass ceiling of a self-managing team](https://narrate.works/resources-and-insights/glass-ceiling-self-managing-teams)

At a large public organisation we set up an Impact & Insights team. We saw how far a team gets when it manages its own work by its impact. And where it gets stuck: not on people, but on fear, and on meetings that turn into an arena.

- [Grant reporting without weeks of copy and paste](https://narrate.works/resources-and-insights/accounting-for-a-grant)

The final report is due and it feels like starting from scratch. Here is how we write it from what is already there.

- [Monitoring, evaluation, impact management: what is the difference?](https://narrate.works/resources-and-insights/monitoring-evaluation-impact-management)

Three words that get mixed up. What they mean, when you need which, and why you can start small.

- [Using AI for your report without losing your sources](https://narrate.works/resources-and-insights/using-ai-for-your-report)

AI can help you write a report faster. Here is how to keep track of where every figure comes from. Then you are ready when a participant, a partner, a funder or an auditor asks.

## Start with a scan of what you already measure

We map your reports and routines, and who needs which information when. You get a clear picture of where you stand and a list of possible next steps.

[More about Impact maturity discovery](https://narrate.works/solutions/discovery)

## Explore how we could work together

The collaboration explorer is already set up for public sector bodies. Answer a few short questions and see which forms of collaboration fit, with a rough price level.

## From practice

- [Nieuw Denken, Werken, Bouwen: a shared agenda in one film Innovatie- en Opschalingsprogramma, via De Bouwcampus Nieuw Denken, Werken, Bouwen is a collaboration agenda. Parties apply innovations together in real places: homes that fit, dry feet, cool streets, affordable energy, work and care nearby. The agenda needed a clear story that anyone could follow.](https://narrate.works/cases/nieuw-denken-werken-bouwen)
- [Impact framework for the Smart Energy Hubs programme Oost NL Oost NL supports energy hubs through its Smart Energy Hubs programme. It needed a way to make the impact of those hubs clear and measurable.](https://narrate.works/cases/oost-nl-smart-energy-hubs)
- [Impact & Insights team for a metropolitan library network Amsterdam public library network The Amsterdam public library network wanted to make its social impact visible and use those insights in its work.](https://narrate.works/cases/amsterdam-library-impact-insights)

## Want a monitoring and evaluation framework that works?

Book a call about your programme and funder requirements, or read about our work with Oost NL on Smart Energy Hubs and with Nieuw Denken Werken Bouwen.
