A programme with no single clear indicator
You have a programme for children or teens, and don't have one clear indicator telling you whether it is working.
A Dawani service
Impact measurement for children's and teens' programmes
We build for your existing or proposed programme a success indicator that is actually measured and a guardrail indicator watching for harm nobody intended, instead of a reach number that sounds convincing and proves nothing. We state the correct type of every results sentence: observed, measured, or interpretation.
What you get
- A written theory of change linking your programme's activity to a specific result in the child.
- A proximal success indicator that can actually be measured within your programme's own timeframe.
- At least one guardrail indicator, mandatory rather than optional.
- Report language that speaks of impact, not only of activities.
How we work
We take your current metric, and the KPI Translator tool turns it into a child-outcome indicator and a guardrail. We separate what a proximal indicator can honestly measure from what a distal one cannot honestly claim, and build the measurement the same way every experience here is tested with real children, with the same candour that governs every decision here when the comfortable number differs from what was actually measured.
For anyone running a programme at a nonprofit, the full detail of these steps lives in how a nonprofit measures its programme's impact.
When you need this service
Situations where you need measurement that holds up to a hard question
A report resting on attendance alone
You have an upcoming report to a funder or a board, resting today on attendance, not on what actually changed.
A programme specifically for adolescents
You have a programme specifically for adolescents, and need a measurement approach that respects their independence and doesn't provoke them.
How the service runs
Four stages, a gate after each
1 Understanding the goal
We listen to your programme's goal as you describe it, and ask: what actually changes in the child if the programme succeeds?
Gate: Understanding leaves this stage once we agree on one clear theory of change linking the activity to the result.
2 Written framing
We write a document naming the proximal indicator and the guardrail, the tool for collecting them, and their time window.
Gate: The document leaves this stage once you approve both indicators in writing before any data collection.
3 Gray prototype and testing with children
We test the measurement instrument itself with a small group of children or teens before rolling it out across the whole programme.
Gate: The test leaves this stage once the questions are understood as we intended, not only as adults understood them.
4 Delivery and measurement
We deliver the measurement frame, and write its first reading with you in the language of impact, not only activities.
Gate: This stage does not end with one report; the guardrail indicator continues with you into every future cycle of the programme.
In scope and out of scope
| Aspect | In scope | Out of scope |
|---|---|---|
| The figure shown | A success indicator and a guardrail indicator, read together, not one instead of the other. | We do not put forward one composite numeric score summarising everything. |
| Duration and price | We agree the scope and deliverables in writing before any commitment. | No delivery time before we understand the request, and no price published on the site. |
| Kind of impact | Proximal impact we can actually measure within your programme's own timeframe. | We do not claim distal impact such as overall academic attainment without a comparative research design. |
| Legal compliance | We build the measurement frame under Dawani's own independent reference. | We issue no legal compliance certificate and no legal opinion. |
Before you write to us
A tool, a post and a reference
The KPI Translator tool
Translate your current metric before a first conversation, so you reach us with an early outcome indicator and guardrail ready for discussion.
Open the toolMeasuring impact with adolescents
Read the difference between a proximal indicator honestly measurable and a distal one that cannot honestly be claimed, and why the guardrail indicator is mandatory.
Read the postThe nonprofit pathway
See how we build a success indicator the funder understands and a guardrail indicator that protects the child, together, not one instead of the other.
Visit the nonprofit pathwayBefore a first conversation
Questions often asked about this service
Can impact be measured for a programme that has already ended, not one still being designed?
Yes, if enough data about its activity remains. But measurement designed alongside the programme from day one stays more accurate than measurement built after it ends.
Does this measurement suit an internal report to our own board, not an external funder?
Yes. The theory of change and the success and guardrail indicators serve any reader who wants to know what actually changed, whether the report is internal or aimed at a funder.
Do we need ready-made data about our programme before we start with you?
No. We start from a theory of change written in your own words, and design the data-collection instrument with you; no ready-made data is needed to start.
Start here
Have a programme that needs an indicator that holds up to a hard question?
Describe your situation plainly, and we will get back to you within a few working days.
Your path: government body
Your idea arrived.
A real person from the Dawani team will read it and reply within a few working days. Thank you for thinking about kids.
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