DFID Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15 Results
These pages provide an overview of progress against DFID’s Results Framework.
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Introduction
In 2011, the DFID Results Framework (DRF) was published setting out the results the UK aims to achieve by 2015. These commitments were initially set out in UK aid: Changing lives, delivering results and in some cases have been updated with subsequent announcements.
The Results Framework is used as a tool to monitor and report progress in delivering these results targets, providing evidence of the impact of UK aid and the improvements made to the lives of poor people in the countries where the UK works. Please see below for more information on level 1, level 2, level 3 and level 4 of the framework.
As shown below, the Results Framework is organised into 4 levels. It sets out the development outcomes DFID is seeking to contribute to (level 1), the actual results DFID will deliver (level 2), and the metrics DFID uses to measure its organisational effectiveness and efficiency (level 3 and 4). It is important to note that the Framework does not capture everything that DFID is delivering. Each DFID country office and central spending department publishes an Operational Plan setting out the contribution that they make to the corporate results as well as wider results they deliver through country, regional and central programmes. In addition, more details of the projects operating in each of the countries DFID work in can be found on the UK Development Tracker.
These web pages focus on results achieved under level 2 of the Results Framework. The data is also available to download from the results datasets page. For more information on levels 1, 3 and 4, please follow the links set out under each level below.
DFID Results Framework
Level 1: Progress on key development outcomes
This level monitors key development outcomes in DFID’s priority countries. These outcomes cannot be attributed to DFID alone; they result from the collective action of developing countries and diverse development partners. The focus of Level 1 is progress against a relevant subset of the internationally agreed Millennium Development Goal (MDG) standard indicators. For more information on MDG progress, please see chapter 4 of DFID’s Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15 or the United Nations MDG Progress Reports.
One indicator included within level 1 of the DRF is not an official MDG indicator. This is the indicator ‘proportion of children that can read with sufficient fluency for comprehension in early grades’, which DFID uses to measure progress against MDG 2: Achieve universal primary education.
As set out in DFID’s Education position paper, pdf 978KB, DFID has put learning at the heart of its support to education, with a specific focus on early grade reading as a foundation to further learning. This requires an understanding of how and what children are learning in our priority countries. To address this we have increased efforts to assess learning outcomes both globally and in country. Globally, DFID is part of the Learning Metrics Taskforce, provides support to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics to develop global learning data sets, and supports a pilot to implement the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in low income countries. Out of the 20 DFID priority countries which cover education, all but 1 (Afghanistan) have conducted at least 1 robust assessment of early grade learning in the last 5 years. Ten countries have at least 2 comparable assessments over this time period [1]; and of these 5 suggest an improvement in the percentage of early grade children that can read with fluency [2]. This reflects both the time lag for establishing and reporting quality learning data, and for translating higher quality education into improvements in learning outcomes at scale (evidence shows, pdf 217KB the latter is often 5-10). In some countries it also reflects an increase in enrolment, which may temporarily decrease average learning outcomes in school. DFID is also focusing on early grade learning through the Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) Fund. Each of the 36 GEC projects is conducting regular early grade reading assessments, covering over 1 million girls in total.
[1] Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe. These assessments use comparable methods over time, but do not always use modelling methods to ensure direct comparability over time.
[2] Bangladesh, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe. We have reported any increase, regardless of statistical significance, consistent with other Level 1 indicator reporting.
Level 2: DFID Results
At level 2, DFID measures the outputs that can be directly linked to its programmes and projects whether delivered through bilateral country programmes, or through contributions to multilateral organisations. Some level 2 DRF indicators have specific results targets, and are used to measure progress against commitments set out in ‘UK aid: Changing lives, delivering results’, to be achieved by 2015. For some indicators, the commitments have not yet been met as there are time lags associated with obtaining confirmed results figures in many countries, and some results delivered during 2014-15 have yet to be confirmed and/or become fully available.
It is important to note that the indicators in level 2 reflect those outputs where it is possible to aggregate results across different countries and so do not capture all the results that DFID is delivering. A fuller set of results are set out in Operational Plans published on the GOV.UK website.
Results under level 2 of the DRF are presented for each of the following sectors:
- Wealth creation
- Poverty, vulnerability, nutrition and hunger
- Education
- Health
- Water, sanitation and hygiene
- Humanitarian assistance
- Governance and security
- Climate change
- Infrastructure
Some important information to be aware of when using the results estimates is provided in the technical notes.
For information on the methodology for measuring the results indicators, details of the data sources used and information on the quality of the estimates, please see the indicator methodology notes.
For a breakdown of results by sector, country, sex, and over time, please visit the Annual Report results datasets.
Level 3: Operational effectiveness
Level 3 of the DFID Results Framework monitors how well the Department manages itself to deliver results and ensure value for money. DFID monitors closely the following performance areas:
- pipeline delivery – forward looking data on DFID’s pipeline of programmes (either approved or under design) to help assess whether DFID has sufficient good quality plans in place at the right time to ensure it will achieve its commitments and spend its budget effectively
- portfolio quality – a measure of the extent to which DFID’s interventions are on track to deliver their expected outputs and outcomes
- monitoring and evaluation – data on the extent to which DFID is actively reviewing its programmes and learning lessons for the future
- Structural Reform Plan – data to assess how well DFID has delivered against its corporate objectives and areas prioritised by the coalition government
For more information on level 3 of the DRF, please see chapter 4 of DFID’s Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15.
Level 4: Organisational effectiveness
A key challenge for DFID is delivering a growing aid programme whilst reducing administrative costs. It is essential that DFID ensures its internal corporate processes are as efficient as possible. Level 4 of the DFID Results Framework focuses on monitoring improvements in organisational efficiency.
DFID’s Business Plan indicators are reported under level 4 of the DRF. These include a subset of the level 2 results indicators (impact indicators), along with information relating to the costs of these results (input indicators). For more information on level 4 of the DRF, please see chapter 4 of DFID’s Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15. Business plan impact and input indicator data is also available to download from the Annual Report results datasets page.