Our data helps us to tell the story of our global efforts to save lives, defeat poverty, and achieve lasting change.
CARE’s data tells us a story. It is the story of how CARE, partner organizations, governments, and project participants are working every day to fight poverty, putting women and girls at the center. How our partners and we are helping to save lives and achieve lasting change in over 100 countries.
This data-driven story allows us to listen. The numbers, stories, and especially the voices of communities we strive to support collectively show us what we are doing right and where we need to improve.
Listening tells us how we contributed to meaningful change.
Two paths towards change
People involved in CARE and partners’ programs benefit in two main interdependent ways. One is the short-term benefit of being involved in the program’s activities. This is what we call reach.
The other is the long-term transformations that happen in people’s lives. They can be shown in line with the Sustainable Development Goals established by the UN. This is what we call lasting impact.
Reach
Our reach data reflects the number of people who were involved in our programs in the last year, either receiving support, services, goods, or resources from CARE or partners.
For example, when we provide training to Wanda on how to improve and increase her dairy production, and through her, also expand knowledge about production practices in her home - this is reach.
Lasting Impact
Our lasting impact data reflects the longer-term improvements in people’s lives as a result of longer-term program outcomes or larger structural changes (e.g. changes in policies or social norms).
The contribution to Wanda's production, for example, can help her have long-term increased income, contributing to reducing poverty (SDG 1), and greater influence in household decisions (SDG 5).
When measuring impact, CARE programs use a set of impact indicators, which are aligned with the SDGs and can be aggregated globally.
CARE is proud to be one of the few organizations in the world to report its work both through reach and impact data. We’re also part of the small group of NGOS that can describe our programs’ contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals.
This allows us to understand and demonstrate lasting transformations in people’s lives.
To learn more about how we measure change at CARE, please get in touch with us: [email protected].
Learn more about how listening to data can improve humanitarian aid in this Ted Talk with CARE's Director for Knowledge Management and Learning, Emily Janoch.
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