Measuring Impact, Centering People: What We Learn from Listening to Communities
Author: Esther Nanjovu – Oxfam in Timor Leste.
In the world of development and social change, impact is often reduced to numbers—how many people reached, how much funding disbursed, how many activities completed. While these figures offer a snapshot of scale, they rarely capture the full story. True impact unfolds over time. It’s reflected in lasting shifts in power, resilience, equity, and opportunity. It’s not just about what was delivered—it’s about what endures, transforms, and empowers long after the project or program ends.
Impact is not something we ‘impose’—it’s something we uncover. And when we center communities and listen deeply, we gain a more authentic understanding of what meaningful change truly looks like. We mitigate the risk of overlooking the lived experiences, cultural context, and aspirations of the people most affected.
The Limits of Traditional Metrics: Quantitative metrics have long shaped how impact is assessed. They offer clarity, consistency, and comparability—but often at the cost of nuance. When success is defined by simplified criteria, it can incentivize short-term wins but fail to build long-term resilience. Even more concerning, when data is extracted without meaningful dialogue, communities risk being treated as passive subjects rather than active partners in change. To truly measure what matters, we must move beyond numbers and toward approaches that honor complexity, context, and lived experience.
This article explores how shifting from top-down evaluation to community-centered listening reshapes not only how we measure impact, but how we define it.
As Dr. Erin McFee of the London School of Economics notes, interventions often unintentionally undermine their own goals when they prioritize performative compliance over genuine trust-building[1].
Listening as a Tool for Transformation: Listening is more than a courtesy—it’s a methodology. When communities are invited to define success, the outcomes shift dramatically. Listening means:
- Co-creating evaluation frameworks with local stakeholders.
- Valuing stories and lived experience as legitimate data.
- Recognizing power dynamics and redistributing decision-making authority.
Communities must move beyond being consulted—they should be empowered to lead telling the story of what impact means to them. When local actors are actively engaged in shaping and interpreting data, the result is deeper insight and more authentic narratives of impact.
Toward a New Paradigm: To truly center people in impact measurement, organizations must embrace a paradigm shift:
- From extraction to co-creation: Data should be gathered with communities, not from them.
- From metrics to meaning: Numbers matter, but they must be contextualized by human experience.
- From control to collaboration: Communities must have agency in defining, measuring, and interpreting impact.
This shift requires humility, patience, and a willingness to embrace complexity. However the potential reward is profound: impact that is not only measurable, but meaningful.
In the end, the most powerful metric may be the act of listening itself. When communities are heard, their insights shape more relevant programs, their voices guide more ethical decisions, and their stories illuminate paths that data alone cannot reveal. Measuring impact is important. But centering people—truly listening to them—is what makes that impact real.
‘Impact is not what we count—it is what we carry forward, together.’ Esther Nanjovu – Oxfam in Timor Leste.
Other resources
https://www.lse.ac.uk/geography-and-environment/people/academic-staff/erin-mcfee
A Beginner’s Guide to Impact Measurement - Social Good Stuff
Sukat Impaktu, Sentraliza Ema: Saida maka Ita Aprende hosi Rona Lian Komunidade Nian
Hakerek-na'in: Esther Nanjovu – Oxfam iha Timor Leste.
Iha mundu ne'ebé nakonu ho dezenvolvimentu no mudansa sosiál, impaktu sira dala barak redús tiha ba númeru—ema hira maka ita atinji, finansiamentu hira maka dezembolsa, atividade hira maka kompleta ona. Enkuantu figura sira-ne'e oferese imajen ida kona-ba eskala, maibé ladún kaptura istória tomak. Impaktu loloos akontese durante prosesu ne’e la’o hela no neneik. Ida-ne'e reflete iha mudansa sira ne'ebé dura iha podér, reziliénsia, ekuidade, no oportunidade. La'ós de'it kona-ba saida maka implementa ona—ida ne'e kona-ba saida maka dura, transforma, no fó kbiit ba tempu-naruk hafoin projetu ka programa ne'e remata.
Impaktu la'ós buat ida ne'ebé ita 'impoin' - ida-ne'e buat ida ne'ebé ita deskobre. No bainhira ita sentraliza komunidade sira no rona ho klean sira nia lian, ita hetan komprensaun ida ne'ebé auténtiku liu kona-ba saida maka mudansa signifikativu loloos. Ita mitiga risku atu haree ba esperiénsia moris nian, kontestu kulturál, no aspirasaun sira hosi ema sira ne'ebé afetadu liu.
Limitasaun sira hosi Métrika Tradisionál sira: Métrika kuantitativu sira eziste kleur ona hodi oinsá avalia impaktu sira. No ida ne’e oferese klareza, konsisténsia, no komparabilidade—maibé dala barak ho kustu nuansa nian. Bainhira susesu define hosi kritériu simplifikadu, ida-ne'e bele insentiva susesu sira iha tempu badak nian maibé la konsege harii reziliénsia ba tempu naruk. Preokupadu liután, bainhira dadus sira foti la-hó diálogu signifikativu, komunidade nia risku trata hanesan sujeitu pasivu duké parseiru ativu sira iha mudansa. Atu sukat loloos saida maka importante, ita la’os hakat liu hodi haree de’it ba númeru sira maibé haree ba aprosimasaun sira ne'ebé fó onra ba kompleksidade, kontestu, no esperiénsia moris nian.
Artigu ida-ne'e esplora oinsá mudansa avaliasaun hosi leten ba kraik no ba sentralizasaun komunidade nia-lian influensia no sai hanesan sasukat ba impaktu, maibé oinsá ita define ida-ne'e.
Hanesan Dr. Erin McFee husi Eskola Londres, departamentu Ekonomia, anota, intervensaun sira dala barak la ho intensaun estraga nia objetivu sira rasik bainhira fó prioridade ba regulamentu performativu duké harii konfiansa jenuínu1.
Rona hanesan Instrumentu ba Transformasaun: Rona la'ós de'it kortezia ida—ne'e metodolojia ida. Bainhira komunidade sira konvida mai atu define susesu, rezultadu sira iha mudansa maka'as. Rona signifika:
- Ko-kria enkuadramentu avaliasaun sira ho parte interesada lokál sira.
- Valoriza istória sira no esperiénsia moris nian hanesan dadus lejítimu.
- Rekoñese dinámika podér nian no redistribui autoridade foti desizaun nian.
Komunidade sira tenke muda atu la’os de’it fó informasaun—sira tenke hetan kbiit atu lidera konta istória kona-ba saida maka impaktu signifika ba sira. Bainhira atór lokál sira envolve ativamente iha formasaun no interpretasaun dadus, rezultadu sira iha nia signifikadu klean liu no narrativa sira impaktu nian ne'ebé auténtiku liu.
Ba Paradigma Foun: Atu sentra duni ema sira iha sasukat impaktu nian, organizasaun sira tenke simu mudansa paradigma ida:
- Husi estrasaun ba ko-kriasaun: Dadus tenke halibur ho komunidade sira, la'ós hosi sira.
- Husi métrika sira ba signifikadu: Númeru sira importante, maibé sira tenke kontestualiza hosi esperiénsia umana.
- Husi kontrolu ba kolaborasaun: Komunidade sira tenke iha ajénsia atu define, sukat, no interpreta impaktu.
Mudansa ida-ne'e presiza umanidade, pasiénsia, no vontade atu simu kompleksidade. Maibé, rekompensaun potensiál maka klean: impaktu ne'ebé la'ós de'it bele sukat, maibé signifikativu.
Ikusmai, métrika ne'ebé forte liu maka aktu husi rona nian rasik. Bainhira ita rona komunidade sira, sira nia hanoin sira forma programa sira ne'ebé relevante liu, sira nia lian orienta desizaun étika liu, no sira nia istória sira fó naroman ba dalan sira ne'ebé dadus mesak labele revela. Sukat impaktu sira importante. Maibé tau ema nu’udar sentru—rona duni sira—mak buat ne'ebé halo impaktu ne'e sai signifikativu.
‘Impaktu la’ós buat ne’ebé ita sura—ne’e buat ne’ebé ita lori ba oin, hamutuk.’ Esther Nanjovu – Oxfam iha Timor Leste.
Rekursu sira seluk:
https://www.lse.ac.uk/geography-and-environment/people/academic-staff/erin-mcfee
A Beginner’s Guide to Impact Measurement - Social Good Stuff