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A performance indicator is a measure of the result. Since a project result is just a statement, there is a need to provide direct evidence about it. That is why, many proposal formats demand indicators in their frameworks. For example, if you mention in your proposal that “100 village women are aware about their hygiene,” the next question that comes to anybody’s mind is how can you say that or on what basis can you claim that. This is very easy: ‘if you see that those 100 women are undertaking cleanliness in their houses, practicing personal hygiene and preventing their children from open defecation,’ then you can confidently say that they are aware about their hygiene because what you have been seeing are the performance indicators of your project. Such activities undertaken by your project beneficiaries as a result of your project intervention can be referred to as indicators.
Risks and assumptions are those conditions which are not under the control of your project or the organization. Usually donors want to know about them because they want to know what kind of external factors can hinder the project. For example, project activities implemented in conflict-prone areas or war zones can be extremely futile and the project cannot really do anything about it. Similarly, implementing project activities in remote and inaccessible areas just as hills and deserts can be very difficult especially during certain times of the year.