The defining of clear and meaningful results is required by the MDF fund. The expected results in a proposal can be categorized as three levels: output (short-term), outcome (mid-term), and impact (long-term). Applicants are expected to be able to contribute to the reduction of informal financial practices, wealth-building, and job creation in Africa. More importantly, members of the African Diaspora will build on the social capital of their countries of origin in their local communities as well as their host societies. The following are expected results by the MDF fund.
- Reduction of financial informality: Financial institutions, particularly microfinance institutions (MFIs), play a critical role in reducing informal financial practices;
- Wealth-building and job creation: Grantees will be able to implement projects that create wealth and jobs for Africans in local communities and the Diaspora, thus alleviating poverty;
- Women and youth: The principles of gender equality and female empowerment, and human rights are core development objectives;
In addition, the monitor and evaluation plan by using indicators with time schedules should be described. The indicators are measurement index of the results, which will be used as index to monitor that if the project is moving on the right direction. One or more indicators for each objective should be selected as quantity data (number, percentage, ratio), and quality data (fact, knowledge). For example, it could be “the reduced rates of the banking service fees from the new banking network”, “the percentage of the migrants who have access to the new banking network”, or “the number of jobs created by the new banking network”, etc.
The monitoring and evaluation are two parts of a practical plan of using indicators to show the MDF that how you can manage to keep your project moving towards the correct direction. A well-designed monitoring and evaluation section will use the indicators to measure the results to track an ongoing project, and to offer useful data and information to the project chief staff and director. The MDF expects you to report on your progress either quarterly, semi-annually, and at an end of a year or a project.
