Baseline Study Coordinator at World University Service of Canada

Job Summary

Purpose and Objectives of the StudyThe process of developing the Baseline Study is part of the Project Implementation Plan (PIP), which provides an early opportunity for project partners to collaborate and begin putting in place a results-based monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL) plan for the project. The MERL plan must be based on GAC’s Results-Based Management approach.
The purpose of the baseline study for WUSC’s IGNI+E Project is to help the program staff and partners focus on program achievement related to a limited set of expected outcomes; and to empower partners to collaboratively measure and review these outcomes. Aligned with this purpose, the baseline study is designed to help the project achieve four specific objectives:

• To better understand the implementation context for the project at the onset of implementation
• To inform the performance measurement framework (PMF) by validating a SMART set of indicators, and establishing baselines for these performance measures
• To provide the foundation for a comprehensive results-based monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL) plan for the project

Specific baseline values must be provided for all relevant indicators in the PMF as early as possible in the project’s lifecycle. Baseline data will then be used to inform the establishment of realistic and achievable targets, and provide a point of reference against which progress on or towards the achievement of outcomes can be monitored and evaluated.
Baselines provided in the PMF must be accompanied by a narrative to explain how this starting point data was collected, analyzed and validated. In the PIP, this narrative includes an explanation of baseline data limitations at the onset of project implementation, and how these gaps will be dealt with as part of the project’s work planning.