Section 2.3. Defining outcomes Indicators Baselines Targets Outcomes Inputs Activities Outputs MEAL Framework Problem/ issue Dependencies Assumptions Data types and sources Questions Once you have a clear understanding of the key MEAL concepts and a clear picture of the problem or issue you are trying to address, you are ready to define your short, medium and long-term outcomes. The key question: What overall impact is your NHRI is trying to achieve? There is no standard definition or timeframe for short, medium and long-term outcomes. For the purposes of this Guide, the three levels of outcomes are defined as: • Long-term outcomes: the long-term goals, impacts and lasting change your NHRI is working towards. These happen over a substantial period of time (four to five years or more). Long-term outcomes will typically guide your strategic planning and form the core of what your NHRI does. (e.g. ‘Family violence is reduced in Samoa.) • Short-term outcomes: changes that happen as a result of your inputs, activities and outputs, which lead to your long-term outcome. Short-term outcomes typically happen over a few weeks or months. (e.g. policy, lawmakers and other relevant stakeholders are better informed about family violence in Samoa.) • Medium-term outcomes: changes that happen over several months or a few years. (e.g. policy, lawmakers and other relevant stakeholders actively seek to reduce family violence in Samoa.) Outcome levels are interlinked. Short-term outcomes lead or contribute to medium-term outcomes, which lead or contribute to long-term outcomes. It is helpful to start by defining your long-term outcomes and work backwards from there, but you can also go back and forth between the levels; just make sure they link to each other. The link between an activity/output and an outcome is also known as ‘causal attribution.’ It means your NHRI has done or produced something that has caused change (e.g. you have undertaken education on sexual harassment in the workplace with a government department and, as a result of your ‘activity’, policies and practices have been developed in the workplace and instances of sexual harassment have reduced). 33