Defining outcomes

An outcome is a change in a target audience’s skills, attitudes, knowledge, behaviors, status, or life condition brought about by experiencing a program. Examine the following examples:

Outcomes develop over time. Note that:  

• short-term outcomes are likely to be changes in skills, attitudes, and knowledge
• medium-term often include changes in behavior and decision making
• long-term outcomes may involve changes in status or life conditions

Most projects only have the resources and time frame to measure short-term and medium-term outcomes.