Results-Based Management

About This Course

A management strategy focussing on performance and achievement of ouputs, outcomes and impacts”. DAC
“RBM is an approach aimed at achieving important changes in the way that organisations operate, with improving performance in terms of results as the central orientation...”MfDR-sourcebook
“RBM: approach that emphasizes development results in planning, implementation, learning and reporting” (CIDA)

RBM has been introduced in reaction to the shortcomings of previous ways to manage projects. In general, a lot of past development projects cannot really be considered successful as they did not achieve their objectives, so did not produce the expected results.
One of the reasons for this poor score was that project managers mainly were looking at what they were doing in terms of activities; they did not put sufficient attention on why they were doing these activities, what should be the expected results. Monitoring was focussed on the activities that had been implemented and on the means used for the implementation, but it did not show very well what results had been achieved and for whom.
Hence, the funding agencies had difficulties in justifying why projects had been supported, in particular towards tax payers. Neither did monitoring make clear what could be learned from the project in terms of doing things better. Moreover, the involvement of participants in the planning, implementation and monitoring of the project remained limited, so they did not really feel that the project was theirs.
In response to this poor achievement, management approaches have been reviewed and changed in order to improve the performance of projects and programmes and in this context RBM has been developed.