Demonstrating impact: ASI’s Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) program

The challenge of demonstrating impact is central to the design of the ASI certification program. The adoption of the ASI standard by actors in the aluminium value chain is a means to achieve responsible production, sourcing and stewardship of aluminium: it is not an end in itself.

A Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) program is a key tool for ASI to gain insight into the impact of its efforts and that of its members and, over time, to support continual improvement of its program. Implementing an effective M&E program will enable ASI to both communicate its progress and value, and inform the design and regular revision of its standards and assurance model so that it adapts to changing contexts and expectations. Thus M&E has a dual role: to provide evidence of outcomes and impact (“to prove”), and to learn from implementation and feedback (“to improve”).

Download the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan document for more information

The M&E program therefore aims to capture the most important changes brought about by value chain actors that have adopted ASI standards, and identify gaps and issues that need further attention. ASI already collects data directly from members at the time of their membership application and during the certification process through its online assurance platform, elementAl. ASI will also conduct further data collection and analyses through case studies and surveys, and once there are a critical mass of certifications, plans to commission impact evaluations by independent researchers from 2019/2020.

This M&E Plan is intended as a dynamic document, similar to the ASI Risk Assessment and Management Plan, to be regularly reviewed and updated. It sets out:

• The ASI Theory of Change (v1 and v2)
• Proposed indicators for ASI’s Expected Outcomes and Desired Impacts