Value for Money Design, Assessment and Reporting: A practical guide

This practical guide, developed by FSD Africa in collaboration with Oxford Policy Management, provides a structured framework for Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) programmes to design, assess, and report on Value for Money (VfM). It moves beyond simple indicators to an evaluative approach based on explicit criteria and performance standards across five dimensions: economy, efficiency, effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and equity.

• The VfM framework treats Value for Money as an evaluative question regarding the justification and quality of resource use, requiring qualitative judgements rather than relying solely on quantitative indicators.
• The guide employs a 'Four Es' approach, expanded to five criteria: economy, efficiency, effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and equity, each with specific definitions and performance standards (rubrics) ranging from 'poor' to 'excellent'.
• Economy is defined as the management of programme resources to procure inputs of appropriate quality at the right price, with performance judged against benchmarks for costs such as consultants, salaries, and administrative overheads.
• Efficiency focuses on the technical conversion of inputs into outputs, specifically whether the FSD produces the intended quality and quantity of deliverables within available resources and according to workplans.
• Effectiveness measures the programme's contribution to positive market changes, categorized into three levels: partner changes supported by initial projects, partner-influenced expansion or replication, and wider system changes.
• Cost-effectiveness is assessed via proxies of high-level market change outcomes in the Theory of Change, focusing on whether the programme creates more value than it consumes through improved financial sector development and inclusion.
• Equity is treated as a distinct criterion to ensure resources and results target under-served groups, including poor people, women and girls, people with disabilities, and those in remote rural areas.
• The framework integrates with existing Monitoring and Results Measurement (MRM) systems, specifically aligning with Impact-Oriented Measurement (IOM) and the FSD Compendium of Indicators to minimize additional data collection burdens.
• The process for reaching a VfM judgement involves a synthesis of mixed-methods evidence (indicators and narratives) and is ideally conducted through a collaborative dialogue between FSD management, donors, and independent evaluators.
• The guide provides a step-by-step process starting with the alignment of the programme's Theory of Change (ToC) with VfM criteria, followed by evidence gathering, analysis, synthesis, and final reporting.

APA

FSD Africa (n.d.). Value for Money Design, Assessment and Reporting: A practical guide. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Value-for-Money-Guide.pdf

Chicago

FSD Africa. Value for Money Design, Assessment and Reporting: A practical guide. n.d. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Value-for-Money-Guide.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=FSD Africa |title=Value for Money Design, Assessment and Reporting: A practical guide |url=https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Value-for-Money-Guide.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{fsdafricandvalue, author = {{FSD Africa}}, title = {{Value for Money Design, Assessment and Reporting: A practical guide}}, institution = {FSD Africa}, url = {https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Value-for-Money-Guide.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }