Developing Performance Indicators for Rural Scotland: A Scoping Study

Annex Two: Scotland Rural Development Programme - Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework

Types of Indicator in the EU Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework ³⁵

Baseline Indicators: Used in the SWOT analysis and the definition of the programme strategy ( Chapter 3). Two categories:

• Objective related baseline indicators -These are directly linked to the wider objectives of the programme. They are also used as a baseline (or reference) against which the programmes' impact will be assessed.
• Context related baseline indicators - These provide information on relevant aspects of the general contextual trends that are likely to have an influence on the performance of the programme. For example:
• Labour Productivity
• Water Quality
• Economic development of non-agricultural sector

Input indicators: These refer to the budget or other resources allocated. They are used to monitor progress in terms of the (annual) commitment and payment of the funds.

• Expenditure per measure.

Output indicators: These measure activities directly realised within programmes. For example:

• Number of training sessions organised
• Number of farms receiving investment support
• Total volume of investment

Result indicators: These measure the direct and immediate effects of the intervention. For example

• Gross number of jobs created
• Successful training outcomes

Impact Indicators: These refer to the benefits of the programme beyond the immediate effects on its direct beneficiaries. For example:

• Labour Productivity