Anticipated Impact Measurement and Monitoring

IFC’s strategy firmly places development impact at the heart of what we do.

In 2017, IFC developed the Anticipated Impact Measurement and Monitoring (AIMM) system, an advanced ex-ante impact assessment tool. This innovative system enables IFC to better define, measure, and monitor the development impact of each investment project.

Download: AIMM Brochure | AIMM Guidance Note

Currently, all IFC investment projects are evaluated for development impact using the AIMM system. Fully integrated into IFC’s operations, the AIMM system ensures that development impact considerations are weighed against other strategic objectives when making investment decisions, including volume, financial return, risk, and thematic priorities.

The AIMM system helps operationalize IFC’s strategy by providing a robust operational framework that:

• Improves our ability to select and design projects to maximize development impact;
• Strengthens our capacity to deliver a balanced portfolio of projects that generate both high development impact and solid financial returns; and
• Provides an “end-to-end” approach to results measurement by linking ex-ante assessments with learning and accountability functions.

Since January 2018, all new IFC investment projects have an ex-ante score that represents the investment’s expected development impact. To date, over 2,900 investment projects (committed and uncommitted) have been assessed and assigned ex-ante — or expected — AIMM scores.

The Anticipated Impact Measuring and Monitoring (AIMM) system evaluates a project’s development impact along two dimensions:

How we measure

IFC has created over two dozen sector frameworks to assess projects across all industries. These sector frameworks offer a step-by-step guide to assessing projects, providing an analytical framework to facilitate judgments of expected outcomes and contribution to market creation, in four areas:

Gap: How big is the problem IFC is seeking to address?

Intensity: How much does the project contribute towards addressing the identified gap?

Impact potential: Based on the problem and contribution, what is the potential to deliver desired effects?

Risk Assessment: What are the estimated risks associated with achieving the development outcome targets for IFC’s investments?

Common assessment parameters are embedded across frameworks for cross-cutting themes — Environment, Climate, Economic Inclusion, Community, and Gender.

AIMM sector frameworks

The AIMM system employs a set of sector frameworks that define the possible development impact thesis for each sector. The development impact thesis links the project’s main objectives to the development gap that it seeks to address, as well as the expected development outcomes. The sector frameworks also define a subset of core outcomes reflecting the key impacts that IFC’s interventions can have in the sector. Each outcome is substantiated through predefined indicators in the sector frameworks. Moreover, sector frameworks provide benchmarks for the development gap and contribution expected from the project to ensure objectivity in the assessment across projects in a sector.

IFC has created 29 sector frameworks spanning four industries: financial institutions; manufacturing, agribusiness, and services; infrastructure; and disruptive technology and funds. Summaries of these frameworks can be accessed through the links below (additional sector framework briefs will be added to this list as they become available).

How we monitor

The monitoring of outcomes is an essential component of the AIMM system, linking ex-ante assessments with actual results as projects are implemented. Each development outcome claim is explicitly tied to one or more indicators, which are regularly tracked during portfolio supervision. This links ex-ante AIMM ratings with real-time progress throughout the project life cycle.