Anticipated Impact Measurement and Monitoring

(AIMM)

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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.

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.

  • 28 SECTOR FRAMEWORKS
  • 500 INTENSITY INDICATORS
  • 500 GAP INDICATORS
  • 2900 PROJECTS SCORED

What We Measure

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

Project outcomes

These refer to a project’s direct effects on stakeholders (including employees, customers, suppliers, and the community); the direct, indirect, and induced effects on the economy and society overall; and the effects on the environment.

Market outcomes

These refer to a project’s potential for generating systemic, sector-wide changes that enhance market competitiveness, resilience, and sustainability.

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.

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. 

AIMM: Questions & Answers

Last updated: January 2025