Report Writing

Need help putting together a high-level project progress or final report for donors?

Reports are a vital part of any project yet are often perceived as a burden. Well-written reports provide an accurate, structured, cohesive, evidence-based documentation of activities, progress, and achievements of outputs, outcomes and impacts. They are key to a more informed decision-making, good planning, and implementation. Read below about the types of reports we work with, as well as our approach and Quality Assurance, important considerations, and (best) practices.

Types of services offered.

As reporting specialists, we will be happy to take on your report writing, help you review and edit content, visualise data, or develop and revise your internal reporting documentation. We work with the following types of reports (not limited to):

• Project progress and final reports
• Donor reports
• Digests, newsletters or bulletins
• Summaries, briefs, synthesis reports
• Programme-, organisation-, and country-level reports

We work with reports of different complexity and on a variety of topic areas, including social development, education, governance, stabilisation and recovery, peace building, child protection and safeguarding, energy and environment, emergency response, and more. We work with large volumes of information, including project documents, logical frameworks, databases, previous reports, partner reports, strategic reviews, monitoring data, evaluation reports, and others.

Approach and Quality Assurance.

Before we begin the work, we will familiarise ourselves with the nature of the project, donor requirements, templates, and guidelines. The assigned Lead Writer will oversee the assignment from start to finish and will be supported by team members where necessary to ensure that the reports are aligned with expectations. The team will maintain ongoing communication and ensure a high level of responsiveness to the client’s needs throughout the assignment.

Our QA mechanism foresees that any risks and/or challenges, whether internal or external, are identified and addressed early enough, and appropriate measures are put in place to mitigate these risks. As such, prior to sharing with the client, the work is reviewed internally by the team and all requests, edits, and suggestions are considered and incorporated in a timely and efficient manner. All draft and final products are submitted in the required formats alongside any raw/working materials.

All information shared with us is treated strictly confidentially throughout the assignment and deleted upon the assignment completion.

Important considerations and (best) practices.

Below are eight important considerations and (best) practices to prioritise:

1. Treat reporting as a continuous cyclical process, not only at report due dates. Make sure you i) plan for reporting during project/programme development; ii) conduct ongoing data collection and monitoring, and prepare interim reports; iii) report at activity/project closeout; iv) and apply lessons learned identified in reports during initiation and implementation of new project or programme.
2. Use checklist for reporting to ensure that all important data is incorporated.
3. Collaborate with colleagues and partners to collect and verify data. Invite colleagues to contribute and ensure two-way feedback.
4. Perform fact-checking to ensure accuracy of information, provide sources and evidence where necessary. This is also an important part of Quality Assurance.
5. Acknowledge failure. While you should focus on the positives, do acknowledge things that did not work, explaining why, and provide recommendations as to how such failures can be avoided in the future.
6. Obtain informed consent from story characters. No story should be initiated without a signed Informed Consent Form. Make sure the story character is informed about the purpose of collecting their information, and how and where the story will be used.
7. Ensure adequate formatting and presentability of the report. A chaotic and all-over-the-place report may lose its credibility, so make sure proper formatting is in place, and the report is presentable and pleasant to read.
8. Respect deadlines! A well-written report may lose its credibility if submitted late.

Related services.

Below are additional services which we offer as part of report writing or separately. Our consultants include highly qualified editors, proofreaders, graphic designers, and other specialists.

Click on the service to find out more.

• Editing & Proofreading
• Graphic Design
• Translation (we cover a variety of languages, including Spanish, French, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Albanian, isiNdebele, isiZulu, Urdu, Punjabi, Pashto, and Dari – please inquire for other languages that are not listed here).

Please get in touch for more information on how we can support.

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From the blog.