Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to design a MEL framework in India?

MEL framework engagements at Pinpoint Ventures are scoped as fixed-fee projects. Cost depends on the size of the programme, the number of indicator pillars, the languages and geographies involved, and whether we are designing from scratch or adapting an existing framework.

Most engagements run 8 to 16 weeks. We share a written scope and fixed fee after a free 30-minute discovery call.

How long does a programme evaluation take?

End-to-end programme evaluations typically run 12 to 24 weeks from instrument design through findings validation. This includes scoping, sampling, instrument design, fieldwork, analysis, drafting, and a validation workshop with programme leadership. Compressed timelines are sometimes possible for mid-line and process evaluations.

Do you work with funders, implementers, or both?

Both. About half our engagements are with funders, philanthropic foundations, and bilateral or multilateral organisations setting investment strategy. The other half are with INGOs, social enterprises, and government-adjacent programmes implementing on the ground. We are explicit about our independence in either case.

What sectors do you cover?

Our deepest sectoral expertise is in public health, climate-health interdependence, education and early childhood development, gender and caste discrimination, child protection, livelihoods and financial inclusion, and welfare measurement. We also work in adjacent areas like aquaculture and circular economy when the methodological need fits our practice.

Do you only work in India?

India is our home geography and where most of our work happens. We have also delivered evaluations and research in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and the Philippines. We do not take on work in geographies where we cannot meaningfully ground-truth the data.

How are you different from a Big-4 consultancy?

Three differences. First, we deliver artifacts you can actually use — questionnaires, codebooks, indicator frameworks, district datasets, replication code — not slide decks. Second, our team is the team. The principal researcher who scopes the engagement is the one who runs the fieldwork. Third, we are domain specialists in development research and evaluation rather than generalists, so we know the literature and the field practice intimately.

What languages do you work in?

Our reports are written in English. Field instruments are routinely developed and piloted in Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Odia, and Ho, depending on the geography. We work with local enumerator teams and translators for languages beyond our in-house capacity.

Can you build internal MEL capacity for our team?

Yes. Capacity building is often part of our framework design and diagnostic engagements. We can also run standalone training workshops on theory of change, indicator development, contribution analysis, outcome harvesting, survey design, or qualitative coding. Workshops can be in-person or remote and are designed around your team’s actual current work.

Do you accept retainer arrangements?

Yes, for funds and portfolios with ongoing methodological needs. A retainer typically covers a fixed number of advisory hours per month, methods quality assurance on grantee work, and on-call support for design questions. We are selective about retainers and prefer to know an organisation through a defined project first.

How do you handle confidentiality of client work?

Most of our deliverables are commissioned under client agreements and are not public. The work samples on this site are either explicitly published outputs, redacted demonstration extracts, or methodology notes prepared for general circulation. Anything client-confidential stays that way unless we have written permission to share it.

How do you handle data protection under the DPDP Act?

For engagements that involve personal data of Indian data principals, we work under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 — either as a Data Fiduciary in our own name (rare) or as a Data Processor for the commissioning client. That means signed data processing agreements, purpose limitation, retention schedules, and breach-notification obligations. Instrument-level we default to hashed or pseudonymised identifiers, restrict field-team access to what the role requires, and delete raw personal data on the schedule agreed with the client. If a survey requires biometric or health data, expect that flagged in the design phase — those categories carry a heavier consent and safeguards regime.

What if we don't have a theory of change yet?

Common. Programmes often arrive at us with a slide-nine flowchart that has never been stress-tested. We treat that as the start of the work, not a blocker. A first engagement often includes a short (three to five week) TOC articulation phase — two facilitated workshops with the programme team, one draft prose TOC that names the assumptions and evidence needed to test them, and one iteration with programme leadership. That output becomes the reference document for the MEL design that follows. We wrote about why this matters in Theory of change isn't a flowchart.

Do you take on rapid assessments?

Yes, when the question is well-defined and the timeline is realistic for what it can produce. A rapid assessment — typically three to six weeks — is useful for scoping, funder due diligence, portfolio triage, or pre-designing a larger evaluation. It is not a substitute for an evaluation and we say so upfront. Where the rapid assessment surfaces something that needs a proper evaluation, we scope that as a follow-up rather than trying to compress an evaluation into six weeks.