No Baseline, No Worry

MEL professionals often worried about the baseline. The worries includes baseline value, methods for baseline establishment and much more satisfying the project colleges/stakeholders. Further worries worsen when project executives did not bother to have baseline in the start of project. Should project collect baseline data mandatorily? I say "Yes" if project is in initial phase. Here, collection does not mean, it should be primary data collection. May adopt any method, but should have baseline at least in intended project result indicators. What if it is in mid-time or end phase of project? I say "No Worry".

Baseline is just a benchmark. What is the height of Mount Everest? Everybody knows it is 8848 meter. What is the baseline for the height of Mount Everest? It is a Sea which is marked as zero "0" value for to measure any height of earth surface. If sea was marked as 1000 meter, the height of Mount Everest would be 9848 meter.

Similarly, what is the freezing temperature of water? Is it 0 °C or 32 °F? Both are right. Here you should make attention on the unit of measurement. In the Celsius measurement unit the value is "0" and in Fahrenheit measurement unit the value is "32".

Definitely, the measurement of Human characteristic is complex than properties of physical materials. It can make a sense, utilizing appropriate methods and tools. How should we measure the awareness level of people? Certainly, we should face the lack in universal unit and method to measure the awareness level of people? I think it is not a problem, until you follow, M&E professional ethics and integrity. Just like, freezing fact of water do not differ whether you measure in Celsius or Fahrenheit. The difference of height between sea and peak of Mount Everest remain same whether you give "0" or "1000" value to sea level. 

The following figure is from the Linkedin post by Ann-Murray A. Brown. This is about "Three Things you can do if you did not collect baseline data." This could be mantra to lessen the worry of M&E professionals.