By Deborah Vrabel
Documentation is a coherent record of your organization’s most important, meaningful activities, methods, and outcomes. It shows—through text, images, recordings, and artifacts—that a program or project is active, exciting, and fruitful.
It also is an effective but underutilized strategy for improving program sustainability.
Well-planned and executed documentation offers five benefits that all lead to stronger, more sustainable programs:
- Increases visibility
- Builds relationships
- Strengthens implementation
- Enriches evaluation
- Expands funding opportunities
Effective documentation helps you tell a coherent story that highlights the most important activities and features of a project or program. Building this story does not have to be difficult, expensive, or time-consuming if you:
- Use your imagination.
- Develop and implement a simple, realistic documentation plan.
- Follow and regularly revisit the plan.
- Promote awareness, involvement, and resourcefulness.