Baseline, mid-line and end-line

A single measurement, taken once, cannot show a trend. So the workbook's case studies use three measurement points instead. A baseline is taken before the project starts. A mid-line is taken while it runs. An end-line is taken after it ends.

The workbook repeats this pattern across several case studies in Chapter 8. Key metrics are collected at all three points. The assessor then studies them together to see what really changed.

The mid-line is not a single check-in. The workbook says it can be monthly or quarterly. It is a measurement taken again and again through the project's life, not just once in the middle.

The three-point sequence gives the social impact assessor three distinct reference points:

This sequence appears identically across multiple case studies in Chapter 8 — the same wording recurs for the water-management project, and for other case studies in the same chapter — which signals it is the workbook's standard evaluation template, not a one-off method used for a single project.

The assessor uses this sequence together with the key metrics evaluation step: reviewing project documents to frame the evaluation criteria first, then analysing the baseline-mid-line-end-line data against those criteria to determine what genuinely changed.

Illustrative figures, consistent with the workbook's case-study style.

A skilling project tracks the employment rate of its trainees at three points:

The mid-line readings show the trend was not linear — most of the gain came in the final quarter, likely once trainees started completing job-ready modules. A single baseline-versus-end-line comparison (12% to 61%) would have shown the overall change but missed when in the project cycle that change actually happened — which the quarterly mid-line readings reveal, and which matters for deciding where in the programme design the real driver of impact sits.

Chapter 8's case studies repeatedly use the baseline-mid-line-end-line sequence as the standard method for collating key metrics before assessing impact. Expect a question on the correct order of the three points, and on the fact that mid-line measurement can be monthly or quarterly, not a single mid-point check.

• Mid-line can be monthly or quarterly — it is not a single one-time measurement, unlike the baseline and end-line, which are each taken once (before and after).
• This three-point sequence is the workbook's standard case-study methodology, recurring across multiple worked examples — a question is likely drawing on this general pattern rather than one specific project's numbers.
• This term (Chapter 8's applied sequence) is distinct from the standalone Baseline concept (Chapter 5) — that page covers why a baseline is needed and the challenge of missing baseline data; this page covers the full three-point sequence as applied in the case studies.
• Do not assume every case study in the chapter had usable baseline data for every indicator — the workbook separately flags non-availability of baseline data, especially for qualitative indicators, as a real limitation even within this three-point framework.