# Measure and steer your impact on farmers > Farmer1st gives NGOs, donors, banks and agencies a closed impact loop with farmers: survey a targeted population, analyse the gaps, push targeted training, measure with quizzes, re-train until the gap closes, and report on UN SDGs, donor KPIs and living income. Answers are consented and verified, and farmers are fairly compensated for their contribution. For NGOs, donors, banks, agencies and any actor that wants a measurable effect on farmers' lives — from the first question to the final report. ## How does the impact loop work? Six stages, on the same verified farmer registry, so every answer, training and quiz result belongs to a real, consented person. 1. **Survey** — Ask a targeted population directly — by country, region, gender, age or commodity — about access to health, finance, markets or farming practices. 2. **Analyse the gaps** — See where needs are concentrated, by population and by area, rather than averaged away. 3. **Train where it matters** — Push targeted training to the farmers who need it, through field agents and the farmer app, in their language. 4. **Measure with quizzes** — Short quizzes show where knowledge has improved and where it remains insufficient. 5. **Re-train until the gap closes** — Follow-up training goes only to those who still need it, and the loop repeats. 6. **Report your impact** — Results reported on the indicators you are accountable for: UN SDGs, donor KPIs, living income. ## What do you get at each stage? | Stage | What you get | | --- | --- | | Survey | Consented, verified answers from the population you targeted | | Gap analysis | Needs mapped by population group and area, with the farmers concerned | | Targeted training | Training delivered to the right farmers, with attendance recorded | | Quizzes | Knowledge measured per topic and per group, before and after | | Re-training | A shrinking list of remaining gaps, and the effort spent on each | | Reporting | Evidence mapped to UN SDGs, donor KPIs and living-income indicators | ## What can you ask farmers directly? Any question that matters to your programme, asked to the population that matters. Three examples. - **Access to finance** — A bank asks farmers in its target market how they finance inputs, whether they hold accounts, and what stops them borrowing — to design products that fit. - **Women's access to health services** — An NGO measures women farmers' access to health services in one region, then tracks change after its programme. - **Good agricultural practices** — An agency assesses how widely good agricultural practices are adopted among farmers aged 20 to 60 in a country, and targets training accordingly. ## Which indicators can you report on? Evidence from the loop is mapped to the frameworks you already report against. - **UN SDG 1 — No poverty** — Income, access to finance and resilience of farming households. - **UN SDG 2 — Zero hunger** — Productivity, good agricultural practices and food security. - **UN SDG 5 — Gender equality** — Women's access to services, training and decision-making. - **UN SDG 13 — Climate action** — Adoption of climate-smart practices, trees and agroforestry. - **Donor KPIs** — Your programme's own indicators, measured on the farmers you actually reached. - **Living income** — Household income data collected with consent, compared with living-income benchmarks. ## Why is the evidence reliable? - **Real, verified farmers** — Every respondent is a registered, de-duplicated farmer — not an anonymous form. - **Consent recorded** — Farmers agree to take part, for a stated purpose, and are fairly compensated for their contribution. - **Before and after** — The same people are measured over time, so change can be attributed to the programme. - **Pooled, not duplicated** — When programmes choose to pool survey access on the pre-competitive network, farmers are not asked the same thing by every programme. ## Describe the impact you want to measure. Tell us who you want to reach and what you need to know. We come back with a first sketch of your survey and loop. Describe your need, get a prototype: https://farmer1st.org/en/get-a-prototype/ ## Frequently asked questions ### Who is the impact loop for? NGOs, donors, development banks, commercial banks, research institutions, public agencies and companies with sustainability programmes — any actor that wants a measurable effect on farmers. See [NGOs, donors, banks and researchers](/who-its-for/ngos-donors-banks/). ### Are farmers paid to answer surveys? Farmers are fairly compensated for their contribution. Their time and knowledge have value, and recognising it also improves the quality of the answers. ### Can we target a specific population? Yes. Surveys can target farmers by country, region, gender, age, commodity or any attribute held in the registry with consent. ### How is impact reported? Results are mapped to the indicators you report against — UN SDGs such as 1, 2, 5 and 13, your donor KPIs and living-income benchmarks — with the underlying evidence available for audit. ### Can the loop include training content we already have? Yes. Your existing training material can be adapted for field agents and the farmer app, with quizzes built on it. See [training and quizzes](/services/training-quizzes/).