There is currently no way of measuring, evaluating or reporting on the impacts of the IPA Program.
IPA MERI is the way the Federal Government seeks to better understand, demonstrate, and improve the IPA Program’s outcomes.
IPA MERI is structured around the IPA Program Logic, which outlines the program’s intended outcomes.
What will IPA MERI produce?
An annual summary of Program-wide information (example dashboard link).
IPA Program-wide assessments and reviews after three years (in 2026) and five years (in 2028), with findings presented through an online dashboard and a hard-copy report card.
Ongoing improvements in how the IPA Program is delivered.
How are IPA Proponents involved?
IPA Proponents will contribute key data about their organisation, workforce, operations, and satisfaction.
This involves filling out an Annual IPA MERI survey as part of annual reporting.
Assistance to fill out surveys is available from Regional IPA Program Coordinators.
How does your reporting and data contribute?
Each response you provide in the survey will be combined with those from other IPAs from around the country.
This will produce a national dataset that can be used to evaluate the IPA Program’s intended outcomes.
These evaluations will be conducted for short-term Outcomes in 2026, and for medium-term Outcomes in 2028.
This will identify strengths and weaknesses and help improve how the IPA Program is delivered.
How does this relate to your current IPA reporting?
The IPA MERI survey is intended to minimise the burden of an extra reporting process.
As such, it is structured to complement your current reporting and enables your organisation to provide feedback about the delivery of the IPA program.
What are your data sharing rights and obligations?
Providing data as part of the Annual IPA MERI survey is part of your obligation under the existing Head Agreement with the Australian Government (as part of your Key Performance Indicator reporting – Completion of Online Annual Survey).
You are not required to provide or disclose any information that you deem to be culturally sensitive.
Should you have any concerns about the nature of the data you are providing through the IPA MERI Questionnaire, you should contact your regional support staff to inform them of these concerns.