Standard or custom indicators?
Before you invest time and money in creating indicators, explore whether there are standard, validated indicators that can be reused or repurposed for your needs. The reasons to use standard indicators that go beyond saving time and money include:

Indicator quality: Standard indicators have been tested in previous projects and in multiple contexts. As a result, they are globally recognized for their quality and have a track record of providing valid and reliable data.
Donor requirements: Always review your funding agreements to confirm whether donors require the use of specific indicators.
Data aggregation: Using standard indicators helps organizations compare data across the organization and across the sector. This makes it possible to compare results and communicate across multiple projects and programs.

Hundreds of standard indicators already exist for projects. These include indicators for food security, nutrition, health, WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), shelter, education, protection, financial inclusion, gender, governance, agriculture, and maternal and child health. Many resources have been created to support the use of standard indicators. 

In general, standard indicators are recommended and preferred whenever possible, especially for higher-level objectives. However, there will be occasions when standard indicators are not available or do not meet your specific information needs. In those cases, you will need to develop a custom indicator.

You can find some resources for identifying standard indicators in the MEAL DPro guide: