Creating change takes time. As your project proceeds, the world will change, you will learn what works and what does not work, who to work with, and what impacts you are having. Your understanding of how to be effective will change. Successful programs adjust to these changes. To be able to identify how to adapt, your project needs to explicitly monitor how conditions are changing.
Most projects need to monitor four general areas: - Biophysical conditions: The ultimate objective of conservation efforts is to improve or maintain biophysical conditions. The only way to know if you are achieving this goal is to measure the state of the physical world-the state of animals, plants, water, air and, in some cases, soil.
- Institutional conditions: Projects that influence or are influenced by institutions-government, private sector, other NGOs-need to know how these institutions are changing, either as a result of the project or otherwise. These conditions include regulations, capacity of institutions to manage resources, state of institutional mechanisms needed to support your project outcomes, collaboration among institutions, commitment of institutions to supporting your goals, etc.
- Socioeconomic conditions: Socioeconomic factors will greatly affect the project success, who the key stakeholders are, the incentives for stakeholders to support or resist the project, the kinds of activities the project needs to pursue to succeed, etc.
- Project management: Much of the success of the project depends on how well it is managed-are tasks done on time, are logistics managed well, is staff time managed well, are staff motivated, does management provide the necessary support, etc. A good monitoring plan provides the information that project managers need to know-where and how to adjust the way they are managing the project.
Each of these areas requires a different kind of data to characterize the state of that part of the world and how it is changing. When you are designing your monitoring plan, consider what you need to know in each of these four areas. The key to monitoring is to remember "you get what you measure." It is natural to focus on achieving what you are counting and the project staff will likely gravitate to focusing on improving the measures that you count. Therefore, it is important to count what is important. Design your monitoring system to count the impact you want to have, not only the tools you use to achieve the impact. Counting the number of workshops is helpful for the project manager to know if the tasks are being done, so this indicator may be needed to monitor project management. However, the purpose of workshops is to help people use new information, not simply to provide new information. The real measure of the impact of workshops is whether the attendees use the information. You get what you count-if you want to understand the impact you are having, count how your work is affecting people's behavior or the state of the environment, not simply what you do.
The ultimate purpose of monitoring is to document how the project is helping to create change. To document change you need to have good baseline data. Be sure to collect the baseline data before you begin to create change, or you will never be able to determine the project's impact.
People need to be able to find the monitoring data to use it. Do not underestimate the importance of a good filing system to manage the monitoring data that is collected. Plan how and where monitoring data will be stored and who will manage it so it is readily accessible. Be sure more than one person knows how to access the monitoring data. If possible, keep backup copies. Storing the monitoring data so it can be retrieved easily is vital.
The following resources might be useful as you monitor the results and progress of your project.
Would you like to access tools to help you monitor results and progress during the life of your project?
Measures of Success: Designing, Measuring and Monitoring Conservation and Development Projects
By Richard Margoluis and Nick Salafsky, 1998, Island Press
This is a practical, hands-on guide to designing, managing, and measuring the impacts of community-oriented conservation and development projects. It presents a simple, clear, logical, and yet comprehensive approach to developing and implementing effective programs, and can help conservation and development practitioners use principles of adaptive management to test assumptions about their projects and learn from the results.
English (382 pages, ISBN 1-55963-612-2, available from Island Press at: www.islandpress.org)
Español (386 páginas, PDF, 7.51 MB)
Action and Reflection: A Guide for Monitoring and Evaluating Participatory Research
By Karen McAllister and Ronnie Vernooy, 1999, International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
This guide outlines an approach for monitoring and evaluating participatory research. The guide is organized around six basic, interrelated questions that need to be answered when doing monitoring and evaluation and tools for answering these questions.
English (193 pages, PDF, 377 KB)
Guidelines for Integrating Gender Analysis into Biodiversity Research
By A. Horvoka and A. Adamo, 1998, International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
The Sustainable Use of Biodiversity Program initiative of the International Development Research Centre does not seek to "add women" to its current activities, but rather to integrate gender analysis into its research on biodiversity. This document provides a step-by-step guide for incorporating gender analysis into all stages of a biodiversity research project.
English (48 pages, PDF, 120 KB)
Seeing for Yourself: Research Handbook for Girls' Education in Africa
By Eileen Kane, 1996, World Bank
This handbook is designed for people with little or no training in social research who are concerned about important issues related to girls' education in Africa. The reader will learn how to gather data for identifying problems and possible interventions, assess resources for action, plan projects, and understand and evaluate the work of other researchers. Chapter 5 is especially useful for practitioners interested in rapid assessment and participatory learning approaches.
English (344 pages, PDF, 3.59 MB)
Our People, Our Resources: Supporting Rural Communities in Participatory Action Research on Population Dynamics and the Local Environment
By Thomas Barton, Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend, Alex de Sherbinin and Patrizio Warren, 1997, World Conservation Union (IUCN)
This handbook illustrates concepts, methods and tools for primary environmental care, an approach that seeks to empower communities to meet basic needs while protecting the environment. In particular, it focuses on how population size, structure, growth (or decline) and movements relate to the quality of the environment and the quality of life. Emphasis is placed on a community-led process of participatory action research in which local knowledge and skills and fully utilized. The main purpose is to promote the effective, integrated management of environment and population dynamics for the benefit of local people in rural communities.
English (HTML, available online at: http://www.iucn.org/themes/spg/Files/opor/opor.html)
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Boletin Mensual: June 2008
