manual for social impact assessment of land-based ... - Forest Trends

• Use of spider diagrams for stakeholder to assess project performance over time;
• Periodic verification by an accredited Certifying Entity – annual verification is recommended,
but other periods may be acceptable. Verification is based not on the absolute performance
of the indicators, but on their continuous improvement over time – the main thing is to
avoid a decline in the performance of the same ‘resource’ in successive assessments.
Toolbox Section T10.1 lists the approved social indicators organized under financial, human and
social resources. In addition to this list, project developers are advised that livelihood and equity
analysis should focus on the resource base, income, well-being, vulnerability and food security.
Projects should also look at:
• community aspirations;
• the survival strategies adopted;
• vulnerabilities and opportunities to which local people are exposed (shocks, trends,
seasonality, stresses);
• gender impacts;
• discrimination against the less educated, women and other groups; and,
• the influences of other projects, national policies and institutions, with the aim of
highlighting political and social influences that may be strengthened or weakened through
partnerships.
While the quite broad list of approved indicators allows a project to select a set of relevant
indicators, an approval process is required for indicators that are not in the core list: the Social
Carbon Guidelines (2009: 15) state that "in case your project activity presents specific characteristics
which are not contemplated by the approved indicators, new indicators may be elaborated by
'Accredited Organizations' 1
, and must be submitted for approval by the Social Carbon Team." For
new indicators, projects are advised to consult 'Social Carbon Methodology: The Multiplier's Manual.
Ecological Institute, 2007' (Portuguese only).
www.socialcarbon.org/Guidelines/Files/socialcarbon_guidelines_en.pdf
T3.4 The Landscape Outcomes Assessment Methodology (LOAM)
The Landscape Outcomes Assessment Methodology (LOAM) was developed by WWF as a project
design and monitoring framework for landscape oriented sustainable livelihood and biodiversity
conservation projects. It provides a good example of how the SLF approach can be used in a
participatory way to identify appropriate indicators, although the authors of LOAM (Aldrich & Sayer,
2007) do not consider it is a suitable method for impact assessment (the reasons for this are
unclear). LOAM involves the following steps (assuming that the basic project design parameters have
been defined):
1 Social Carbon 'Accredited Organizations' are qualified to (a) elaborate new indicators which must be
approved by the Ecological Institute or Social Carbon Company, and (b) to elaborate Social Carbon Reports in
their own projects or projects by third parties (Social Carbon Guidelines, p.11).
Social Impact Assessment of Land-Based Carbon Projects (1.0) – Part II | 27