[PDF] Community Development Toolkit - CommDev

Monitoring and evaluation toolscontinuedLearning and developmentM&E is an important learning process,enabling you to reflect on your experienceand assess how that experience can beincorporated into other activities andlonger-term program development.By applying indicators developed in tool 19,project managers and stakeholders canassess the implementation of projectactivities, and achievement of agreed projectgoals. As an additional means of assessingboth short-term achievements (monitoringof outputs) and longer-term results(evaluation of outcomes), the GAS method(tool 20) is beneficial because it allowsassessment to be undertaken by a widerange of stakeholders and permitscomparison of assessments given bydifferent stakeholder groups.All of these processes can assist in theprocess of gathering data for reporting tostakeholders in accordance with the GlobalReporting Initiative (GRI).M&E should be used during the life of acommunity development project orinvestment to measure:• results of community developmentprograms• differences between expected and actualoutcomes• reallocation of remaining resources toimprove outcomes• justification for allocation of furtherresources• outcomes in terms of benefits to thecommunity and the business.There are many other M&E processesavailable, and the references will lead youto discussions of some of these. If you usetools 19 and 20, however, you will have agood understanding of the progress of thecommunity development programs that youare involved with and be able to report itboth within the company and externally.As mining company staff, you will likely haveinternal company demands for M&E, toreport to managers and shareholders thatcommunity development funds are beinginvested wisely, and achieving statedobjectives. You should involve the communityand other stakeholders in the monitoringprocess as much as possible, as this willgive you the most “real” feedback aboutyour progress.NGOs/CBOs will likely have their own M&Erequirements, as will donors and bilateralpartners, many of which will draw on similarapproaches to those identified in these tools.Government officers and communitymembers may find it useful to understandthe approach to M&E taken by companies,especially if they are going to participate inthe monitoring process.Involving community members in monitoringprograms, especially for matters of greatimportance to them, such as water quality,is an ideal way not only of conducting goodpractice monitoring but also of establishingcommunity belief and support in the miningproject’s environmental managementsystems and procedures. Table 21 illustratesthe characteristics of eight such programsin Peru, studied by the World Bank’sCompliance Advisor/Ombudsman.MONITORING AND EVALUATION TOOLSCommunity Development Toolkit189