Sustainability Planning and Monitoring

THE MPA FRAMEWORK AND PROCESSsegregated groups, namely, poor women, poormen, wealthier women and wealthier men.Results are then shared and discussed in mixedgender and class groups in large communitygatherings, where the differences among thegroups can be understood and appreciated byall. The MPA makes transparent the voices andchoices of all groups so that they can all beaccommodated in the community’s plan forimproving services.For community groups, the use of the MPAcommunity analysis tools is a first step to analyzesituations, identify areas for change, and takecollective action. For implementation, the groupsuse further participatory processes and the MPAmonitoring tools. They may then repeat theanalysis to evaluate their progress, generate newknowledge to plan further, improveimplementation or take up new activities as afollow-up, as illustrated in Figure 4. Communityanalysis is also a learning opportunity for programstaff. Dialogue and negotiations help pinpointthe changes that local groups will make, and thoserequired from agency staff.Agency staff members then use participatoryinstitutional analysis tools from the MPA to ratethe enabling environment in their agencies.Representatives from user communities participatein the institutional assessments to assess the stylesof working the staff has with women and men incommunities. (See Stakeholders’ meeting inChapter 6.)An inventory and analysis of the overall policyaspects takes place with the sector policymakersor program managers, using the MPA tools forparticipatory policy assessment. Doing this at theend of the sequence, after the results of the otherlevels are known, makes it possible to see if andhow results on the ground and in the institutionsare influenced by the prevailing policies, andwhere action must start to bring about changesin institutions and at ground level.Participatory methods and tools have been in useat micro level since the 1980s. In the last few years,they have also been used to gain insight intoorganizations and the qualitative aspects behindeconomic figures at the macro level. The WorldBank has, for example, recently used them in a22-country study to learn more about poverty frompoor women and men worldwide. 11The MPA now provides a way to apply participatorytools in programs and projects at the meso(intermediate, between macro and micro levels)level. How to implement these assessments inprograms is described in the next chapter.MPA fills a gap at the meso level.11 Voices Of The Poor Crying Out for Change. Narayan, Chambers, Shah and Petesch. World Bank. 2000.27