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Key Resources on Monitoring and Evaluation
Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation for Natural Resource Management and Research (Natural
Resources Institute, 1999)
80 Tools for Participatory Development (IICA, 2008)
The Community’s Toolbox: The Ideas, Methods, and Tools for Participatory Assessment, Monitoring and
Evaluation in Community Forestry (FAO, 1990)
The ‘Most Significant Change’ Technique: A Guide to its Use (Davies and Dart, 2005)
Performance Story Evaluation Methodology (NAILSMA, 2009)
Power Tools: For Policy Influence in Natural Resource Management (IIED database)
Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation: Field Experiences (Intercooperation-Hyderabad, 2005)
Principles, Criteria and Indicators Monitoring Framework (The Learning Institute)
Comprehensive Participatory Planning Evaluation (IFAD/Belgian Survival Fund, 2001)
Assessment Tools Resource Base (MercyCorps website)
TOOL: Activity Monitoring Table
Purpose: This tool can be adapted and used to monitor activities related to the community protocol,
including documentation and development, use, and reflection and revision. It can help community
facilitators keep track of progress and lessons learned to date and encourage accountability.
Resource: Adapted from Sleeping on Our Own Mats: An Introductory Guide to Community-based
Monitoring and Evaluation (World Bank Rural Development, 2002)
When you plan activities within different parts of the protocol process, think ahead about what needs to
happen in order to fulfill a certain objective or complete an activity. Visualize the end product or objective
and work backwards to think through each step that would be required. Decide who will be responsible
for each task and by when it should be accomplished. As activities take place or as goals are accomplished,
fill in the appropriate information (see Table 15). Post a hard copy in a location that is safe but visible to
many people or circulate an electronic copy over email or as a Google Document. This will help remind
those responsible to update the table over time and remain accountable to promised tasks.
Table 15: Activity monitoring table
Overall Objective or Activity:
Overall timeframe:
Task & Person
Timeframe
Responsible
Planned
Actual
Results
Planned
Actual
Lessons Learned
(positive & negative)
Changes &
New Plans
TOOL: Basic Forms of Measurement and Illustration
Purpose: This tool can be adapted and used to measure and illustrate key questions in a basic
quantitative manner. The questions can address qualitative information as well. It is useful for depicting
change and patterns in a clear visual way that can also be meaningful for external actors. It can also
help identify further questions or factors that could be explored.
Consider a specific question such as “How did women’s age affect their level of participation?” It could be
measured or illustrated in different ways such as comparisons over time (“more or less than before?”) or
on a scale (“from 1 to 5” or “from ‘not at all’ to ‘very much so’”). For example, you could first identify