Ingredients for Success

What follows are some of the ingredients that, in BSP's experience, increase the likelihood that community-based monitoring will succeed.

1. Relevance to the Community

   Make sure communities know and care why they are monitoring. Community-based conservation projects must have community buy-in and support. Although this may seem obvious, it's amazing how often projects don't have community support. People must be convinced of the importance and relevance of monitoring, or a multitude of reasons not to monitor will get in the way. For community members, "this is not a conservation project-it's their life," says Meg Symington. The people doing the monitoring must clearly understand why information is being collected and how it links to the community's self-interests. Indicators must have value to the community, as well as reflect the goals of the project. For example, how far from a village does a woman go to collect wood? What species did people use in the past that they no longer use? Relevance is the key.

   If the designers are the doers, monitoring is more likely to focus on relevant indicators rather than on inappropriate, externally imposed measures.

2. Designers Must be Doers

   Monitoring is not a matter of identifying a few indicators to be tracked somewhere down the line. Comprehensive monitoring strategies must be developed at the same time that thinking about project goals, objectives, and activities occurs. From clarity of design comes clarity of management strategies and activities. Once you know what you want to achieve and the desired impacts, the monitoring and indicators fall out naturally. The people who are going to use the data must be involved in all phases of design and monitoring and clearly understand the relevance behind the design. If the designers are the doers, the monitoring will focus on cause and effect rather than on unnecessarily elaborate processes imposed by outside donors.

3. Simple, Focused Design

   BSP has adapted and repackaged its approach to monitoring to make it less overwhelming. "While a lot of people may collect reams of data, few know how to use it," says Nick Salafsky. Design must be targeted, leading to a relatively small subset of data. The new monitoring is much smaller, streamlined, simpler. It has fewer parts. Packaged correctly, people will use it. If the design is onerous, monitoring won't get done. "I always start with the ground rule, It's got to be fun!," says John Parks. "When you are working with local communities, I really believe it is an essential ingredient . . . and can be one of the biggest factors for sustaining monitoring efforts." Another key to sustainability is making monitoring a part of everyday life. Ideally, it should be integrated into something people are already doing, like monitoring water quality when they collect water, or measuring the fish harvested in a specified time (catch/effort). Although community-based monitoring must be kept relatively simple, measurements need to be accurate and carefully documented.

4. Sensitive Mentoring

   Appropriate expertise is crucial during a project's start-up phase and on a periodic basis to ensure that the monitoring suits the community's needs for information. Outside expertise can facilitate the design of a targeted, culturally appropriate, and simple monitoring plan, and teach simple, accurate monitoring skills. "To do really effective monitoring, you have to help people become creative about solving their own problems," says Nick Salafsky. Without effective training of the local trainers, however, monitoring won't get off the ground. The community has the information. It's the trainer's job to pull the information out in a sensitive way so that design of the project is an entirely participatory process. Some people are sensitive to all the things surrounding a project, while others are more results oriented. You need to find the balance of aptitudes within the village and build on those. The people in charge of monitoring need to be skilled communicators. "Monitoring has to belong to the community," says John Parks. "It has to be fully participatory. If you [the trainer] are given no credit once it's implemented, you've probably done your job well."

5. Leadership

   Successful monitoring is directly related to leadership. "You have to identify and involve leaders within the community because they will be able to sustain monitoring activities," says Laurent Somé, Senior Program Officer for Africa and Madagascar. It is important to focus early project efforts on either coordinating efforts with existing leaders or providing incentives to motivated people in the community to become tomorrow's leaders. Trainers can identify individuals with the aptitude for monitoring record-keeping and encourage their leadership. "You have to work with communities at a social level, not just at a scientific level," says Vance Russell of BSP's Analysis and Adaptive Management Program. Building trust between the people who will be doing the monitoring and the team that teaches monitoring is essential. At the very least, you have to understand the structure of leadership.

6. Working within the Community's Structure.

   The dynamics within a community -- gender issues, generational issues, power structure -- are always relevant. Some are egalitarian, some are hierarchical. Every village is different. "You shouldn't forget the human component; in fact, you should work with it," says Laurent Somé. Describing his experiences working in a village of Burkina Faso as part of BSP's BIOME (Biodiversity Monitoring and Evaluation) Project, Somé recalls: "We were undecided about how to involve the chief of the village. Community members expressed a strong willingness to be involved, but wouldn't feel comfortable speaking as a group without the chief's endorsement. So we finally decided to involve the chief. It turned out he was very open-minded, gave good advice, and facilitated cross discussion. Because the chief was modern, he knew that we wanted cross discussion. This was an innovation that the chief facilitated."

7. Involving All Stakeholders

   As difficult as it may be, it is important to try to involve both those most affected by the lack of conservation and those who may represent the greatest threats. "Involve all levels of the community, including those most affected by the activities that are supposed to be monitored and those who can influence the outcome," says Kath Shurcliff. "Government officials' involvement is critical -- they can monitor the monitoring and, as a result, set the rules, hopefully in a cooperative fashion." A government's involvement can lead to policy reform and greater impacts. You want as broad participation as possible. If it is in the hands of only a few, it will be harder to convince people. "Decision makers may not have the time to participate, but they have to buy in," says Rod Taylor, former Senior Program Officer for Asia and the Pacific. The key to involving powerbrokers is demonstrating the relevance to them. There has to be a high degree of stakeholder analysis. Think about the layers of stakeholders and their roles in terms of interest and influence. You need to look at the stakeholders repeatedly and see if they've changed. This is typically done once and never again re-evaluated. Community members must participate in this process and need to decide who else should.

8. Respecting Rhythms of Community Life

   Describing the need for project managers to adapt to the socioeconomic rhythms of the community, Laurent Somé says, "You should know when to cancel a meeting. For example, don't conflict with farming activities. If it rains and people need to get out to work their fields, don't put them in the awkward situation of feeling obligated towards you. Keep a balance between what you are asking community members to do and what they are getting in return. If people have the impression they are not getting very much from you, you cannot keep bothering them with meetings and other demands on their time." BSP's Diane Russell recommends integrating monitoring into church or village meetings, where community members usually get together. These are good opportunities for community discussions.

9. Being Open to Unexpected Results

   "I think it should be assumed that we don't know what all the best actions are to achieve the desired results," says Kath Shurcliff. "I've heard quite a few scientists say we know what the solutions are; it's just getting people to do it. I've seen too many scientists in coral reef studies assume they know what the answers are. Then they argue when new information comes up that runs counter to them, and make up excuses as to why that's happening rather than thinking, 'yeah, maybe we haven't got it right."

Conclusion

No matter how well you plan your project, it will never go exactly as you intended. That's exactly why monitoring is essential. In many ways, the most interesting results -- the findings that lead to true advances in understanding -- are the ones you never expected to get! You will only benefit from these unexpected results, however, if you are ready to look for them, learn from them, and act on them. Being genuinely curious and willing to learn from both success and failure will ultimately strengthen your skills as a project manager and help you achieve your goals. If you have monitored along the way and you do achieve your goals, others will be able to replicate your success.

Monitoring along the way makes it possible for other communities to replicate a project's success.

The ever-changing interplay of biological, cultural, socioeconomic, and political factors requires constant vigilance. Therefore, monitoring must be ongoing and integrated into all aspects of project management. Perhaps most important is constant self-monitoring -- reflecting on whether you are "tuned in" to both people and the environment. As John Parks likes to put it, "You don't just turn a radio on and necessarily get the information you want. You turn it on and you get static. You have to tune in to the key information you need. Monitoring tunes in to signals."

"Community-based monitoring is about getting to the point where we are keeping watch over our own patch of natural surroundings in which we exist," Parks says. Keeping watch -- over where you are going, what you are doing, and why you are doing it -- and using this information to make better resource management decisions.

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