Monitor and evaluate community development activities
Overview
This standard relates to the community development practitioner's role in undertaking and assisting others to monitor, review and evaluate their activities, projects, and ways of organising. It provides a framework for evaluating the outcomes and impact of community development practice.
This standard is relevant to all community development practitioners.
The community development standards are arranged in six key areas:
- Understand and practise community development
- Understand and engage with communities
- Group work and collective action
- Collaboration and cross-sectoral working
- Community learning for social change
- Governance and organisational development
This standard is within Key Area Six.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
- explain the purpose of monitoring, reviewing and evaluating community development processes and activities on own organisation
- determine the timescales and deadlines for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating activities for a project or process in own organisation
- determine the criteria for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating activities including procedures for dealing with sensitive and confidential information
- assess the time and resource implications of undertaking evaluations
- support the use of open, inclusive and empowering methods for gathering and recording qualitative and quantitative information which illustrate outcomes
- provide information on training and support available to groups so they can create and implement a framework for evaluation of services and organisational activities
- advise groups on methods of data collection that can be verified for accuracy and relevance, and recorded to inform future projects
- maintain regular contact between all those involved in the monitoring, review or evaluation processes
- support groups to review the processes and methods used in the monitoring, review or evaluation to improve them for use in the future
- facilitate groups to use their monitoring and evaluation data to review their activities and plan their future direction
- assist groups to report their findings and recommendations to beneficiaries, funders and other relevant stakeholders
- provide support and information to enable groups to implement recommendations resulting from monitoring and evaluation
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
- how to plan for monitoring and evaluation when project planning
- monitoring and evaluation systems and methods which facilitate collection of accurate and relevant information about the progress of a project or process
- the stages involved in monitoring and evaluation processes
- participative methods of evaluating the effectiveness of activity
- how to report the findings of monitoring and evaluation activities
- dissemination strategies appropriate to community development activities
- how to use the results of monitoring and evaluation activities to improve practice
- where to obtain the resources and expertise to support monitoring and evaluation
Scope/range
Scope Performance
Scope Knowledge
Values
Community development is underpinned by a set of values which distinguish it from other, sometimes related, activities in the community. These values are at the core of community development and underpin each of the standards. The values are:
- Social justice and equality
- Anti-discrimination
- Community empowerment
- Collective action
Working and learning together
The following examples illustrate how each of the community development values might inform practice in this standard. These statements are not part of assessment requirements.
monitoring and evaluation criteria include consideration of the extent to which the values have informed practice
- monitoring and evaluation processes are inclusive, empowering and anti-discriminatory
- communities understand how monitoring and evaluation activities help to demonstrate changes that take place
- the views, opinions and experiences of the community are sought as part of the evaluation process
- the results of evaluation findings are fed back to communities
Behaviours
Skills
Glossary
Community
The web of personal relationships, groups, networks, traditions and patterns of behaviour that can develop among those who share a geographic area or identity or interest.
Collective action
Working together with others to achieve a common aim.
Community development practitioner
A person doing community development work as a paid worker, unpaid worker, group member, community activist or volunteer.
Community development process
Underpinned by the five key community development values. It is cyclical rather than linear, it takes place in a planned way but also progresses organically, and it involves all or some of the following stages.
- Get to know the community, key people and organisations
- Help communities to identify and prioritise their needs
- Support collective approaches to bringing about change
- Support sharing and learning from experience
- Support the strengthening of groups
- Support evaluation and reflection on practice for groups and self.
Community Engagement
A way to build and sustain relationships within and between communities, community groups or organisations, public sector, third sector and other agencies. It provides a foundation for collaboration helping them to understand and collectively take action.
Empowerment
A process where people gain control (eg confidence, knowledge, skills, resources) to affect decisions impacting on their communities.
Evaluation
Entails an overall assessment of the achievements, effectiveness and impact of work carried out.
Monitoring
The systematic collection and recording of information to help an organisation know how it is doing; it helps to account for the work of the organisation.
Organisation
Any collection of people in the community, voluntary, public and private sectors and any hybrid configuration across these sectors. It refers to community groups, charities, community and social enterprises, statutory agencies, businesses.
Resources
This covers any physical or human resource that supports the community development process and could include technical equipment, IT-based resources, buildings, sources of specialist knowledge, local assets
Support
The work a community development practitioner may undertake to ensure the group can pursue its aims. The types of activities may include: providing information, moral and motivational encouragement, researching particular topics, identifying sources of help, listening to group members' ideas and thought processes and reflecting them back, facilitating decision-making, acting as an advocate, coach, mentor, critical friend.
Technology
This refers to both hardware and online tools/apps which can be used in practice and communication (including social media).