Implementation of Community Engagement and Participation Measures

This essential indicator measures the extent to which the planned measures for mainstreaming community engagement and participation were implemented.

Determine the indicator's value by using the following methodology:

1) Make a list of the community engagement and participation measures planned to be used during the project. These can be, for example, measures that actively engage different community members in designing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating the project activities.

2) For each measure, define qualitative criteria based on which you can conclude that the measure was implemented adequately—this is important to avoid reporting a measure that was applied poorly as “implemented”. 

3) Consider giving each measure a “weight” that signifies its importance. For example, the most impactful measures can have a score of 3, while the relatively least impactful can have a score of 1. Such weights will help you avoid giving the same importance to completely different measures.

4) Use reviews of documents and interviews with relevant staff to assess which measures were adequately implemented (i.e. the criteria defined in point 2 above were met).

5) Sum up the scores of the measures that were used. 

6) To determine the indicator’s value:

   - sum up the scores of the measures that were adequately implemented (e.g. the total score is 15)

   - divide the result by the maximum total score that could be achieved if all the measures were adequately implemented (e.g. if 30 was the possible maximum, then 15 / 30 = 0.5)

   - multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage (e.g. 0.5 x 100 = 50%)

Disaggregate data by whether the measures concerned the project design phase, implementation phase, or monitoring & evaluation. Additionally, highlight measures focusing on people with specific needs or high vulnerability.

1) Keep in mind that assessing the extent to which the measures were used is equally as important as the result. Once the criteria are defined (point 2 above), consider involving relevant staff in determining the extent to which the criteria were met. This can help them realize the main strengths and weaknesses in mainstreaming community engagement and participation and increase their ownership of the result. 

2) For different reasons, staff might find it difficult to accurately recall which measures were initially planned and how they were implemented. Therefore, ensure that this information is well-documented alongside other monitoring data.

3) If an organization has a higher number of community engagement and participation measures, consider dividing this indicator into three sub-indicators: one focusing on implementing such measures during the project design stage, the second during the project implementation stage, and the last during monitoring and evaluation. As a result, it will be easier to see where the most significant gaps in engaging communities are.