Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation Field Experiences

This publication is mainly intended for field practitioners in rural development, particularly participatory natural resource management. It documents the field experiences of seven of the partners under the SDC-IC NGO Programme Karnataka-Tamil Nadu in participatory monitoring and/or evaluation of their activities. After a brief introduction to the concept of participatory monitoring and evaluation (PME), it sets out a variety of examples, chosen as ‘real life’ situations that field practitioners are likely to experience. For each example, a short outline of the PME tool used is given, followed by a description of how the tool was applied for a particular purpose in the field. A small text box provides an introduction to the partner concerned. The partners located in Karnataka are Grama Vikas and Prakruthi in Kolar District, Rural Education Society (RES) and Rural Welfare Trust (RWT) in Belgaum District, and Vikasana in Chikmagalur District. In Tamil Nadu, case examples are drawn from Keystone Foundation (Kotagiri District) and Social Centre of Peoples’ Education (SCOPE) Trust, (Thiruvannamalai District).

The specific PME tools described are those commonly used in participatory appraisal processes – participatory mapping, transect walks, time lines, photographic comparisons, matrix ranking and well-being ranking – as well as some perhaps slightly less commonly used, notably spider web diagrams and the H-form.