January 2014 102 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Contents Page 1 Preface Page 2 Glossary of Terms Page 3 A Step-by-Step Guide to Community Integrity Building Page 4 1. Context Sensitivity Page 4 1.1 Context & Stakeholder Analysis Page 4 1.2 Community Engagement Page 4 1.3 Establishing a Baseline Page 6 2. Joint Learning Page 6 2.1 Identifying Community Monitors Page 6 2.2 Training Community Monitors and Public Ofcials Page 7 2.3 Establishing or supporting Joint Working Groups (JWGs) Page 8 2.4 Selecting Development Projects to Monitor Page 10 3. Evidence Base Page 10 3.1 Data Collection, Analysis and Verication Page 10 3.1.1 Pre-Fieldwork: Accessing Project Information Page 10 3.1.2 Fieldwork: Gathering Evidence Page 12 3.1.3 Validating monitoring data and communicating results to communities Page 13 4. Constructive Engagement to resolve identied problems Page 14 5. Closing the Loop Page 14 5.1 Fixing Problems & Advocacy Page 14 5.2 Learning and Assessing Impact Page 16 Conclusion, Strategic Challenges and Ways Forward Page 17 Tools Page 18 Tool 1: Conict Analysis Page 20 Tool 2: Stakeholder Analysis Page 22 Tool 3: How to Access Information - Guidelines for Making Information Requests Page 24 Tool 4: Designing Questionnaires for Interviews, Surveys & Group Discussions Page 27 Tool 5: Beneciary Questionnaire Page 30 Tool 6: DevelopmentCheck Questionnaire Page 37 Tool 7: How to develop an Advocacy Strategy Page 39 Tool 8: How to Assess Impact - Developing Success Indicators and Evaluating your Work Page 41 Useful Resources 1 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Integrity Action was founded in 2003 to nd innovative ways of improving public integrity that would have meaningful and practical impact on the lives of people who suffer the consequences of corruption, fraud and maladministration in their daily lives. Our mission is to empower citizens to act with and demand integrity. Community Integrity Building (CIB) is a locally driven approach that helps to identify and implement appropriate, viable solutions to improve the integrity of public infrastructure and services. Integrity here is dened as the alignment of Accountability, Competence, Ethics, without corruption. Since 2010, Integrity Action and country partners have used this approach in 10 countries where they have trained more than 2,500 community members who have monitored more than 850 projects. They make information requests, collect data on development projects through site visits, where they take photos, assess the project against the contract and/ or plans (if available), conduct beneciary surveys, share their results with stakeholders and work with them to address any problems found. They have resolved problems in more than 50% of projects where problems were identied. Thanks to their efforts hundreds of thousands of people in these countries have better public services and are also empowered to ensure that policies are appropriate, information can be trusted and that fewer public funds are wasted. These ndings are remarkable, the methodology works with a high level of consistency and the early indications are that it can be scaled up. Improving integrity in infrastructure and service provision may be the most cost-effective means of improving development outcomes in the world today. This guide draws on the practical experience from Integrity Action and country partners and was created for use by organisations working in or planning to work in this area, including NGOs, government agencies, aid donors and businesses Your feedback is welcome! Please contact Integrity Action at info@integrityaction.org. Preface 2 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Closing the Loop: occurs when feedback is integrated into a process and triggers an informed, appropriate response to resolve an identied problem. Community Integrity Building: an approach of context sensitivity, joint learning, building an evidence base, constructive engagement and closing the loop. Community Monitor: a community representative identied through participatory processes to engage communities and collect data on the transparency, participation and effectiveness of development projects in their communities. Fix: the resolution of a problem to the satisfaction of the main stakeholders Fix Rate: the percentage of identied problems that are resolved. Focal Point: a key contact person providing a link between the community and civil society organisation. Joint Working Group: a collaborative forum bringing together community representatives, local authorities and potentially other stakeholders such as contractors to jointly learn, review ndings and develop practical solutions. Spoilers: opponents who actively harm or hinder the community integrity building work and other constructive governance reforms. Stakeholder: any person, group of people or institution that has an interest or is affected by a particular situation or occurrence, such as a development project. Glossary of Terms 3 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Accountability Competence Ethics 4
C o n s t r u c t iv e E ngagemen t 5
C lo s i n g
t h e
L o o p 1
C o n t e x t
S e n s i t i v i t y 2
J o in t L e a rning 3
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B a s e Integrity Education: Joint training of teachers, university professors, community monitors, public ofcials Integrity Tools: training manuals, schools DVD, ACE analysis, animations, teacher training Joint Working Groups (JWG) formed/Supported M&E Online Database International Peer Learning Community monitoring: DevelopmentCheck Focus groups Community score cards Research JWGs identify solutions to integrity problems Public Service Integrity Charters from JWG Integrity Helpdesk Public voice: Community radio, social media, SMS, public hearings Scoping study stakeholder mapping, local priorities, needs, potential spoilers Results Communicated: both problems resolved and good practices identied (through public sharing, lm, reports) JWGs implement solutions to integrity problems The Community Integrity Building (CIB) approach is a successful and cost-effective way to improve the quality of public programmes, development projects and services (hereafter referred to as projects), thereby improving the lives of thousands of people. A Step-by-Step Guide to Community Integrity Building This approach has ve phases, outlined below, and within each of the phases there are a number of steps to follow and tools to use. Although communities often operate within very different socio-economic and cultural realities, we have found that many adhere to the steps below in their Community Integrity Building. 1. Context Sensitivity 1.1 Context & Stakeholder Analysis 1.2 Community Engagement 1.3 Establishing a Baseline 5. Closing the loop 5.1 Fixing Problems & Advocacy 5.2 Learning & Impact Assessment 2. Joint Learning 2.1 Identifying Community Monitors 2.2 Training Community Monitors 2.3 Joint Working Groups (JWGs) 2.4 Selecting Development Projects to Monitor 3. Evidence Base 3.1 Data Collection, Analysis and Verication 4. Constructive Engagement 4.1 Sharing Findings 4.2 Identify solutions and advocate for change 4 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building 1.1. Context & Stakeholder Analysis Understanding the context and the stakeholders is the rst step in community integrity building. The main purpose of stakeholder analysis is to understand and address local communities needs, concerns and capacities. Communities are diverse so it is important to have representatives from a wide range of stakeholder groups including vulnerable or minority groups, such as women, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities and youth. Through stakeholder analysis it is possible to identify the roles of the various stakeholders in relation to the project, and in relation to those who can affect change in the project, for example local authorities or donors that fund the project. Stakeholder analysis can later become an important tool for advocacy activities, so that the ndings and recommendations actually reach the relevant stakeholders including those who can x problems in the project. In post-war locations, it is important to also undertake conict analysis. Mapping factors, actors and scenarios that contribute to conict and peace enables an analysis of the context and an understanding of the role community integrity building can play. 1.2. Community Engagement As local communities are central to the community integrity building approach, it is important to ensure local ownership of the action and engage local communities in the process. There are many different ways of engaging local communities. To do so, it is best to identify relevant community groups or demographics early in the planning process and approach key stakeholders from the outset. Regardless of when the community is approached, to improve the effectiveness of the outcomes make sure to conduct your stakeholder analysis prior to any community engagement. 1. Context Sensitivity Participatory community meetings might be facilitated to engage community members. Rather than being a forum for top-down information and values transfer to communities, these could be interactive meetings for discussion about the development process, the impact of the local development projects on the community and the opinions of the local communities. Interaction with all members of the local community is encouraged, especially those most vulnerable in the development or reconstruction process, such as women, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities and youth. Even if at rst silent, vulnerable community members should actively be encouraged to contribute their voices to the discussion. 1.3. Establishing a Baseline Baseline data refers to information gathered before a project or initiative begins. It is used later to provide a comparison for assessing impact. In Community Integrity Building, a baseline study enables community members to analyse the context in which they are working and establish reference points against which to measure the progress and impact. A community baseline can contain details of original projects and current levels of transparency, accountability, participation and effectiveness. The baseline can include the following: The number/nature of development programmes being monitored at the start of the action; The number/nature of local community groups already participating in monitoring processes; The number/nature of existing government/civil society forums; The degree to which donor, government and implementing agency policies mainstream transparency and accountability to citizens (for example whether donors, governments and implementing agencies proactively disclose key development programme documents at the start of the action). Read Tool 1 Conict Analysis Read Tool 2 Stakeholder Analysis 5 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Larisa Kuznetsova and Sulaimanova Suimkan were both trained as community monitors as part of Integrity Actions work in Kyrgyzstan. They have since been using their training to address inadequacies in the provision of services for people with disabilities in Osh. In 2012, along with other monitors they analysed the way the city served people with disabilities. Sulaimanova Suimkan said, We identied many cases where people didnt know about their right to benets. For instance the parents of a disabled child should receive benets if their child has had a disability for over a year, but many parents dont know about this. They shared their ndings with the local Joint Working Group (JWG) that was established under Integrity Action in Kyrgyzstan to bring together local government workers, elected members, government suppliers, CBOs and active members of civil society including youth committees. The JWG held three meetings in the latter part of 2012 to agree an action plan to address the issues and hold local government accountable for the lack of provision for people with special needs. The JWG created a booklet providing important information about the different benets disabled people were entitled to. The booklet also featured the addresses of all organisations and institutions that offer services in Osh. Before this booklet was produced, people with disabilities could not easily nd out their entitlements and many were forced to pay bribes to receive benets. Now they know where to access documentation and which institutions to contact about services. As a result the number of people who pay bribes for access to services has reduced. Larisa has also used what she learned to successfully apply for a $25,000 grant to establish a health and tness centre for people with disabilities. The centre opened in July 2013 and provides users of the centre access to specialist treatment. Staff at the centre also provide advice on benets and services that people with disabilities can access. Case Study Improving access to services for people with disabilities in Kyrgyzstan 6 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building 2. Joint Learning 2.1 Identifying Community Monitors Local volunteer monitors, also known as focal points, are central to Community Integrity Building (CIB). The selection process of the monitors should be credible and the representatives should be reliable and interested in addressing the needs of the community. There are a number of steps to follow in selecting community monitors. In some cases, where CIB is integrated in existing systems monitors may come from established groups. For example, in Palestine, the Teacher Creativity Center works with the Ministry of Education to integrate CIB in the education system and train teachers and students in community monitoring tools. Steps in Community Monitor Selection 1. Establish a set of criteria necessary for the role and interview or choose monitors who meet the criteria. When establishing criteria think about diversity in terms of age, gender and minority groups. This ensures a fair and transparent selection process. Please see the criteria set by IWA in Afghanistan for an example. 2. Elections - Hold an election in which the local community elects the community monitors. This ensures that the community monitor has a majority backing from the community. 3. Hold a public ceremony and/or sign a code of conduct where monitors agree to voluntarily conduct the monitoring. The code of conduct itself may be quite symbolic, since the real pressure for greater integrity comes from the mechanism of peer-to-peer accountability. 2.2 Training Community Monitors and Public Ofcials Once selected, community monitors are trained in monitoring skills such as analysing project documents, comparing the actual project to the documents, taking photos of the project, conducting beneciary surveys, verifying their ndings as well as advocating for the resolution of problems. Well-trained community monitors can in turn provide specialised knowledge and skills to other monitors, such as when issues under discussion are technically complex. Public ofcials often participate in this training as highlighted in the example from Kyrgyzstan below. Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA) developed a set of characteristics necessary for a community monitor listed below. These can be adapted to suit your own context. Honest Literate* Well respected in the community Supports community monitoring Previous experience of social work Not a staff member Lives close to projects to be monitored Physically able to visit project sites Has free time (3 visits per week/ 6-8 hours per week) Willing to volunteer (only receives travel costs and modest communication expenses) Although their criteria are important, IWA are also exible in their approach, so as not to systematically exclude committed community members. For example, if they nd a committed and capable illiterate candidate, they may still choose this person as a monitor and allow him/ her to verbally report ndings and prepare their written reports with the help of friends or family. They also have two person teams that include at least one literate person. For more information, please see http://www. communitymonitoring.org Case Study Choosing Community Monitors in Afghanistan 7 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building 2.3. Establishing or supporting Joint Working Groups (JWGs) Ultimately, the success of Community Integrity Building (CIB) depends on some form of effective interaction between the local communities, local authorities and the service providers, including contractors. Meaningful results are most likely to be achieved when communities formalise interaction about the development process in a Joint Working Group (JWG) or Monitoring Committee. Depending on the context, these JWGs consist primarily of local government, service providers or contractors, and community members, such as the monitors, youth and womens groups and the village chief. In some settings, As the Executive Secretary of the Territorial Council in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, Shirinbolsun Kulbaeva is responsible for issuing important documentation to citizens. Despite the importance of valid documentation in Kyrgyzstan, many citizens have difculties accessing documents they need or have paperwork with incorrect information. This is often due to negligence and lack of accountability from Osh Territorial Council public employees who are often poorly paid and have limited legal knowledge. Without the relevant documents, citizens face a number of problems. For example, without certication married women cannot claim their husbands property if he dies, children are prevented from going to school and families are unable to receive benets and medical care. According to Shirinbolsun, In one case, for twenty years a person whose name was Dushon, had a birth certicate stating his name was actually Ikram. Even worse, in another case, there was a family where the children were registered under different surnames. Between 2009-2013 Integrity Action ran ve training workshops in Osh and trained twenty-seven local government ofcials and council workers including Shirinbolsum. The training focused on encouraging integrity principles in the workplace, as well as advocating for improved standards at work, and emphasising the need for citizens to possess the correct documentation. As a result of Integrity Actions training local government ofcials and council workers in Osh are now using their new skills in Integrity principles to improve service provision for citizens. Since the training, ofcials spend time ensuring the documents they issue are correct. Shirinbolsun said, People requesting certicates are often outraged when I refuse, on the grounds that their documentation is not in order. However, now we help people to obtain proper documents, register marriages, and register their property. I am enabling the citizens of Osh to have a greater stake in controlling their own destiny. Today citizens in Osh are receiving benets they are entitled to, but which they could previously not attain due to having invalid or out of date paperwork. This is providing people with vital access to medical care, legal aid, and social assistance from the local government. these committees are part of existing structures, such as the County Development Steering Committees in Liberia, which were established to track the implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Plan. In other cases, CSOs have helped established these committees at the district or provincial level, as in Timor Leste and Afghanistan. Constructive engagement in these committees where participants are committed to developing and implementing practical solutions can be a way of institutionalising CIB. Case Study Training Public Ofcials in Osh, Kyrgyzstan 8 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building 2. Joint Learning continued In Timor-Leste, Integrity Actions partner Luta Hamutuk established District Infrastructure Monitoring Committees in Liquica, Barzartete and Aileu/Dili Districts. Monitoring committees are comprised of local government authorities and other community members. For example, the committee in Bazartete consists of Luta Hamutuk representatives, community monitors, youth representatives, four village chiefs, and a health department chief at the sub-district level, the police chief and the sub-district administrator of Bazartete who has assumed role as Counsellor for the committee. In monthly meetings, community monitoring ndings and project updates are presented by focal points. The meetings are not open to the public, as the committee determines what is made public and when, so that expectations can be managed and no hostilities arise. The committees are also used as complaints mechanisms, with community members bringing forward any concerns for the village chief to take up with other authorities. In Lospalos, for example, a contractor was not paying local salaries because the government had not paid the contracted company. The committee members were able to discuss and resolve the issue with all stakeholders. 2.4 Selecting Development Projects to Monitor The local communities themselves should, if possible, select priority development projects that matter most to them. Participatory community meetings could be used to help identify and select priority projects to be monitored by the community. Projects should also be selected on the basis that the monitoring may have a wider policy impact. Monitoring a national programme, such as a national disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme (e.g. road building) enables comparison across localities and potential inuence at the national level. It is important to understand who is responsible for the projects or services. For example, CSOs in Sierra Leone chose primary health and education because local authorities were responsible for these and therefore they could more easily access documents and affect change. Case Study District Monitoring Committees - Working together to x problems in Timor Leste In Palestine CSOs chose water and sanitation as local authorities were responsible for service provision and the CSO could therefore engage more effectively to resolve issues. It can be tempting to monitor complicated or controversial projects as these often attract the most attention in the media, however we suggest that this is not the rst priority as at times it may be beyond the communities capacity or interest to do so. It is also important to think about the value of the project and the number of project beneciaries in order to ensure you use your time and resources to improve projects for as many people as possible. The number of projects monitored should be proportional to the capacity of the CSO and the focal points or monitors. Selecting too many projects, or raising expectations too high, may inhibit the monitors ability to gather credible data and advocate for change. During an exchange trip to Timor Leste, Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA) found this committee to be an excellent forum for constructive collaboration between the local government and the communities. Following the exchange, IWA adapted and replicated this approach in Afghanistan, which has resulted in greater collaboration with donor organisations as well as local government. 9 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Selection of infrastructure projects to monitor in Afghanistan Integrity Watch Afghanistan use the four factors below to determine the criteria for selecting projects in Afghanistan to monitor. This method can be used and adapted to suit your organisation and situation. Project Type Decide on the type of development projects you wish to monitor, e.g. roads, irrigation, water supply and sanitation. Choose four or ve sectors to monitor - focusing on a few sectors allows you to develop your skills in monitoring those sectors. Project Status At what stage do you want to start monitoring projects? Monitoring projects from the beginning of construction until completion, rather than monitoring a project when it is almost complete is preferable as this allows you to potentially identify and address issues as they arise rather than afterwards. For Integrity Watch Afghanistan, the selection process is based on the number of projects that have been only one-third completed or less, e.g. during the rst two months of a project that takes 6 months to complete. The monitoring of an on-going project can lead to major quality changes. Bringing changes is much more difcult if the project is more than 30% completed. For example, if monitoring the construction of a school building and you notice inadequate materials have been purchased, it may be easier to get these replaced before construction begins than when the building is nished. Selecting a district in which to monitor projects is therefore dependent on the number of projects that are in the early phases of construction or in the planning phase. Project Construction Phases Can monitor Should not monitor Number of Projects In order to allocate resources effectively and concentrate effort with a lot of construction activity, it is recommended to choose districts with numerous ongoing projects. For example, IWA works in districts where there are at least 10 ongoing projects. This number may be different in other countries, but it is useful to choose locations with a number of projects because projects are often stopped or delayed meaning focal points in those areas will have less projects to monitor which is not cost effective and may not be motivating for a trained person. Project Value Choose projects valued at or above a certain amount. For example, Integrity Watch Afghanistan only monitor projects valued at least $30,000. 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 10 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building 3.1. Data Collection, Analysis and Verication Once community monitors have been trained, projects to monitor selected and JWGs established, they data gathering begins. Monitors gather data on three key areas: Access to information - whether the communities can access key project information, such as the budget, contract or plans. Community Engagement - whether communities were involved in the project design and/or implementation. Project Effectiveness - whether the project is effective, complies with established standards and communities are satised. There are numerous steps to follow in the data collection and analysis phase, from pre-eldwork to eldwork and data analysis outlined below. 3.1.1 Pre-Fieldwork: Accessing Project Information Before going onsite to collect the data about the projects, monitors need to be informed and plan ahead. This pre- eldwork often involves gathering as much appropriate information about the development projects that you intend to monitor. Solid preparation and research is the foundation of all monitoring work. Community monitors can engage responsible bodies, including implementing agencies and government ofcials, to explain their objectives. They can also access project documents, such as plans and budgets, which should be kept centrally e.g. recorded in a database or Excel le and analysed. Collecting this data enables monitors to track the funds and expected deliverables set out in the plans and contracts and compare this information with the reality on the ground. 3.1.2 Fieldwork: Gathering Evidence Fieldwork is all about collecting data. The aim of a eld visit is to gather evidence on projects being monitored and feedback from the communities affected, ensuring that a representative sample of the population is heard. This information can be gathered through interviews with stakeholders, surveys or project site visits. Interviews and surveys Interviews are often central to collecting information about the development projects that you are monitoring. Being able to ask good questions is critical to gathering evidence, whether you are engaging with citizens, service providers, government ofcials, donors or community members. In every case, the design and they way you ask questions will often determine the quality of the answers you receive. In Nepal, 10% of the municipal budget is allocated to womens projects. However this entitlement often does not reach women as intended. Before training and awareness raising activities provided by CAHURAST, many local women in Dhading villages were unaware of this entitlement. Following training provided by CAHURAST, two female monitors in Sankosh accessed local budget documents in Dhading, analysed the budgets discovered that 300,000NPR budget that should have been allocated for womens projects was never allocated. The monitors met with the local authorities, which at rst did not listen to them and told them there was a budget freeze and no budget available for these activities. The women persisted, returning to the local authorities ofces again and again but the authorities avoided them. Eventually the Local Development Ofcer met with the women, discussed the situation resulting in two thirds of the budget (200,000NPR) being allocated to training for local women in the form of sewing classes. Before training by CAHURAST these monitors were not aware of their rights in terms of accessing budget information and holding the government accountable. Without access to the budget documents the women would not have known about their entitlements. Now women are learning new skills which they can use in their homes and potentially to earn money in the future. 3. Evidence Base Case Study Improving womens lives through Access to Information in Nepal 11 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Tool Structured Interviews Unstructured Interviews Semi Structured Interviews Surveys Citizen Report Cards SMS & Social Media What is it? These are question- and-answer sessions that follow a carefully planned order. The interviewer has a strict list of questions to pose to each respondent in exactly the same order. The answers are strictly recorded, often using a survey questionnaire form. These are conversations in which the interviewer guides the discussion, while allowing respondents to tell their own story. Questions are usually prepared in advance but will adjust these as the interview unfolds. An important part of unstructured interviewing is to probe: this means asking respondents to explain or expand on what they have said to gain more understanding and insight. These are somewhere between structured and unstructured interviews. The interviewer is likely to have a pre-planned list of questions, but may adjust the order and emphasis to probe deeper. Surveys are closely linked to structured interviews. On a survey form, you usually see questions followed by spaces or blocks for recording the answers given by respondents. Also known as citizen feedback surveys, citizen scorecards and citizen satisfaction surveys. They are participatory surveys that provide quantitative feedback on user perceptions on the quality, adequacy and efciency of public services. Several different variations of citizen report cards have been used by CSOs in many African countries, such as Malawi, Ghana and Uganda. Using SMS and social media for feedback on development programmes. Find out what media your audiences use and for which purposes and think about access, ease (cost) of use and culture of use when choosing the channel. When is it useful? To gather specic, accurate details from many individuals in a consistent way. To gather evidence that can readily be coded, counted and categorised. To gather evidence on complex or sensitive topics. To understand the dynamics & experiences involved. To gather a variety of perspectives. To gain understanding of the respondents different views, but also want some consistent, comparable data to tabulate. To gather specic information from a large number of people, which can then be translated into statistical evidence. To gather evidence on the performance of service providers and/ or to compare performance across service providers. To collect feedback from service users on the quantity and/or quality of specic government services they have received. When there is good mobile & internet access and use/. Facebook is useful for reaching a younger audience with an urban background, whereas, radio can be a better option for rural populations. Disadvantages Possibly the most time- consuming approach, because it tries to cover a pre- determined set of questions while also allowing space for further discussion. Expensive to undertake on a large scale. Difcult to plan a survey with a sample large enough to be credible and small enough to be affordable and manageable. We recommend a sample size of at least 20 to be credible and representative. SMS can be costly depending on service provider. Social media may not always be accessible in areas with low internet access. Table 1. Various tools and some of their (dis)advantages 12 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building 3.1.3 Validating monitoring data and communicating results to communities It is important to have a strategy in place to ensure that data is correctly veried. If errors are found, the credibility of the monitors and the organisations supporting them will be called into question. Additionally, monitors should be properly trained and supported during the monitoring process. It is important that the data collected accurately reects the views of the community. Community monitors can validate the ndings by sharing their monitoring results with communities. They can also take photos of the project and compare these, and beneciary surveys, with project documents. Comparing sources of information is important for the credibility of the ndings. Communicating with communities also increases their awareness and understanding of the issues affecting them. 3. Evidence Base continued Interviews can range from formal and pre-planned to more open-ended and conversational. They are usually divided into the following broad categories. Have a look at the tools section of this guide for more details on conducting interviews and surveys. Project site visits and physical assessment of the project Monitors visit project sites, make a physical assessment of the project, take photos and record the status of the project. Monitors can assess projects without being qualied engineers. They can easily detect, for example, if bricks collapse upon contact, if wires are protruding dangerously, if sanitary facilities are not available, if projects have been abandoned or lack structures such as a foundation or roof. To build their skills, monitors are encouraged to work with engineers and contractors in their physical assessments. Some CSOs have also worked with university engineering students or engineers who volunteer as community monitors as well. Find out more about IWAs work on this and see their tools here: www.communitymonitoring.org DevelopmentCheck DevelopmentCheck is an online reporting platform for citizen feedback on development projects. Integrity Action partners and community monitors collect data on the transparency, participation and effectiveness of development projects and share their ndings on developmentcheck.org. All data is veried and published by Integrity Action and we work with partners to engage local, national and international authorities to ensure the identied problems are resolved to the communities satisfaction and a x can be achieved. This means citizens have better services and are also empowered to ensure that policies are appropriate, information can be trusted and that money is spent on projects benetting communities. Read Tool 4 Designing Questionnaire Read Tool 5 Beneciary Questionnaire Read Tool 6 DevelopmentCheck Questionnaire 13 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Once evidence is gathered, community monitors share their ndings with key stakeholders in order to address any issues they have found and also share good practices they have seen. If problems with projects or services have been uncovered they propose solutions or xes to these problems. A x is the resolution of a problem to the satisfaction of the main stakeholders, and a x-rate, the percentage of identied problems that are resolved. For example, if community monitors nd problems in ten projects and resolve six of these, they have achieved a 60% x rate. If they resolved only two out of the ten problems, they would achieve a 20% x rate. It is 4. Constructive Engagement to resolve identied problems important to understand the nature of the problem and action taken to resolve the problem. Fixing problems can take time. Joint Working Groups, also known as monitoring committees (see 2.3), are useful for collaboratively nding solutions to problems. In order to prevent further problems monitors are encouraged to work with contractors and authorities to ensure projects are planned and maintained effectively. Public hearings may sometimes help in this process although they are often seen as confrontational so context sensitivity is key to longer-term engagement. 14 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building 5.1. Fixing Problems & Advocacy If solutions to identied problems are not found or implemented easily, then it may be useful to carry out an advocacy campaign. Advocacy can be led and undertaken by the local communities affected by the development projects. These local communities have a critical and legitimate voice, as they live with the effects - good or bad - of the development projects, and are therefore important in determining the changes that should be made. There is more than one way to do advocacy. It all depends on the issue being highlighted and the context in which it happens. Confrontation can be the preferred method in some advocacy strategies. It seeks to obtain change via pressure and seeks to point out problems rather than offer solutions. However, high prole, confrontational strategies of naming and shaming, might prove to be dangerous for the local communities involved as well as alienate them. Therefore instead of this confrontational approach, we encourage collaboration between local communities and authorities. Evidence-based advocacy offers a rational, rigorous and systematic case for key decision-makers to improve development programmes, projects and services, or reform inappropriate policies. An important element of communication and advocacy is working with the media. The media can become important allies of community integrity building turning investigative journalism into integrity journalism by reporting on problems as well as the efforts of citizens and public ofcials to resolve them. 5. Closing the Loop Because the effort is collaborative the success in achieving a x should be shared with all stakeholders including local citizens, public ofcials and contractors. 5.2. Learning and Assessing Impact In order to know whether we have achieved the community integrity building objectives we set out to accomplish, and to assess the impact of our work, it is important to measure against indicators. Therefore before starting the project make sure to conduct a baseline study and develop indicators that will help us to know when a change has happened. From there, it becomes possible to ask stakeholders questions about which changes have happened, and how, in a variety of ways. These indicators should be used to help us assess our own progress throughout the community integrity building programme. Organisations can develop their own set of indicators for integrity building. The tools section of this guide provides a list of suggested indicators and questions that can be adapted and used by organisations to suit their specic country context. Read Tool 7 Advocacy Read Tool 8 Learning & Assessing Impact 15 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building In Palestine, 1200 students conducted social audits in their communities in 2013, with support from their school faculty, the Teacher Creativity Centre (TCC) and Integrity Action. They analysed policies and practice, engaged experts in engineering, maintenance and design, and conducted community interviews to monitor the use of funds. The media publicised the work and engaged in advocacy especially when it is found that public ofcials are not cooperating. The students uncovered nancial and administrative malpractices in 72% of the 40 projects they have monitored. They are now working with authorities and contractors to address these issues. In the West Bank, for example, students identied problems in the construction of a road in Qabatiya and pressed the mayor to ensure the contractor delivered properly and on time. In the Nablus area, students stopped a contractor from building a road on peoples land and made sure it was delivered in the right place and to the correct dimensions. The students work had resulted in better roads for more than 200,000 people. Presently, after signing a memorandum of understanding with TCC, the Ministry of Education is ensuring that every teacher trained on the action learning methodology implements social audits with the subsequent class for sustainability. Also the MOE just released a national plan, opening the door for TCC to implement social audits in elementary public schools across the West Bank. Case Study Closing the Loop in Palestine 16 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Community Integrity Building offers a constructive, sustainable approach to identify, monitor and improve development projects and services. By mobilising citizens and collaboratively engaging with local authorities and services providers in learning, monitoring and problem solving, we can overcome challenges in development, close loops and effectively meet the needs and expectations of communities. The approach has also proven to be cost effective. In Palestine in 2013, the Teacher Creativity (TCC) Centre supported 1,280 monitors in 40 schools to gather data on 40 projects with more than 200,000 beneciaries. TCC is working with the Ministry of Education to integrate social audits in the curriculum, thereby institutionalising community integrity building. In Timor Leste, Luta Hamutuk mobilised citizens across the country to monitor 11 projects valued at USD 1.1 million, achieving a x-rate of 73%. Thats an investment of USD 370 in each monitor to ensure the delivery of projects worth almost 3,000 times that amount. In general, if 1% of a large projects costs are invested into our approach and that has the result of reducing the loss rate by even 4% this would represent a threefold net return on investment. Such an approach does not come without challenges. Civil society mobilisers or integrity builders require resources to develop communities capacities, provide the evidence base to inform and improve policy and practice, and constructively engage to close the loop. As we strive to institutionalise community integrity building, including in aid and development projects, strengthening partnerships across government, civil society and business can ensure locally-driven evidence and viable solutions. Conclusion, Strategic Challenges and Ways Forward Connecting communities is key. This means connecting affected communities with local, national and international policy-making and practice, ensuring bottom-up feedback and user-oriented solutions. It also means connecting communities of practice so that technology whizzes, grassroots activists and policy experts are jointly identifying, analysing and addressing public priorities. Integrity Builders welcome the opportunity to engage with governments, donors and business, as well as high level multi-stakeholder initiatives focused on aid, natural resources, budgets, contracting and infrastructure, to ultimately ensure that these precious public resources deliver to the needs of citizens. Changes to societies with a history of corruption do not come easily. If they do occur, it is often because the public is tired of being victimized by those who are, in theory but not practice, supposed to provide them with adequate goods and services. The Community Integrity Building program is an innovative and workable approach to community involvement in public works projects which can be used, not only to monitor specic projects to ensure compliance, but also to foster an environment of honesty and integrity. Ronald Goldstock, Commissioner, Waterfront Commission of NY Harbor; Professor, NYU Law School; and creator of the Independent Private Sector Inspectors General program, former Director, New York State Organized Crime Task Force 17 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Tools 17 18 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Mapping and analysing factors, actors and scenarios that contribute to conict and peace enables an understanding of the role CIB can play. Include the projects you plan to monitor in this analysis to understand how levels of transparency, accountability, participation and effectiveness affect the community dynamics, with an aim to have a positive impact on community relations. Analysing Factors: Start by dening key sources of tension and conict as well as factors contributing to peace. Include factors such as economic and social development, equity of distribution and the political system. Make sure to also examine the ability of institutions to address grievances, prevent corruption and mismanagement as well as the interests of confrontational actors or spoilers. Questions to address: What are the key sources of tension that could lead to instability (e.g. economic inequality, poor governance, scarcity of natural resources)? What are the governments institutional capacities to respond? Analysing Actors: Next, identify critical local, national, regional and international factors and actors that inuence or are inuenced by the conict in question. All key actors attitudes and behaviour should be analysed in relation to the conict, taking account of, for example, short-term and long-term incentives towards corruption or integrity, interests, needs, capacities and cultures of violence and of peace. Tools When analysing the actors, focus on their incompatible interests in terms of greed and grievances, and on how these factors affect and are affected by on-going and potential violent conicts. Look at the different roles and interests of women, men, boys and girls in order to nd suitable options for action when it comes to addressing the needs, interests, rights and opportunities of the whole population. Consider factors that connect actors and how to strengthen these connecting factors. Identify integrity factors and activities that might promote peace. These include those actors that can be identied as non-confrontational, that may actually have decisive inuence on whether or not the confrontational or corrupt actors succeed in furthering their agendas. Power Mapping: Power mapping helps you to: Identify structures & power relationships between actors. Build connections and coalitions among those who support your goals Identify uninvolved stakeholders that can be mobilised for your cause Neutralise or win over those who oppose your advocacy objective and the change it seeks to trigger Tool 1 Conict Analysis In favor Neutral/Unmobilized Against 19 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Notes: The size of the stakeholder (i.e. their box or circle in the diagram) indicates their relative power to inuence the objective, which is written in the centre of the diagram: Earmarked budget for HIV/AIDS in 2008. Thus, the bigger the box or circle, the more powerful the stakeholder. The distance of the stakeholder from the issue (in the centre) depicts the degree of support that the stakeholder has for the issue (e.g., the farther away from the centre, the less support the stakeholder has). Questions to address: Who and what are the key actors? Who is excluded from the process? What are their interests? What are their power bases and resources? What are the roles of men and women in this conict situation? What are their specic needs, interests, and potential strengths? The example below is from a campaign in Mexico. Earmarked budget for HIV/AIDS in 2008 HEALTH Ministry HIV/AIDS Program Finance Ministry Health Committee Budget Committee Gender Committee Left-wing Party HIV/AIDS CSOs Womens CSO National Institute for Respiratory Diseases National Institute for Nutrition Access to Information Institute Conservative Party 20 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Tools continued Conducting a Stakeholder Analysis Stakeholder analysis determines how to engage in your context. A stakeholder is a person who has something to gain or lose through the outcomes of a planning process. They can have a powerful bearing on the outcomes of political processes. Therefore, it is necessary to identify and analyse the needs and concerns of different stakeholders, particularly when the aim is to inuence policy. Step 1: Clarify the objective being discussed Step 2: Identify all the stakeholders or interest group representatives. This can be done through a group discussion with a range of people from your organisation with knowledge of or contact with different stakeholder groups. The following grid shows examples of stakeholders. Examples of Private Sector stakeholders Examples of Public Sector stakeholders Examples of Civil Society stakeholders Corporation & business leaders Professional body representatives Individual business owners Financial institution contact persons Ministers & advisors Civil servants Elected representatives Local government ofcials Military ofcials Journalists Religious leaders School & university administrators Trade union leaders National NGO leaders International NGO country programme staff Step 3: Organise the stakeholders according to their interest and power. Interest measures to what degree they are likely to be affected by the project/ policy change in question, and what degree of interest, investment or concern they have in or about it. Power measures the inuence they have over the project or policy, and to what degree they can help achieve, or block, the desired change. Where possible, it is important to fully engage stakeholders with high power and interests aligned with the project. If trying to create policy change, these people are the targets of any campaign. At the very top of the power list will be the decision-makers, usually members of the government, who are inuenced by opinion leaders. Stakeholders with high interest but low power need to be kept informed and, if organised, they may form the basis of an interest group or coalition that can lobby for change. Those with high power but low interest should be kept satised and ideally brought around as patrons or supporters for the proposed policy change. Be sure to pay attention to spoilers. They are opponents who actively harm or hinder the CIB work and other constructive governance reforms. This is sometimes because they have a personal stake in the status quo and sometimes because they were not properly consulted or given their due consideration in the process of change. Context analysis and sensitivity are critical to understanding spoilers and constructive engagement is key to counteracting them. Engaging potential spoilers such as local authorities and contractors early on, including in training sessions and working groups, rather than confronting them is critical to build trust, skills and collective positive action. 1 Adapted from http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/details.asp?id=5257&title=stakeholder-analysis Tool 2 Stakeholder Analysis 1
Low High Stakeholder analysis grid Keep Satised Engage Closely and Inuence Actively Monitor Keep Informed P o w e r Interest 21 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Step 4: Develop a strategy for how best to engage different stakeholders in a project, how to frame or present the message or information so it is useful to them, and how to maintain a relationship with them. Identify who will make each contact, how they will communicate and how they will follow up. Keep in mind who can be gate-keepers to those who shape policy and practice. For example, it is useful to build a relationship with clerks at ministries as they often have access to information and can inuence public ofcials. Please see the advocacy tool for help with this 22 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Tools continued How do you make a request? Be clear and very specic about the information or documents that you are looking for. Keep your rst request relatively simple. That way you have a better chance of getting a quick answer, and you can always make follow-up requests if necessary. You dont have to mention the right to information act or freedom of information law, but this can be useful because it shows that you know your legal rights. State politely which format you prefer. If you want information electronically, be sure to provide your email address. The advantage of electronic information is that it usually saves you from paying photocopying and postage fees. Use language and etiquette that is appropriate for any other professional communication or correspondence in your country. Usually you need to provide your name, address, email address and phone number. File your request in written form (by email, post, fax, in person) or make an oral request (by telephone, in person). However, written requests are useful if you need to make an appeal in cases where you did not receive a response - just remember to make a copy of the original request. Remember: You dont have to explain why you want the information nor what you will do with it. April 1, 2012 Dear Sir/Madam, I am writing to request the following information under the Right to Information Act, 2007: Te total amount of money spent during each of 2006, 2007, and 2008 on vaccinations for children under the age of 10 years old. I would like this information broken down by year, and if possible, by month. Te total number of children vaccinated in each of 2006, 2007, and 2008 under the governments new Vaccines for All programme. I would prefer to have this information sent to me electronically to the e-mail address that is provided below. If you have any questions or need further clarifcation about this request, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, Jane Smith 15 Main Street, Capital City E-mail: jane@janesmith.com Tel: 123-456-7890 Example Information Request Letter: 2 Excerpted and adapted from The Aid Transparency Toolkit: What You Always Wanted to Know about Aid and How to Get the Information A Guide for Civil Society Organisations and Members of the Public, Access Info, www.access-info.org Tool 3 How to Access Information - Guidelines for Making Information Requests 2 TIP: If you live near where the information is held (for example, if you live in the capital city where the documents are kept), you can also ask to inspect original documents. This can be helpful when researching information that might be held in a large number of documents, and youd like to have a look through them. 23 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Do you have to pay a fee to ask for information? Filing your request for information is usually free of charge. In a few countries, including Nepal, this is not the case and there is a small fee. You can ask the public agency to send the information either to your postal address or your email address. If you ask for paper copies sent by post, then there may be charges for photocopying and the postage costs. Electronic delivery should be free. In some cases you will be asked to pay a fee for receiving information in other formats (for example, photocopies, CDs, DVDs, etc.) and in most cases the public agency is not allowed to charge more than the actual cost of copying the information onto any given format. The fees charged for photocopying, postage, or for materials such as a CD or DVD should be according to already published rates. If you suspect you are being charged too much, raise a concern with the public body and/or with the ombudsman or information commissioner. When and how will you receive the information? Format varies depending on your request and availability: inspection of originals, photocopies, e-mails, les attached to e-mails, DVDs, CDs, etc. Countries have different time frames for answering requests or providing information, as well as for notications of extensions or issuing refusals. Most countries permit public agencies to extend the timeframes for a few days or up to a month if the information request is particularly complex. In all cases, the requestor should be notied of the delay and the reasons for the delay should be explained. What happens when you dont get the information you ask for? If you dont get the information you asked for, you have the right to appeal. There are normally at least two stages of appeal: Stage 1: Appeal to the public agency that refused to give you the information or that failed to answer you. Normally the appeal letter should be sent to the head of the public agency; however, you should check what your national right to information law says. In countries that have good right to information laws, there will be a simple and clear system for ling appeals. Stage 2: Appeal to the courts or, if your country has one, the information commission. You can also appeal to information rights advocates in your own country or international organisations including Integrity Action and Access Info, who can help follow up on your requests. Donor countries with Access to Information Laws In donor countries with access to information laws, these laws cover all central government ministries, including aid agencies. Information requests can be made to the local ofce of the donors aid agency in your country, or by email or letter to the head ofce of the agency in the donor country. For some example of successful information requests in Nepal see Freedom Forums website www.freedomforum.org/ TIP: TIf youre not sure what to do for the rst stage of appeal, contact the ofce of your information commission/commissioner for help. If you are still having problems, then contact Access Info (helpdesk@ access-info.org) and let them know about it. They will try to help you, for example, by giving you advice on how to appeal or by nding an access to information expert or lawyer in your country. 24 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Tools continued Step 1: Always clarify the purpose and scope of the survey, interview or group discussion. Step 2: Draw on external skills and expertise if necessary. Using surveys, interviewing people and facilitating group discussions requires some special skills. You do not have to be an expert yourself, but it will be necessary to draw in people with experience in statistical research along the way. Step 3: Identify who you will gather evidence from. The evidence you gather with a survey will only be seen as representative of a wider population if your sample has been chosen very carefully. You may want to get help from a statistics expert with experience in constructing reliable samples. If you are planning to track public expenditure with your survey, make a list of the ofcials, front-end service providers and others you will interview. If you are planning a group discussion ensure you do some stakeholder analysis rst to engage the right people. Step 4: Design a questionnaire. The way you formulate the questions for your survey will determine what kind of evidence you will gather. It is also useful to think about the order of the questions. The answer to one question could have a bearing on the way you ask the next one. Remember that completing a survey can be time- consuming; so keep it as short as possible. Have a look at some surveys that have been used by other CSOs to monitor policies and if possible, talk to them about what they have learnt. See page 25 for some options to think about when planning an interview, designing a survey or planning the agenda for group discussions: Step 5: Coding Responses To record evidence in a quantitative way, it needs to be counted or coded in numbers. This can be built into the design of your questions and answers (which is called pre-coding). When information is coded, it means that number values have been assigned to different categories of data. For example, wherever people have chosen the same answer to a closed question in a survey, their responses are given the same number value. In principle, you can assign number values to any evidence you have gathered, even from focus group discussions or other less structured methods (though this may call for assistance from someone with expertise in data analysis). Closed questions tend to be pre-coded. For example, in relation to a policy on security, you may ask the following question: What do you think about the performance of the police in this city? Very good 1 Good 2 Fair 3 Poor 4 Very poor 5 Pre-coding is also possible when you are using observation to gather evidence. For example, in order to track an education policy, monitors could be asked to sit in on a number of primary school classes. They could then use the following system to encode what they observe: How much time (hours/minutes) did the teacher spend on each of the following in class? 1. Listening to pupils 2. Presenting to the class 3. Talking to the pupils 4. Answering pupils questions 5. Giving instructions 6. Correcting pupils work 7. Observing small group/pair work 8. Doing nothing Open questions are answered in respondents own words. These answers can be coded afterwards (which is called post-coding). This involves assigning number values to different responses or themes so that they can be counted and compared. In the example on educational policy above you could give a certain numerical value to each response. Tool 4 Designing Questionnaires for Interviews, Surveys & Group Discussions 25 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Type of Question Example Questions Open questions: Allow the respondent to answer in his or her own words. (S)he is not prompted to answer in any particular format. What do you think about the services being provided at this facility? Why are many children in this community not attending school Closed questions Provide the respondent with a limited range of responses to choose from. This is often called a multiple-choice question. Do you think the services provided at this facility are: a) Very good b) Good c) Fair d) Poor e) Very poor 50/50 questions The respondent is given a statement or range of statements and is asked to decide whether s/he agrees or disagrees with each, or whether each is true or false. There are only two possible responses to each question. The services you received today were delivered in a friendly, professional manner. True or false? Tick all that apply This closed question format asks the respondent to choose more than one response from a range of possibilities. Unlike the multiple-choice example above, the respondent is invited to mark all the responses that are true of his or her situation. When monitoring the development project, which of the following documents could you access? Please tick all that apply Ranking and scoring Questions could ask respondents to rank their responses or give them a score. These types of questions are useful for learning more about the relative importance people attach to different things. They can also reveal respondents preferences and how they make choices. Scoring provides slightly more information than ranking, because it asks the respondent to give a precise weighting to each factor. Please give each reason a score between 1 and 10, (with 1 being not at all important and 10 being extremely important), that reects how important it is as an obstacle. Your child is not currently attending school because: The distance to school is too far You cannot afford the school fees You cannot afford transport costs He or she has no school uniform He or she is needed at home He or she is ill Project Plans Contract Budget Bill of quantity Annual Report Evaluation Report Other (please specify 26 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Tools continued Step 6: Get feedback and/or test your questionnaire. Ask different stakeholders to have a look at your draft questionnaire and have it checked by someone experienced in drafting surveys. Pre-test your questionnaire with a few people from your target sample to make sure all the questions are understood and ow well in order. Check that the survey makes adequate provision for recording answers and other information. Step 7: Choose & train interviewers. Depending on the scale of your survey, you may need to identify and train people to help you conduct the survey, interview or group discussion. If your survey is part of development monitoring project then monitors could conduct the surveys. You will need to ensure they have skills in communication, interviewing and recording information. They should understand how essential it is to ensure accurate and reliable data and know how to act ethically in interview situations. It may be necessary to provide training in these areas. Step 8: Carry out the activity. This part of the survey process usually involves sending monitors or interviewers out into the eld to gather information from the targeted respondents individually or in focus groups. The monitors follow the question schedule on the questionnaire and record the responses. Step 9: Compile, analyse and validate the data. Once the surveys, interviews or group discussions have been conducted, the responses have to be tabulated. This means recording all the responses in tables, so that you can group them together in a way that will help you to analyse them later. This is ideally done with the aid of a computer, but it can also be managed on paper. Either way, it is essential for the data to be recorded accurately and this can be a meticulous, painstaking task. It is best tackled by people within or outside your network who have some experience in working with large sets of data. The analysis and validation of the data needs to be accurate so as to avoid incorrect ndings. When evidence is expressed in the form of numbers, (i.e. it has been coded) it makes it easier to work with large volumes of information. It also allows you to use the data in useful ways: Summarise and present the information in several ways. Coding responses in numbers helps you to count up and portray your ndings in a concise and straightforward way. Highlight some of the features of a particular category of information. For example, you can calculate the average across a range of responses, (the median), or the most popular responses (the mode). Compare the relationship between different sets of information. For instance, the coding of the information can help you to work out if there are any overlaps between peoples responses to two (or more) questions. Step 10: Reporting and Communication After validating the eld data, you need to determine what questions are the most important to answer in order improve the integrity of development projects, and what can be done to make policies more appropriate? What are the facts? What do the facts tell us? And what actions and changes are needed as a result of those facts? Does the data tell us that something should be done to improve the planned and current development projects, programmes and services and which are the policies that need to change? When analysing data you may nd that changes need to be made to a development project, programme or services, you need to communicate this to the appropriate audiences. You should identify those audiences with whom you need to communicate to achieve your objectives. It is useful to start by asking yourself the following questions: How can I communicate this data, so it is used to inform future policy and practice? Who are the appropriate target audiences? How can it be communicated clearly? How can the data be made accessible? There is no single, best, generic solution to these questions. The best answers will vary by the project, programme or service being monitored and from situation to situation. Look at the tools on developing an advocacy strategy and conducting a stakeholder analysis to help. 27 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building The questionnaire below can be used to gather feedback from beneciaries on projects you are monitoring. Before conducting the interview, remember to introduce yourself to the beneciary (interviewee) and explain why you are conducting this interview. Example introduction of the interviewer to the beneciary Hello, I am [interviewer name] from a non-governmental organisation called [interviewers organisation]. We are currently trying to understand peoples experience with [name of the project being monitored]. Your views and experience will be kept condential. Tool 5 Beneciary Questionnaire Project Details Responses (to be completed for each project) Project ID/Reference Name of monitor/ beneciary interviewer Name of monitoring organisation Project name & location Project Start Date Project End Date Current status of project Date Questions Responses (to be completed for each project) 1 General information Name of beneciary interviewee Gender Age Occupation (e.g. farmer, teacher) Date of interview Female Male 28 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Tools continued Questions Responses (to be completed for each project) 2 Do you know about the project? If yes, when did you learn about the project 3 How did you learn about the project 4 Are you one of the direct beneciaries/users of the project? 5 What is the following information about the project? [to be checked against actual project documents] Budget of the project Name of donor Name of implementing agency Project start and end date Number of beneciaries Other (specify) 6 How is this information available to you? Yes No (Please go to question 4). During the design At the implementation stage Other (specify) Local media
Posters at the project site or public building Public meeting Relatives and friends Other (specify) Yes No Public meeting Other (specify) On a website, in English
On a website, in English and local languages
Posters at the project site or public building Directly through talking with the implementing agency 29 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Questions Responses (to be completed for each project) 7 Did you participate in the design of the project If yes, how? 8 Does the project respond to your priorities? 9 Did you participate in the implementation of the project? 10 Does the project deliver to your needs? 11 Are you aware of the existence of a complaint mechanism? 12 Have you used the complaint mechanism? 13 Did you receive a response to your complaint? 14 Are you satised with the response to your complaint? 15. Are you satised with the project? Yes No (Please go to question 8). Through being surveyed I belong to a committee Other (specify) Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes (specify) No (specify) Thank you! 30 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Tool 6 DevelopmentCheck Questionnaire The questionnaire is available in other languages online here: developmentcheck.org/about-developmentcheck Details Responses (to be completed for each project) Project Details Name of the Project Project Reference Project Status (at time of monitoring) Please choose one of the following: Brief description of the project Project Sector Choose one of the following: Project planning/identication Project implementation Project complete Project evaluation Project cancelled
Agricultural inputs (e.g. seeds, machinery)
Agricultural water resources (e.g. irrigation)
Basic drinking water supply and basic sanitation Conict Prevention
Employment policy & admin management Energy generation & supply Health
Legal and judicial development (e.g. courts) Low cost housing Roads
Security systems & reform (e.g. police stations) Waste management/disposal Tools continued 31 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Details Responses (to be completed for each project) Project Details Project Start Date (yyyy/mm/dd) Project End Date (yyyy/mm/dd) Date Project was monitored Project Value/Budget Amount: Currency: Budget Disbursement Date Contractor Implementing Agency Project Donor Government Department responsible Project Beneciaries Total number: Male: Female: Project Location Country District Sub District Village 32 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Tools continued Details Responses (to be completed for each project) Access to Information Which of the documents listed below could you access? Accessibility Keywords Proactive - Document was publicly available online or at the project site Reactive - Document was available on request Not Needed - Document was not needed at the time of monitoring Not Available - Document was not available Feasibility Study How was the accessibility? Proactive Reactive Not Needed Not Available How did you try to access information? Please tick or highlight all that apply Contact with Contractor Contact with Donor Contact with Implementing Agency Contact with Local authorities Website Other Project Plans How was the accessibility? Proactive Reactive Not Needed Not Available How did you try to access information? Please tick or highlight all that apply Contact with Contractor Contact with Donor Contact with Implementing Agency Contact with Local authorities Website Other Contract How was the accessibility? Proactive Reactive Not Needed Not Available How did you try to access information? Please tick or highlight all that apply Contact with Contractor Contact with Donor Contact with Implementing Agency Contact with Local authorities Website Other Budget How was the accessibility? Proactive Reactive Not Needed Not Available How did you try to access information? Please tick or highlight all that apply Contact with Contractor Contact with Donor Contact with Implementing Agency Contact with Local authorities Website Other 33 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Details Responses (to be completed for each project) Access to Information Bill of Quantity How was the accessibility? Proactive Reactive Not Needed Not Available How did you try to access information? Please tick or highlight all that apply Contact with Contractor Contact with Donor Contact with Implementing Agency Contact with Local authorities Website Other Annual Report How was the accessibility? Proactive Reactive Not Needed Not Available How did you try to access information? Please tick or highlight all that apply Contact with Contractor Contact with Donor Contact with Implementing Agency Contact with Local authorities Website Other Evaluation Report How was the accessibility? Proactive Reactive Not Needed Not Available How did you try to access information? Please tick or highlight all that apply Contact with Contractor Contact with Donor Contact with Implementing Agency Contact with Local authorities Website Other Contract Variations How was the accessibility? Proactive Reactive Not Needed Not Available How did you try to access information? Please tick or highlight all that apply Contact with Contractor Contact with Donor Contact with Implementing Agency Contact with Local authorities Website Other 34 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Tools continued Details Responses (to be completed for each project) Community Engagement Was the community consulted in the project design? Yes No (please give details) Please give details How many were consulted? How was this measured? (Tick all that apply) Please give details Was the community involved in the project implementation? Yes No (please give details) Please give details How many were consulted? How was this measured? (Tick all that apply) Please give details Surveys Focus group discussions Interviews Other (give details) Surveys Focus group discussions Interviews Other (give details) 35 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Details Responses (to be completed for each project) Project Effectiveness Did you nd a problem with the project (Excluding problems with access to information and community engagement) Yes No If there was a problem, what was it? Please tick that apply below Was the problem resolved? Please tick that apply below
Did not comply with contract accessed Yes No Dont Know
Insufcient materials/ equipment Yes No Dont Know
Substandard materials/ equipment Yes No Dont Know Lack of maintenance Yes No Dont Know Project was abandoned Yes No Dont Know Other Yes No Dont Know Please Specify Please give details about the problem (For example, the contractor used old materials) How did you raise awareness of the problem(s)? Please tick that apply below Please give details Apart from resolving the specic problem(s) with this project, was there a change in policy or practice to prevent this problem from occurring again? Yes No Dont Know In progress Please give details if possible Was the community satised with the project delivery? Yes No Please give details
Closed meeting with government ofcial Community meeting Ofcial public hearing Public radio Press release Monitoring committee
Letter to government ofcials Other (Please Specify) 36 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Tools continued Details Responses (to be completed for each project) Project Effectiveness How was this measured? Please tick that apply below Please give details Number of respondents Number Satised Number Unsatised Total Additional Information Please use this space to provide any additional information you would like to share on this project Please attach any relevant monitoring reports, photos and videos Please label all documents and photos clearly Community Monitor Name: (this will not be public) Surveys Focus group discussions Interviews Other (give details) This can be completed after gathering evidence through accessing information, visiting project sites and collecting feedback from stakeholders 37 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building The ve components of an advocacy strategy are: 1. Objectives 2. Audiences 3. Message 4. Message Delivery 5. Schedule/Action Plan 1. OBJECTIVES An advocacy objective should set out very clearly and specically what civil society wants government to do, how it should be done, where, and when. The more information and evidence that you have about your issue, the environment/context, opportunities, and the actors/decision-makers involved, the clearer your objective is likely to be. Your advocacy objectives should be SMART. That is, each objective should be: S Specic M Measurable A Achievable R Relevant T Time bound SPECIFIC Specify an action that you want government to take. Be as clear and specic as you can. For example, it is too general to set as a goal: to provide safe drinking water for all. Rather, set a specic goal to prioritize the provision of safe drinking water to those who currently have no access to safe drinking water. Dont just state what the problem is (e.g. many people do not have access to safe drinking water). For the objective to be specic, you must state the solution that you would like to see and the specic ministry, department, or agency within government that needs to implement the solution. You also need to be specic about which beneciaries should be targeted. For example, a more specic objective would be: The Department of Water and Supply & Sewerage must provide access to safe drinking water to those who do not have a safe water source within 2 km of their homes. MEASURABLE Be as exact as possible. If you cant measure it, you cant manage it. Provide the numbers so that you can evaluate your achievements at the end of your campaign. It is not sufcient to state that the government must increase in the number of safe drinking water sources, because the increase could be very small and not what you are advocating for. The government could provide 10 additional safe drinking water sources and still meet such an objective. Keep in mind that not all problems, such as discrimination against girls, can be solved simply by increasing service delivery ACHIEVABLE, RELEVANT, AND TIMEBOUND Making your advocacy objective achievable, relevant, and time bound means linking it directly to the stages in the governments planning, budgeting, and service delivery cycles: Consider what is possible in the current context and what can be realistically achieved in the time. Always set a timeframe for the objective, e.g. this nancial year, over the next three years, by 2015. State how the government can achieve the increases or improvements in service delivery that you are proposing. Keep in mind that not everything can be changed immediately. Existing programmes and budgets are often rigid due to political compromises and legal obligations. For big and long-term goals, think in terms of progressive realisation. Progressive means that if the government cannot immediately attain what you are asking for, it should at least have a medium to long-term plan for attaining it. This makes it possible to hold the government to account for following a plan on a year- by-year basis. For example, if your advocacy objective is - The DWSS must construct 10,000 new taps that provide safe drinking water to those who do not have a safe water source within 2 km of their homes by 2015 - think about how this could be done over the period 2013- 2015. (3,300 new taps by the end of 2013; 6,600 new taps by the end of 2014; and 10,000 new taps by the end of 2015.) Partners in a coalition will probably not commit to objectives that are too far out of reach. 3 Adapted from Development Initiatives, Integrity Action, International Budget Partnership and Publish What You Fund Aid & Budget Monitoring Training Manual Tool 7 How to develop an Advocacy Strategy 3 38 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building 2. AUDIENCE There are two kinds of audiences: primary and secondary. The primary audience is essentially an individual or institution that can give you what you want in your objective, i.e., the decision maker. This is the person or institution that has the power to make the change that needs to happen. The secondary audiences are individuals, institutions, and/or other organisations that are able to put pressure on and inuence the primary audience. 3. MESSAGE An effective advocacy message does the following: Presents a possible solution and action; Draws on evidence; Uses facts and numbers accessibly and creatively; Takes its secondary audiences into account; Knows the political environment and opportunities; Is simple and brief; Uses real life stories and quotes; Adapts the message to the medium; and Encourages the audience to take action. 4. MESSAGE DELIVERY/MESSENGER The messenger should be familiar with the advocacy objectives and the message. Even when there are different messengers, there should always be one unied message. Groups conducting advocacy have used legal, economic, and media experts as messengers in their campaigns. In many countries, economists carry weight on the issue of the public budget, and some groups have used them as messengers for their campaigns. The campaign can create and build the messengers; the more public exposure they receive, the more they will be recognised as experts and public gures. THE MEDIUM/MEDIA Conducting advocacy demands reaching a diverse audience. This requires strategic thinking about how the message will be delivered. Some ways to reach a wide range of people include: print, electronic, and social media; grassroots media, such as community theatre, puppetry, visual arts, and songs; public meetings; workshops; public hearings; rallies; protests; boycotts; strikes; etc. The choice of media should take into consideration the experience of staff members within the organisation, the audience, the political environment, and the opportunities presented. Organisations conducting advocacy also need to think about public messaging versus private messaging, i.e., what you state publicly and the way that you state it may differ from what you state privately to your advocacy target. Both public and private messaging can be done at the same time and with success. For example, a civil society organisation may criticise a donor harshly in public and to the media, while at the same time they are holding more specic, constructive meetings in private with the donor to address the issue. 5. SCHEDULE/ACTION PLAN Advocacy action plans must not only include your communications strategy for delivering your advocacy message, but also the research & analysis and review of research that produces the evidence that supports your advocacy message. Monitoring and evaluation should also be incorporated into schedules and action plans. Convincing government ofcials and donors of the seriousness of your work demands that research and information are produced in a credible, accessible, and timely manner. Use every opportunity you have to highlight your advocacy objective - this means your evidence must be credible, your message must be clear, and you must be ready to jump at opportunities! Tools continued 39 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Below is a set of questions you should answer before starting your project Developing a Project Plan 1. Describe the world in which you are working in terms of the local or wider need that your project is addressing. 2. What are you planning to do as part of this project? 3. What effects do you expect to see straight away? Dene short-term objectives or changes. 4. What effects and changes do you expect to see in the future? Dene medium-term objectives or changes. 5. Where possible, describe the long-term changes for people that: Your initiative will contribute to. Your initiative will be wholly responsible for. 6. For every immediate effect you identied above, ask So what? or Why is that important? (Try and describe precisely how each of the immediate effects will lead to the changes in the future.) 7. For every effect and change you identied above, ask So what? or Why is that important? (Try and describe how the changes will lead to the long-term changes for people, the environment or the economy.) 8. What barriers do you foresee that could prevent any of this happening Impact mapping can be used to look forward and plan for the outcomes and impact. Using the impact column, the big picture can be described, and working backwards from these, changes (outcomes) and the outputs that lead to these outcomes as a result of activities can be mapped Inputs What resources you need to manage the initiative. For example, time, money, staff, other assets (such as a building), a clear vision and shared direction etc. Activities The things that you do to affect some sort of change for the people the community and in relation to programmes, projects and services. Outputs The direct results and beneciaries. Usually outputs show that certain people receive something, learn something, or take part in something as a result of what you do or how you do it. For example, easily countable things, such as the number of projects monitored Outcomes Longer-term change. Describe why that output is important, in terms of the implications for, and the effect it has on your local community Impact When thinking about planning, impacts are the big- picture change you are trying to create or the changes in the wider world that the work you are doing is contributing to. For example, this could be in terms of your vision for change in peoples lives Tool 8 How to Assess Impact Developing Success Indicators and Evaluating your Work 40 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Tools continued Developing indicators Indicators are a quantitative and qualitative measure of change. As an example, measuring increases in access to infrastructure programmes, projects and services may be useful for demonstrating the impact of CIB. Another example might include looking at changes in waiting lists or access to health services. These types of indicators can help to measure changes in meeting community needs. Some things are more difcult to measure via indicators than others. It can be a challenge to nd indicators to reect, for example, community members experiences of social exclusion. In this instance, it is often useful to consider what behaviour most closely manifests the trend that we are trying to measure and try to nd an indicator linked to that behaviour. Remember that the indicators we choose should be SMART - Specic, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. Indicators should produce evidence that is accurate and veriable. This means that when different people use the same indicator to measure the same thing, we end up with the same evidence. Shared success indicators can be established even if in very different settings, as the community integrity building initiatives most often share the same long-term goals. The table below shows some examples of indicators and means of verication Types of Indicators Means of Verication Accountability Involvement and participation of inuential decision- makers in forum discussions Resolutions and actions resulting from multi- stakeholder meetings Signed Code of Conduct document (in place by x date) Increased community representation on project committees (at least 1 member of x community sits on project committee by end year 1) Meeting minutes Forum membership Minutes of forum meeting; agreed resolutions Signed Code of Conduct Project committee membership list & meeting minutes Community Engagement X number of community representatives trained on monitoring issues by end year 1 % increase participation of youth in training and community monitoring % increase participation of women in training and community monitoring Increased citizen participation at local and national level in multi-stakeholder forums List of community monitors (with breakdown m/f, age, background info) Training manuals, training attendance, evaluations List of members of joint committees Community meeting minutes, reports Effectiveness Project compliance with contract Community satisfaction with project (e.g. at least 25% increase in satisfaction with project by end year 1) Improvements to problems identied with projects (E.G. Plans in place to address project problems within 3 months of identifying problem) Fix Rate (number of problems xed) Project documents, photos, surveys, reports from site visits Surveys, focus groups, public meetings Photos, community feedback, monitoring reports DevelopmentCheck data 41 A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building Useful Resources Booth, D. & Lucas, H. (2002) Good practice in the development of PRSP indicators and monitoring systems. Overseas Development Institute Working Paper 172. London. Cohen, D., Watson G,. & De La Vega, R. (2001) Advocacy for Social justice: a Global Action and Reection Guide. Oxford: OXFAM/Advocacy Institute. Datta, A. (2011) Strengthening World Vision Policy Advocacy: a Guide to Developing Advocacy Strategies (online) Overseas Development Institute. De Toma, C. (2012) Advocacy Toolkit: Guidance on how to advocate for a more enabling environment for civil society in your context. Open Forum for CSO Development Effectiveness. Brussels. 60-61. Galtung, F. (2013) The Fix Rate: A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability. Integrity Action Working Paper 2. Gordon, G. (2002) Advocacy Toolkit: Understanding Advocacy and Practical Action in Advocacy. Teddington: Tearfund. ISBN 1 904364 00 4. Asian Development Bank (ADB) & Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) (2007) Improving Local Governance and Service Delivery: Citizen Report Card Learning Toolkit. Khadka, K. & Bhattarai, C. (2012) Sourcebook for 21 Social Accountability Tools. Program for Accountability in Nepal (PRAN). Membe, S. (2004) Budget monitoring and expenditure tracking training manual, domesticated for the CSPR, Zambia. Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR). Miller, K. L. (2011) Seven Ways Social Media Improves Accountability. (online) 11th November 2011. Olivier, D. & Cesar, B. (1998) Managing Sensitive Projects. Macmillan. Open Contracting Partnership (2013) Open Contracting: A Guide for Practitioners by Practitioners. Pollard, A. & Court, J. (2005) How civil society organisations use evidence to inuence policy processes: a literature review. London. Overseas Development Institute (ODI). The World Bank (2006) The Good and the Bad of Village Infrastructure: a Pictorial Guide Integrity Watch Afghanistan/Community Monitoring Toolkit, www.communitymonitoring.org Contact T +44 (0) 20 3119 1187 E info@integrityaction.org W www.integrityaction.org A First Floor, 364 City Road, London, EC1V 2PY, UK