Learning to Evaluate Capacity Development and Collaborative Learning about Community-Based Natural Resource Management: Lessons from Asia

This paper, part of the Social Sciences Working Paper Series of the International Potato Center (CIP), presents studies undertaken by nine community-based, natural resource management (CBNRM)-oriented organisations in China, Viet Nam, the Philippines, and Mongolia. The partner organisations, representing three broad types - academic, regional network, and community-based - were brought together by a 2006 initiative in an informal network to develop and pilot methods for evaluating capacity development in CBNRM. Each of the nine teams produced a comprehensive report on which this working paper is based. In a comparative analysis, the working paper addresses questions across the nine studies such as: "What are various stakeholders learning from capacity development?", and "How can CBNRM capacity development be effectively monitored and evaluated?"

From the Abstract: "A key lesson that emerged is that evaluative learning frameworks contribute to understanding and enhancing capacity development strategies, including scaling up, sustainability, and institutionalization. Such frameworks consist of a clear definition of context, content, capacity, the capacitated, and capacity development. Collaborative learning provides a platform for those seeking to evaluate capacity development, by enabling them not only to conduct evaluation, but also to develop their capacity to evaluate. It also allows participants to draw on their individual and collective experiences to build a practice-informed theory on evaluating capacity development. The effectiveness of evaluation can be greatly enhanced if it is built into and becomes integral to the capacity development process and is fully embraced by all those involved. An adaptive mode of learning is likewise critical to successful evaluation, as continuous conceptual and methodological refinement occurs with increased understanding of the contexts and purposes of evaluation."

Common among the 9 cases are a number of methods and tools involving communication, such as learning together with different stakeholders, learning by doing, fieldwork, selective use of training, ongoing use of monitoring and evaluation - often from the inception of the project, regular sharing and exchanges, using virtual methods such as the website of the Adaptive Learning Linkages (ALL) in CBNRM programme, and experimenting with new forms of mentoring and facilitation. In all 9 cases, there was an emphasis on and a commitment to learning collaboratively in and from the field - to make research more relevant and to learn through practice. This principle is described as crucial to build capacities for CBNRM. The cases suggest that multi-component efforts lead to better results, as they create synergy and also address individual learning needs and interests, which are usually diverse. Key people or entrepreneurs (champions) played an important role in the whole process, keeping it going and following it through.