Monitoring and Evaluation for Sustainable Communities

Community groups do have a pivotal role to play in meeting the UK's ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments and sustainable development goals. Across the UK there are currently over 600 'low carbon' community groups engaged in activities that aim to reduce emissions, and bring about broader sustainability changes at the local level. However, there are currently issues with acquiring rigorous data about the range of impacts and outcomes achieved by these groups. That is, while community groups are without doubt having positive effects 'on the ground', evidence from recent research suggests that more robust monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of processes and outcome through co-developed resources would enable groups to identify their impacts, and clarify priority areas for future action. In addition, while a range of M&E tools and resources do exist, these resources often fail to be applicable to the needs, contexts, and capacities of community groups. Therefore, if groups were able to implement comparable, clear and relevant M&E, a more complete picture of the contributions they collectively make to national targets could emerge, which in turn would feed into broader debates about UK sustainability and climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience.

In response, this project is a collaboration between social scientists at the University of Oxford, and two partner organisations that coordinate low carbon community action in the UK: Transition Network (TN) and Low Carbon Communities Network (LCCN). The project aims to bring the latest social science research about M&E into dialogue with the needs and current practices of these Networks and related groups. Specifically, this project will

- collaborate with TN, LCCN, and a sample of affiliated community groups to identify their M&E priorities and needs;
-develop appropriate M&E resources in response;
-build capacity within local groups to pilot and implement these resources;
-collect data on process, experiences and outcomes from the above;
-produce transferable material that can be used and adapted by other groups and organisations with similar aims.

To achieve these aims, there is a four-stage activity programme planned, as follows:

Stage 1: Two workshops will present and discuss current M&E resources with Networks and related groups, to gather information on experiences and needs, and recruit groups to participate in later Stages. From this information, and in conjunction with project partners, appropriate M&E resources will be developed.

Stage 2: Two workshops will build capacity amongst groups to use M&E resources. A complementary online platform will allow participation from a broader range of groups beyond the workshops.

Stage 3: The piloting and implementation of above M&E resources amongst participating groups, with researchers offering support and collecting data on experiences and outcomes. Resources will also be shared online through the development of a web-based platform. The aim is for 10 -15 groups to pilot a range of M&E resources intensively with the full involvement of their local groups: whilst a further 20 groups will pilot selected M&E resources according to their needs.

Stage 4: Two final workshops to bring groups together to provide feedback on process, experiences, findings, and next steps.

These activities aim to maximise the exchange and development of M&E knowledge, resources and experience, to ensure relevant and user-orientated outputs for academics, project partner organisations, involved communities, and other users/beneficiaries.

Communities have a pivotal role to play in meeting the UK's ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments and sustainable development goals. To do so it is vital that groups are able to monitor and evaluate the outcomes of their actions in a grounded and self-sustaining way, which will enable them - along with coordinating networks - to make meaningful and valid contributions to national-level debates. As such, this project has a wide range of beneficiaries, who are:

1. Academics and researchers, particularly those interested in action learning research with communities; monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of low carbon/community groups; and best practice processes for community self-evaluation.
2. Coordinating and support bodies, in particular project partners Transition Network (TN) and Low Carbon Community Network (LCCN).
3. Participating community groups, through ongoing engagement and the piloting of relevant resources within their local groups.
4. Other community groups, including those not affiliated with TN and LCCN who will be able to access M&E resources online.
5. Policy makers and Think Tanks interested in the community-level mitigation and adaptation.
6. Media: particularly those interested in low carbon and community-level sustainability, and how this feeds into national policy and mitigation/adaptation strategies.
7. Members of the public with an interest in community-level change, M&E and/or UK mitigation and resilience policy.

How will they benefit?
1. Access to, as well as synthesis and translation of, published and ongoing research into low carbon community initiatives and M&E resources.
2. The creation of participatory workshop space and processes to articulate and build relevant and user-friendly M&E resources.
3. Capacity building for M&E amongst participating groups.
4. Access to grounded and piloted M&E resources for both participating groups and other interested groups via online availability.
5. Dedicated online spaces to learn about, and reflect upon, community-level M&E.
6. Opportunity for TN and LCCN to embed rigorous M&E into ongoing organisational practices.
7. Availability of piloted aggregate data on collective community impacts, to provide evidence base for policy making.
8. User-focused reports and academic papers/conference presentations.
9. Strengthening of existing, and establishment of new, working relationships amongst academics, project partners, advisory network members and participating groups.

What are the impacts?
This project contributes directly to the ESRC's Strategic Priorities, and thus UK economic and social life. In particular, it contributes to the theme of 'Influencing Behaviour and Informing Interventions' by helping to improve community-level sustainability and the work of participating coordination Networks: and 'A Vibrant and Fair Society', by enhancing the contribution the voluntary sector makes to low carbon development. The impacts will include:
1. The wide dissemination of academically-informed, co-developed and piloted M&E resources.
2. Better informed public debate about, and policy making concerning, the role of communities in low carbon futures in the UK.
3. TN and LCCN groups that are able to better understand their impacts, and thus create programmes and projects to maximize future impacts.
4. Establishment of strategic knowledge exchange partnerships, to be maintained through ongoing working relationships and/or future research.
5. Contributions to academic debates through empirically-grounded research that includes the input from communities and coordinating networks.