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Purpose—Documenting
a participatory monitoring project with the forms provided in the
Workbook (Appendix 3) creates (1) a project plan, (2) a means of
tracking implementation of the plan, and (3) material for review,
evaluation, and revision of the plan. There are a variety of reasons
for doing this; examples include:
·
Strategic
planning.
·
Establishing
credibility.
·
Improving
communication.
·
Ensuring
high quality data and results.
·
Creating
institutional memory for future reference.
·
Protection
against liability claims or litigation.
·
A source for
contact information.
·
Material for
periodic review and evaluation.
·
Reference
materials for funding applications.
·
Reference
material for outreach or education.
·
Documenting
agreements such as contracts or memoranda of understanding.
·
Documenting
processes such as decision-making methods or communication norms.
·
Documenting
protocols such as how to conduct meetings or field sampling
procedures.
·
Documenting
plans such as safety, emergency, or quality assurance plans.
Process—Documentation
can require up-front time commitment that will, however, likely save
time throughout the project. The effort expended should be
commensurate with perceived benefits and the complexity of the
project. Consideration should be given to who should be responsible
for documentation tasks and how much time should be devoted to them.
Key points to document about process are:
·
When
major decisions are made
·
What formal
or informal agreements are made.
·
How, when,
where, and by whom data is collected.
·
How
participants are trained.
·
How and by
whom data analysis is conducted.
·
How results
are generated and reviewed.
Documentation can
take a variety of forms depending on the object to be recorded.
Examples include:
·
Contact
information for participants.
·
Meeting
notes.
· Informal
agreements.
·
Narrative
descriptions of the project plan.
·
Signed
forms.
·
Contractual
agreements.
·
Evaluation
forms.
·
Training
manuals.
·
Sampling
protocols.
·
Reference
materials.
·
Reports of
monitoring results.
·
Published
articles.
·
Computer
files.
·
Databases.
·
Audio tapes.
·
Photographs,
electronic images, or videos.
Whatever the form
or purpose, documentation should cover the essential categories of
who, what, when, where, and how. Making all the documentation
available to all participants helps build trust. Understanding and
communication are facilitated by deciding in advance who keeps,
copies, and distributes documentation, and how often or under what
circumstances. It also is important to identify any sensitive or
proprietary information and collaboratively decide how it will be
handled. For example, traditional knowledge held by the local Native
American tribe about the location of particular plant species might
need to be handled separately from other data.
Checklist—
¨
What are the
objectives for documenting various aspects of the project?
¨
What should
be documented and how often it should be updated?
¨
Who will be
responsible for maintaining the various aspects of documentation?
¨
How much
time will be required to document each facet of the project and who
will do it?
¨
If more than
one party or individual updates the same documentation files, how will
their work be coordinated?
¨
What will be
the process be for sharing documentation among participants?
¨
What
information can or should be kept in a central file; what parts can be
accessed by participants, and how will they be able to access it?
¨
Will there
be any sensitive or proprietary information gathered, and how it will
be handled?
References—Behar
1996;
Collaborative Forest Restoration Program 2003;
Daly n.d.a;
Dukes and Firehock 2001;
Herron and others
2004b;
Hunt and others 1996;
NRCS n.d.
©2005
Institute for
Culture and Ecology
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