This toolkit focuses on improving the quality of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of projects when planning to evaluate outcomes and impacts.
Whilst its stated focus is on small and medium sized projects, it could equally be applied to large projects. Similarly, it can be used when planning, implementing or analyzing and adapting projects.
Decision tree to navigate through the PRISM toolkit
The document clearly highlights the main considerations in doing an evaluation (and even whether you should evaluate), and further identifies a range of M&E tools useful for a variety of different conservation strategies. Its three sections:
- outlines some of the key concepts relating to evaluation of outcomes and impacts
- provides a step-by-step process for evaluating project outcomes and impacts
- provides detailed guidance and methods to measure outcomes and impacts relating to five thematic modules, each one covering a different category of conservation action.
It is a very good resource, albeit with room for improvement and clarification in a few areas. In particular some concepts and terms could be better categorized to avoid confusion. For example when categorising potential evaluation designs (table, pg 53), the approaches noted are not mutually exclusive.
Citation: Dickson, I. M., Butchart, S. H. M., Dauncey, V., Hughes, J., Jefferson, R., Merriman, J. C., Munroe, R., Pearce-Higgins, J. P., Stephenson, P. J., Sutherland, W. J., Thomas, D. H. L., & Trevelyan, R. (2017)
PRISM: TOOLKIT FOR EVALUATING THE OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS OF SMALL/MEDIUM-SIZED CONSERVATION PROJECTS. www.conservationevaluation.org
