manual for social impact assessment of land-based ... - Forest Trends

1. Identify a small group of key informants (e.g., 20) covering all parties or stakeholders with an
interest in the landscape and project.
2. Undertake a participatory learning assessment (PLA) exercise with the multiple stakeholder group.
In the LOAM examples, specific methods have included scenario analysis (exploring the worst and
best case scenarios), participatory mapping, historical time-line analysis, etc. PLA methods get
people to discuss their core problems, and the possible project strategies for confronting them.
3. Discuss the possible landscape-level outcomes and "what constitutes success" in terms of the five
normal SLF asset types, as well as for a sixth asset type called "global conservation assets" covering
ecosystem services. From these discussions, progress indicators are defined for each asset type. The
indicators are grouped for each asset type on an Excel sheet.
4. Select about five indicators for each asset type, as shown in Table T6, which presents an example
of LOAM indicators and scoring for the livelihood and social variables identified for a Joint Forest
Management project in Tanzania.
5. For each indicator, a 1-5 scoring system is worked out with the stakeholders, e.g., for the
management of village finances, the agreed scoring was:
1 = very poor management;
2 = some management capacity;
3 = intermediate level of management;
4 = good management;
5 = excellent transparent process.
6. Undertake a baseline assessment with a wider group of stakeholders, score the indicators (1-5),
and construct a spider diagram (Figure T13). A spread out spider diagram indicates a healthier
situation than a constricted or tight diagram. Overlaying spider diagrams conducted at different
points of time are a good visual way of revealing overall progress.
Social Impact Assessment of Land-Based Carbon Projects (1.0) – Part II | 28