COMMUNITY BASED PERFORMANCE MONITORING

Abstract

There are several objectives to achieve through the use of the community performance monitoring initiative. In view of this the methodology has been piloted in several countries and what is described below is actually a hybrid of the techniques of social audit, community monitoring and citizen report cards. This model is thus called the comprehensive community scorecard process – since it goes beyond just producing a scorecard document. The methodology described should be seen as just one method of execution of the model. Depending on the context there can be variations in the way that the process is undertaken, and it is this characteristic that makes it very powerful. For instance, in the description below, the data collection is done through focus groups interactions. However, with some iterations complete, the model can move to more questionnaire based data collection. What must be kept in mind is that the end goal is to influence the quality, efficiency and accountability with which services are provided – therefore the mode of execution chosen should be such as to reach these goals.