monitoring and evaluation plan - restoration and rehabilitation example · 2016-05-31 ·...

Monitoring and evaluation plan: Restoration and Rehabilitation example


There are two components to monitoring and evaluating your project:

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Plan

Project Measures Table

The first instalment of the grant is linked to your submission of a satisfactory M&E plan and Project Measures Table.

How to use the form

Use the instructions on page 14 when completing the form.

Grant reference number 2015/RR/9999

Project title Protecting the yellow-bellied glider in Kingfisher district

Name of organisation Blue Sky Council

Contact person Jill Smith

Contact number (02) 8837-6314

If you have questions or need help at any stage, please contact the Environmental Trust’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Officer on (02) 8837 6314 or at [email protected].

mailto:[email protected]


Monitoring and evaluation plan: form

1. Project objectives

1 To increase community awareness and knowledge on the importance of managing foxes, cats and dogs, to prevent predation on the endangered yellow-bellied gliders, and to decrease the removal of old and dead trees from the forest to protect the gliders habitat.

2 To rehabilitate 10,000 square metres of land to a quality that provides habitat for the endangered yellow-bellied glider (Petaurus australis)

3 To reduce fox numbers by 70 per cent in the project area and neighbouring area to reduce the threat of predation on the yellow-bellied glider

4

2. Stakeholder relationships

Please list your project stakeholders. (Include project team, contractors, consultants, volunteers and any other individuals/organisations involved in the project).

Organisation or group Interest or views

Blue Sky Council Supportive of environmental improvements and protecting local fauna. Also mindful of ratepayer perspectives.

Coastal Landcare Network Bush care volunteers: eager to be involved and see environmental improvements.

ABC Bush Regen Small business with considerable experience in local vegetation communities.

Adjoining property owners Likely to be supportive, especially of fox management, but may be uncertain about the impact of restoration works on neighbouring land.

Local community members May not be aware of the impact of domestic pets on native wildlife, likely to be supportive of protecting endangered yellow-bellied gliders.

Local press Usually supportive of local initiatives, keen on a good news story, but can also be wary of environmental projects and/or council programs.

Office of Environment and Heritage Involved for their threatened species expertise and advice.


3. Project plan

Please use one table for each of your objectives listed in Part 1.

OBJECTIVE 1 To increase community awareness and knowledge on the importance of managing foxes, cats and dogs, to prevent predation on the endangered yellow-bellied gliders, and to decrease the removal of old and dead trees from the forest to protect the gliders habitat.

Activity *

Project measures*

(from the Project Measures Table and any other project measures that are

relevant to your project but not listed in the Project Measures Table)

Total projected outputs*

How will progress be measured*

When will progress be measured*

What tools/ resources are

required to measure progress*

Who is responsible for

measuring progress*

Activity completion dates*

Advertise, select and recruit a suitably qualified and experienced Project officer.

Recruitment process completed 1 Suitable project officer is engaged. Informal performance reviews/project update meetings.

Completion of recruitment process. Approximately quarterly through life of project.

Merit selection processes. Referee/past employment checks.

Project manager. 31 August, 2016 30 September 2016 Ongoing until project conclusion 30 June 2018.

Project officer commences. SC2: people employed using Trust funds.

1

SC2h: hours (2 days per week for life of project)

560

Form a focus group of community members to determine the key messages/ call to action and the methods of communicating the messages and develop in to a communication plan.

Focus group members (Include in SC1: individuals actively involved).

10 Attendance records and meeting minutes.

After focus group work has been completed.

Sign-on sheet. Project manager and project officer.

14 October 2016 for focus group set up.

31 October 2016 Project communication plan (that includes the key messages) is prepared.

1

Develop a targeted media release for issue to the local papers to create awareness of the project and the endangered nature of the glider.

Media release is developed and distributed.

1

Record the readership of newspaper; Record of the number of articles written and printed; number of calls or interest generated from the articles.

With media release, following publication of articles and as bulk of enquiries are received.

Project tracking records. Analysis of the nature of the enquiries.

Project officer and other council staff who receive the enquiries.

20 November 2016

Articles published in the Kingfisher District News and Blue Sky Bulletin.

2

Number of enquiries received from the local community.

50

Engage designer to develop the interactive website and mobile application to monitor glider activity.

SC3: Consultant/contractor engaged by Trust funds. SC3h: hours.

1 80

Number of website visits; number of community comments added to the site or coming via the mobile application.

Ongoing monitoring. Tools to extract website visit data. Analysis of feedback received via comments posted to the website.

Project manager. 28 October 2016 for website go-live. Followed by ongoing monitoring of web activity thereafter. Website established and available on

line. 1

Mobile application available and number downloaded.

30



Install a webcam in an area where yellow-bellied gliders reside in a tree hollow and provide live footage to the council’s website and council’s foyer.

Webcam in place showing live feed. 1 Record of number of sightings added to the web page; survey random visitors to the Council for their opinion on the web cam and any activities they may have changed.

Ongoing monitoring. Survey questions, collation and analysis of feedback. Log established to record location and other details of sightings made and advised by the public.

Project manager 31 October 2016

Number of glider sightings subsequently notified by the public.

100

Work with local vets to develop interesting and informative signage for display at their centres to encourage responsible cat and dog ownership.

SC15: Educational resources developed.

1 Signage developed and installed. Fewer cats and dogs collected by the pound; anecdotal feedback from the vets.

Following installation and then six monthly monitoring of data.

Digital camera. Reference to pound records. Informal feedback gathered through phone interview.

Project officer 31 October 2016

Signs established at the local vets. 6

Press release. 1

Newspaper articles. 2

Develop text, graphic layout and install signage at the main access point to area, signage on the glider and its habitat and key things locals can do to assist the gliders survival i.e. not removing trees.

SC15: Educational resources developed.

1 Signage developed and installed. Reduction in number of newly felled trees by undertaking quadrat surveys. Informal feedback gleaned through conversations with stakeholders.

Following installation, six monthly monitoring following sign set-up.

Digital camera. Site visits to inspect condition of habitat. Informal feedback gathered through phone interview.

Project officer with support of council staff.

30 November 2016 for sign set up.

Signs established at the entry points to project area.

8

Press release. 1

Newspaper articles. 2

* For a description of what this means please refer to the glossary



How are you going to collect baseline data?

Baseline data refers to the information collected before the project commences. Baseline data provides information on the current condition, it is used to provide a comparison between the condition before the project commences and the condition as a result of the work undertaken by your project.

Collate known data. For example, on animals collected by pound, preliminary population information on yellow-bellied gliders as well as estimated fox numbers. A random telephone survey will be conducted before the project initiatives to gauge community awareness of the impact of uncontrolled pets and wood foraging on the project area. This data will also be supplemented by ongoing community referred Yellow-bellied glider sightings.

What would success look like if you achieve this objective?

It is important to consider what the overall success (expected outcomes) of this objective would look like and how you know that you have reached it.

Community awareness of this issue has been raised through a communication plan. Site visits to the reserves have established that the removal of old/dead trees has decreased. Signage and conversations with stakeholders at the sites also demonstrate the increased community awareness, and there are more pet owners keeping their dogs on leads and their cats secured at night. A targeted media release has occurred and articles have appeared in the local papers, which have generated many letters to the editor about the issue. The number of visits to the website is being continually monitored (increasing – 5000 visits to the website) and footage of glider activity is regularly being placed on the website (five short videos).


OBJECTIVE 2 To rehabilitate 10,000 square metres of land to a quality that provides habitat for the endangered yellow-bellied glider (Petaurus australis)

Activity

Project measures

(from the Project Measures Table and any other project measures that are relevant to your project but not

listed in the Project Measures Table)

Total projected outputs

How will progress be measured

When will progress be measured


required to measure progress


measuring progress

Activity completion dates

Liaise with the Office of Environment and Heritage to get advice on threatened species management.

Threatened species guidance received.

1 Record of conversation and advice received, assess relevance and usefulness of advice.

After consultation. Project tracking records. These can also be used to record in kind hours of council staff (non-Trust funded staff helping the project).

Project manager 30 September 2016 And as required if there are subsequent queries

SC4: Non Trust funded staff involved (council staff). SC4: Non Trust funded staff hours.

1 5

Engage contractors and volunteers to undertake works.

SC3: Consultants/contractors engaged by Trust funds. Bush regeneration contract company engaged.

1 Record contractor and volunteer hours via attendance sheets.

Initially at time they are signed up and again at project mid-point and end point.

Attendance sheets tracking start and finish times.

Project manager 30 September 2016

SC5: Volunteers involved (identified via local landcare group).

20

Conduct a baseline assessment to establish the current condition of the site and develop site work plan. Ensure a count on trees with hollows and nesting gliders are recorded, and known fox habitat is recorded.

LM1: Project area. 10000 m2 Establish and then revisit photo reference points and transects/ quadrats and complete initial, progress and final field surveys.

Completion of site assessment and work plan.

Digital camera, tape measures, Geospatial mapping references, stakes and tags.

Project manager 31 October 2016

SC3: Consultants/contractors engaged by Trust funds. SC3: Consultants/contractors hours.

1 35

Condition report, with map identifying glider nesting sites and known fox habitat, and subsequent work plan.

1

Number of photo reference points established.

10

Undertake primary and secondary weeding with a focus on areas that may harbour foxes; work completed by bush regeneration contractor as well as volunteers.

LM6: Area weeded. 6000 m2 Undertake transect and quadrat survey and compare to baseline survey to evaluate change. Record area and weeds removed.

At completion of primary and secondary weeding with monitoring of regrowth conducted at approximately six monthly intervals.

Digital camera, tape measures, Geospatial mapping references, field survey sheets, and attendance sheets.

Project manager 31 December 2016 for primary weeding 30 September 2017 for secondary weeding

SC3: Consultants/contractors engaged by Trust funds. SC3: Consultants/contractors hours.

2 140

SC5: Volunteers involved SC5h: Volunteers hours

20 800

Number of fox harbouring areas removed.

10



Activity

Project measures

(from the Project Measures Table and any other project measures that are relevant to your project but not

listed in the Project Measures Table)







measuring progress


Revegetate areas not showing signs of natural regeneration.

SC3: Consultants/contractors engaged by Trust Funds. SC3: Consultants/contractors hours

2 28

Prepare a watering plan (if needed) and assess plant health regularly. Record number and type of plants planted; and percentage survival. Undertake transect and quadrat survey and compare to baseline survey.

At completion on planting days as the baseline with monitoring conducted at approximately six monthly intervals, excepting in times of extreme heat where the plants would be monitored more often so that any signs of water stress can be addressed.

Digital camera, tape measures, Geospatial mapping references, field survey sheets and attendance sheets.

Project manager 30 April 2017 for plantings, Then six monthly monitoring of the plantings.

SC5: Volunteers involved. SC5h: Volunteers hours.

20 200

LM4: Number of plantings. 2000

LM5: Survival rate of plantings. 90%

Construct and install nesting boxes in areas where no hollow logs are present for nesting.

SC4: Non-Trust funded staff involved (council staff). SC4: Non-Trust funded staff hours.

2 28

Record number of nesting boxes installed and number of nesting boxes being used.

After initial installation, and two months after usual yellow-bellied glider breeding season.

Project tracking records to record in kind hours and nesting box locations, and their use.

Project manager with support of council staff.

14 November 2016 for installation of nesting boxes. Monitoring for glider use: 28 February 2017 and again, 28 February 2018

Number of boxes installed. 10

Number of gliders inhabiting the area.

20

Number of gliders using nesting boxes.

8





A baseline assessment to establish the current condition of the site and develop site work plan will be completed by the contractor. This will include information on identified and likely yellow-bellied glider nesting sites as well as on fox habitat.



Volunteers have been engaged and are working together with staff to rehabilitate the land, and works are undertaken in accordance with the threatened species recovery plan. Assessment of the site has occurred at baseline (project start) and throughout the project at intervals which demonstrates the increase in gliders to the area. Plantings have been completed and are demonstrating greater than 90 per cent survival rate – volunteers are watering following a watering plan as required to maintain the plantings. Nest boxes have been constructed and are frequently checked to ensure gliders are using the boxes (and not undesired species).


OBJECTIVE 3 To reduce fox numbers by 70 per cent in the project and neighbouring area to reduce the threat of predation on the yellow-bellied glider

Activity

Project measures

(from the Project Measures Table and any other project

measures that are relevant to your project but not listed in the

Project Measures Table)







measuring progress


Establish baseline information on fox numbers in the project area

SC4 – Non Trust funded staff involved (council staff)

2 Survey fox populations in the area; observation.

Before and after project. Survey of local property owners,

Project manager in conjunction with other council staff

August 2016

SC4 – Non Trust funded staff hours 30

Reduction in fox numbers 70%

Increase knowledge of fox predation as a key threatening process and control methods for foxes by conducting a workshop

SC10 - Training session conducted 1 Conduct pre and post workshop evaluation of attendees.

Before and after the workshop.

Attendance sheet, Evaluation/knowledge surveys.

Project officer 31 January 2017

SC12 - People trained 20

Run a stall at the local farm field days to encourage farmers to undertake a baiting program on their properties and to raise awareness of foxes being a key threatening process for the glider

Stall held at annual local farm field day

2 Record of farmers visiting the stall; survey of farmers with regards to baiting.

At the end of the day and then with follow up phone interviews 2 months later.

Attendance and contact sheets Follow up phone interviews, informal feedback at the next annual field day.

Project officer 30 November 2016 30 November 2017

Number of farmers to visit the display

20

Number of farmers that commenced baiting

5

Develop and conduct a fox baiting program in the rehabilitated area

SC4 – Non Trust funded staff involved (council staff) SC4 – Non Trust funded staff hours

2 140

Survey fox populations in the area at commencement of project and then yearly and at the end of the project.

3 monthly monitoring of the sites and baits.

Project tracking records to record in kind hours and bait locations, and their apparent effect.

Project manager in conjunction with other council staff.

June 2018

Number of baits installed in project area by council staff.

100


OBJECTIVE 3 To reduce fox numbers by 70 per cent in the project and neighbouring area to reduce the threat of predation on the yellow-bellied glider



Collate known data on estimated fox numbers and fox habitats. Glean information from local landholders on their perception of the extent of the fox problem on neighbouring properties



The workshop was held and achieved good attendance with 100 people participating. Follow-up with participants shows that the messages delivered have increased education and awareness, and the take-home messages are being implemented by behaviour change. Five farmers engaged joined the baiting program. The fox baiting program was undertaken and monitoring has shown a 70 per cent reduction in fox population on the sites.

Monitoring and evaluation plan: Restoration and Rehabilitation example 11

Risk management

Considering your project’s objectives and the activities you are planning, what are the potential risks that may impact on your success? Please follow the steps below in completing this section. This is to help you identify potential risks associated with your project, rate those risks according to their likelihood of occurring and their impact if they occurred along with treatment/action you will implement to reduce the risk. Step 1 Identify potential risks to your project and complete Step 1 in the table below. Depending on the

grant program risks may include environmental, economic and/or social factors. You may want to include and/or expand on risks provided in your grant application.

Step 2 Identify the likelihood of each potential risk occurring using the likelihood scale provided above and select the appropriate rating in Step 2 in the table below.

Step 3 Identify the impact of each potential risk using the impact scale provided above and select the appropriate rating in Step 3 in the table below.

Step 4 Identify the level of risk using the risk evaluation scale provided above and select the appropriate rating in Step 4 in the table below.

Step 5 Identify the treatment/action or mitigation option you will implement to reduce and/or manage the risk and complete Step 5 in the table below.

Potential risk Likelihood Impact Score Treatment/action/mitigation options

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5

Low uptake or community interest in supporting project.

Unlikely Moderate Medium Publicise events broadly and seek help with simple ‘you can make a difference’ messages. Promote the need to support the survival of the yellow-bellied glider, and how some simple behaviours (e.g. responsible pet ownership) can help.

Poor quality effluent, stormwater or tail water draining into local waterways, threatening habitat.

Likely Moderate Medium Meet with adjoining property owners and discuss objectives of the project and strategies for alternative management of drainage.

Catastrophic event (e.g. fire, vandalism).

Unlikely Major Medium Note and record regeneration, replant if necessary. Improve education of local community.

Area heavily grazed. Likely Major High Meet with stock owners and discuss objectives of the project and strategies for management of grazing.

Change of ownership of site. Unlikely Minor Low Discuss ongoing management with new owner

Feral animals found. Likely Moderate Medium Fencing, active pest control (shooting, poisoning, biological control, ripping, etc.). Seek advice from qualified personnel.

Weed regrowth. Likely Moderate Medium Active weed control (weeding, mulching, poisoning, etc.)

Loss of site inventory and photographs.

Unlikely Moderate Low Ensure inventories and survey results are presented electronically and in hard copy and kept in two places.

Project manager resigns. Unlikely Major High Have more than one person familiar with/responsible for the project’s aims and objectives who is kept up to date on progress. Good communication and strong record keeping.

Climatic conditions prevent project completion by the due date (e.g. drought, flood).

Likely Moderate Medium Review and adjust project plan to accommodate changed tasks and timelines. If necessary, variation request could be sent for approval to the Environmental Trust.

Make sure you revisit identified risks and actions regularly.


Communication strategy

Please use the table below to outline your communication strategy.

Target audience

Target message Communication

method

Evaluation method to determine effectiveness

Proposed date of release

Local community

Promote the project, the benefits of protecting the endangered yellow–bellied gliders and how you in the community can help:

Volunteering

Responsible pet ownership

Preserving nesting locations

Local press.

Land care group newsletters.

Emails to Land care members.

Website.

Signage at project area access points.

Number of people potentially reached, the number of people participating in volunteering. Calls and feedback received by council on the project.

20 November, 2016 31 October 2016 28 October 2016 31 January 2017 And ongoing through the project

Local vets A shared approach to encouraging responsible pet ownership to protect our native wildlife.

Face to face, phone. Local press to reinforce the message of the signs.

Number of signs established. Feedback on the signs. Reduced numbers of dogs and cats collected by the council and taken to the pound.

30 November 2016

Neighbouring land owners

Promote the project: we need your help to protect the yellow – bellied gliders by:

Sensitive grazing and land management practices

Reducing fox numbers

Preserving potential habitat

Letters and personal follow-up. Workshop days. Stall at the local farm field days.

Number of people participating in these programs. Feedback from these events. Reduced fox numbers.

14 November, 2016 31 January, 2017 30 November 2016 and 39 November 2017

Coastal Landcare Network

A shared approach in restoring the bush habitat for the local fauna especially the yellow–bellied gliders: your efforts can help.

Landcare group newsletters. Liaison with key landcare members.

Number of volunteers and hours they contribute. Changes observed within the project area that support the yellow–bellied glider.

14 November 2016 And ongoing throughout the project.

Environmental Trust

To recognise the achievements of the project.

Written reports, photographs and press articles.

Progress and final reports.

Due date for reports as per our Grant Agreement.


Evaluation

How do you intend to periodically evaluate your project? Please use the key evaluation questions below and develop your own that relate to your specific project.

1 To what extent are the objectives being achieved?

2 Is/was the project being delivered within budget?

3 How appropriate are the methods/activities chosen in achieving the objectives?

4 What can we do differently?

5 To what extent has the knowledge and behaviour of the local community changed in relation to responsible pet ownership and protecting the local fauna and their environment?

6 Did we get the level of support from the local land owners in relation to fox control?

7 How well did our communication strategy target the right people with the right messages?

8 What evidence do we have that the numbers of yellow-bellied gliders are increasing through the project?

9

10


Instructions: monitoring and evaluation plan

The form is designed to help you develop an M&E Plan for your project. It is a more detailed version of the project planning you did as part of your grant application – so you have already done the hard part! Information provided should be consistent with the project plan in your application. Please discuss variations with your Grants Administrator. Your M&E Plan is a tool to help keep your project on track, to adapt if necessary and ultimately to support you in achieving the outcomes of your project. Monitoring your program means checking that it is reaching its expected level of performance (as defined by your objectives and expected outputs) at regular intervals. This plan includes a section to help you assess any risks that may have an impact on you meeting your objectives and think about how you could mitigate the risks. The template also asks you to consider how you are going to communicate with your stakeholders and the wider public. The communication strategies you use can make an enormous difference to your project’s success, so planning for this ensures you are less likely to miss the opportunity to get others constructively involved with your project. When you monitor and evaluate your project, you can learn from your experiences and adjust your project if you need to. Evaluation provides a feedback mechanism for continuous improvement of your effort. It should inform decision-making at every stage of the project and encourage you to reflect on your outcomes so that you can consider future actions. Ideally, evaluation starts from the moment you design your project and runs through to the completion of the project. Apart from guiding you in planning your project, the M&E Plan will help you to demonstrate how successful your project is as you come to report against it. You will put a large amount of effort and time into planning and delivering your project so it is important for you to know what worked (and why), and what did not work so well and how to adapt your strategies to ensure you have a positive result. Knowing that your program is making a difference is crucial for everyone who is conducting the project with you and it encourages continual improvement. At the same time as completing this M&E Plan, you will need to complete the Project Measures Table. The Project Measures Table provides a range of baseline data and target criterion that are meant to help you to record, monitor and guide the outcomes of your project. These measures, developed by the Environmental Trust, also enable data to be collated and reported at a project, program and state-wide level. You will need to refer to the Project Measures Table when completing your project plan (part 3 of this document) and ensure that your figures are consistent with those in your plan. Examples of completed M&E Plans can be found on the Trust’s website.

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/grants/MEplan.htm


Figure 1: Linking the Grant Application, Project Measures Table, M&E Plan and Reporting.

The M&E Plan and Project Measures Table will form the basis of your progress and final project reports.


M&E question explanations and details

Project objectives

Please list your project objectives as provided in your grant application. However, you may wish to revise and refine these objectives to make them clearer and to remove ambiguity and/or overlap. Generally your project should have a maximum of three to four objectives. The objectives should clearly identify what the program is intending to achieve in a specific and measurable form. You might find it useful to look at a resource we have online called What makes a good objective. There are also examples of completed M&E Plans available on the Trust’s website.

Stakeholder relationships

Stakeholders can be defined as those who are interested in, concerned about, affected by, have a vested interest in, or are involved in some way with the issue. Because of their involvement and ownership of the issue many stakeholders will have knowledge, networks and resources which can add significant value to the project. This section asks you to identify your project stakeholders and their interests. After completing this section, you should think about, and where appropriate, include activities that factor stakeholder relationships as you develop your Project Plan (Part 3).

Project plan

Please use one table for each of your objectives listed in Part 1. Information from these tables will be used when you are reporting on your project. The M&E Plan will be a major component of progress and final reports. The reporting template can be downloaded from the Trust’s website. If you require additional rows for activities and/or project measures in the tables below, please use the ‘Table’ tab from the Microsoft Word menu to insert additional rows. If you need help please contact Trust administration. Please see the glossary at the end of the document for explanations for each of the headings in the following tables.

Risk management

Risk management involves identifying, assessing and prioritising risks that may impact on the successful delivery of your project. Although some risks have the potential to have a positive influence, most risks create a degree of uncertainty and can affect your ability to meet the project’s objectives. You would have already identified a number of risks in your grant application. Here we go a step further and assess the degree of risk posed on your objectives. This process asks you to identify risks, determine the ‘likelihood’ of those risks occurring, assess the ‘impact’ if those risks occurred and identify actions/treatments to mitigate the risk.

When completing this section it is important to consider each of your objectives along with the activities that you have identified in the Project Plan (Part 3).

The likelihood scale uses ‘very likely’, ‘likely’ or ‘unlikely’ to determine the probability of a risk occurring. A description of the likelihood scale is provided in the following table:

Likelihood scale

Very likely Almost certain, it will probably occur several times a year

Likely High probability, it will happen once a year

Unlikely Unlikely, but not impossible

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/grants/11846MEgoodob.pdf.





The impact scale uses ‘major’, ‘moderate’ or ‘minor’ to determine the consequences if a risk occurred. A description of the impact scale is provided in the following table:

Impact scale

Major Huge consequences

Moderate Moderate level consequences

Minor Minor or negligible consequences of effects

Risk evaluation combines the likelihood together with the level of impact to evaluate the potential severity of risk. Risk evaluation is categorised by extreme, high, medium and low. For example if a risk was determined as ‘likely’ under the likelihood scale and ‘moderate’ on the impact scale then the risk would be evaluated as medium.

Risk evaluation scale

LIK

ELIH

OO

D

Very likely Medium High Extreme

Likely Low Medium High

Unlikely Low Low Medium

Minor Moderate Major

IMPACT

The last step in the risk assessment process is to identify treatments/actions based on the risk evaluation. The treatment/action should reflect the level of risk. Obviously the higher the risk evaluation the more priority should be given to ensuring the risk is mitigated.

Communication strategy

A communication strategy aims to help you get your message out to the appropriate audience and to ensure your stakeholders and the community know about the project. Here we provide a basic template to develop a simple communication strategy, which encompasses:

Who is your target audience? For example, community, stakeholders etc.

What is the message you want to convey? For example, to promote the work of your organisation, to increase awareness of an issue, to motivate people to become involved as volunteers etc.

How you are going to communicate that message to the stakeholders? For example local newspaper, newsletter, flyer etc.

When do you propose to release the communication?

How are you going to know that your communication has been effective?

When completing this section it is important that you reflect on both the stakeholder relationships that were identified and the objectives and associated activities provided in the project plan and consider how you are going to measure whether you effectively communicated your message to the intended audience.


Evaluation

The final step in developing your M&E Plan is to consider how you will periodically evaluate your project. Project evaluation requires you to critically analyse your activities and outputs and determine the extent to which your objectives are being met or have been met during the project and at project completion. The Trust has developed a number of key evaluation questions that relate to all projects and should be used to evaluate your project (please see below). Also, the Trust encourages you to develop additional key evaluation questions which specifically relate to your project. You will be required to reflect on your key evaluation questions in your progress and final reports to the Trust. Here are some other examples you may use:

To what extent did you achieve your objectives?

How effectively and efficiently did you achieve your objectives?

Will the project’s outcomes continue once the project has been completed?

If your outcomes are different to those planned, what impacted on the results? What of those were within your control? What of those were outside your influence?

What would you do differently?

Was the project cost effective?

Did you make the best use of available resources?

Did the methods chosen to implement the project ensure success?

Did the right people attend training or know about the project?

Who did not get involved in the project and why?

Did you identify all of the risks and were they appropriately managed?


Glossary

Objectives

Objectives define what is going to be done to achieve the overall aim of the project. These are more specific than aims. They are clear, realistic and measurable intended results of a project.

For more information, refer to What makes a good objective on the Trust’s website.

Activities

Are significant steps or actions that are needed to produce the identified projected outputs? They relate to dates by which specific actions will be achieved. They map out the key steps for the project and set dates for ensuring the programs objectives are met.

Project Measures

Project measures include, but are not limited to, a standardised list of indicators (outputs) with units of measure that the Trust uses to report on projects across its programs. Project measures identify criterion that you will use to show the efficiency and effectiveness with which your outcomes are being achieved against the objectives of the project. They are used to judge the impact of a project.

Project measures may be quantitative (numerical: how much did we do?) or qualitative (descriptive: how well did we do it?).

Refer to the Project Measures Table for more information.

Total projected outputs The specific amount you project to achieve. These amounts would be the same as provided in the Total Projected column in Project Measures Table (Excel document).

Outcomes The outcome is the actual change in the environment or behaviour as a result of the project activities. What you expect to achieve.


The methods used to monitor progress of an activity. For example; quadrats to measure success of regeneration or a survey to measure increase in awareness and understanding. Monitoring techniques should adhere to best practices and/or proven methods, where possible.

When will progress be measured Identifies when monitoring will be conducted. Monitoring may occur more than once for a particular activity e.g. monthly, quarterly etc.

What tools/resources are required

Tools/resources that are required to monitor progress of an activity. They must be sufficient and relevant to the monitoring techniques. For example; stakes and tape may be tools required to establish quadrats or a developed questionnaire may be required to conduct a survey.

Who is responsible for measuring The person responsible for undertaking monitoring. Identify the person with the skill and experience to be responsible for monitoring the activity.

Activity completion date The realistic and achievable date by which an activity is expected to be completed.

Published by the NSW Environmental Trust, PO Box 644, Parramatta 2124 Phone: (02) 8837 6093 Email: [email protected] Website: environmentaltrust.nsw.gov.au OEH 2016/0312 May 2016

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/grants/11846MEgoodob.pdf

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.environmentaltrust.nsw.gov.au/

monitoring and evaluation plan - restoration and rehabilitation example · 2016-05-31 ·...

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