CIBguide 2014

A Practical Guide to
Community Integrity Building

January 2014
102
A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building
Contents
Page 1 Preface
Page 2 Glossary of Terms
Page 3 A Step-by-Step Guide to Community Integrity Building
Page 4 1. Context Sensitivity
Page 4 1.1 Context & Stakeholder Analysis
Page 4 1.2 Community Engagement
Page 4 1.3 Establishing a Baseline
Page 6 2. Joint Learning
Page 6 2.1 Identifying Community Monitors
Page 6 2.2 Training Community Monitors and Public Ofcials
Page 7 2.3 Establishing or supporting Joint Working Groups (JWGs)
Page 8 2.4 Selecting Development Projects to Monitor
Page 10 3. Evidence Base
Page 10 3.1 Data Collection, Analysis and Verication
Page 10 3.1.1 Pre-Fieldwork: Accessing Project Information
Page 10 3.1.2 Fieldwork: Gathering Evidence
Page 12 3.1.3 Validating monitoring data and communicating results to communities
Page 13 4. Constructive Engagement to resolve identied problems
Page 14 5. Closing the Loop
Page 14 5.1 Fixing Problems & Advocacy
Page 14 5.2 Learning and Assessing Impact
Page 16 Conclusion, Strategic Challenges and Ways Forward
Page 17 Tools
Page 18 Tool 1: Conict Analysis
Page 20 Tool 2: Stakeholder Analysis
Page 22 Tool 3: How to Access Information - Guidelines for Making Information Requests
Page 24 Tool 4: Designing Questionnaires for Interviews, Surveys & Group Discussions
Page 27 Tool 5: Beneciary Questionnaire
Page 30 Tool 6: DevelopmentCheck Questionnaire
Page 37 Tool 7: How to develop an Advocacy Strategy
Page 39 Tool 8: How to Assess Impact - Developing Success Indicators and Evaluating your Work
Page 41 Useful Resources
1
Integrity Action was founded in 2003 to nd innovative ways of improving public integrity that would have meaningful
and practical impact on the lives of people who suffer the consequences of corruption, fraud and maladministration in
their daily lives. Our mission is to empower citizens to act with and demand integrity.
Community Integrity Building (CIB) is a locally driven
approach that helps to identify and implement
appropriate, viable solutions to improve the integrity of
public infrastructure and services. Integrity here is
dened as the alignment of Accountability, Competence,
Ethics, without corruption.
Since 2010, Integrity Action and country partners have
used this approach in 10 countries where they have
trained more than 2,500 community members who have
monitored more than 850 projects. They make information
requests, collect data on development projects through
site visits, where they take photos, assess the project
against the contract and/ or plans (if available), conduct
beneciary surveys, share their results with stakeholders
and work with them to address any problems found.
They have resolved problems in more than 50% of
projects where problems were identied.
Thanks to their efforts hundreds of thousands of
people in these countries have better public services
and are also empowered to ensure that policies are
appropriate, information can be trusted and that fewer
public funds are wasted.
These ndings are remarkable, the methodology
works with a high level of consistency and the early
indications are that it can be scaled up. Improving
integrity in infrastructure and service provision may
be the most cost-effective means of improving
development outcomes in the world today.
This guide draws on the practical experience from
Integrity Action and country partners and was created
for use by organisations working in or planning to work
in this area, including NGOs, government agencies,
aid donors and businesses
Your feedback is welcome! Please contact Integrity
Action at info@integrityaction.org.
Preface
2
Closing the Loop: occurs when feedback is integrated
into a process and triggers an informed, appropriate
response to resolve an identied problem.
Community Integrity Building: an approach of context
sensitivity, joint learning, building an evidence base,
constructive engagement and closing the loop.
Community Monitor: a community representative
identied through participatory processes to engage
communities and collect data on the transparency,
participation and effectiveness of development projects
in their communities.
Fix: the resolution of a problem to the satisfaction
of the main stakeholders
Fix Rate: the percentage of identied problems
that are resolved.
Focal Point: a key contact person providing a link
between the community and civil society organisation.
Joint Working Group: a collaborative forum bringing
together community representatives, local authorities and
potentially other stakeholders such as contractors to jointly
learn, review ndings and develop practical solutions.
Spoilers: opponents who actively harm or hinder the
community integrity building work and other constructive
governance reforms.
Stakeholder: any person, group of people or institution
that has an interest or is affected by a particular situation
or occurrence, such as a development project.
Glossary of Terms
3
Accountability Competence Ethics
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Integrity Education: Joint training of
teachers, university professors, community
monitors, public ofcials
Integrity Tools: training manuals, schools DVD,
ACE analysis, animations, teacher training
Joint Working Groups (JWG) formed/Supported
M&E Online Database
International Peer Learning
Community
monitoring:
DevelopmentCheck
Focus groups
Community
score cards
Research
JWGs identify solutions to integrity problems
Public Service Integrity Charters from JWG
Integrity Helpdesk
Public voice: Community radio,
social media, SMS, public hearings
Scoping study
stakeholder mapping,
local priorities, needs,
potential spoilers
Results Communicated:
both problems resolved and good
practices identied (through public
sharing, lm, reports)
JWGs implement solutions to
integrity problems
The Community Integrity Building (CIB) approach is a
successful and cost-effective way to improve the quality
of public programmes, development projects and services
(hereafter referred to as projects), thereby improving the
lives of thousands of people.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Community Integrity Building
This approach has ve phases, outlined below, and within
each of the phases there are a number of steps to follow
and tools to use. Although communities often operate
within very different socio-economic and cultural realities,
we have found that many adhere to the steps below in
their Community Integrity Building.
1. Context Sensitivity
1.1 Context &
Stakeholder Analysis
1.2 Community
Engagement
1.3 Establishing a
Baseline
5. Closing the loop
5.1 Fixing Problems &
Advocacy
5.2 Learning & Impact
Assessment
2. Joint Learning
2.1 Identifying Community
Monitors
2.2 Training Community
Monitors
2.3 Joint Working Groups
(JWGs)
2.4 Selecting Development
Projects to Monitor
3. Evidence Base
3.1 Data Collection,
Analysis and
Verication
4. Constructive
Engagement
4.1 Sharing Findings
4.2 Identify solutions and
advocate for change
4
1.1. Context & Stakeholder Analysis
Understanding the context and the stakeholders is the rst
step in community integrity building. The main purpose
of stakeholder analysis is to understand and address
local communities needs, concerns and capacities.
Communities are diverse so it is important to have
representatives from a wide range of stakeholder groups
including vulnerable or minority groups, such as women,
persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities and youth.
Through stakeholder analysis it is possible to identify
the roles of the various stakeholders in relation to the
project, and in relation to those who can affect change in
the project, for example local authorities or donors that
fund the project. Stakeholder analysis can later become
an important tool for advocacy activities, so that the
ndings and recommendations actually reach the relevant
stakeholders including those who can x problems in
the project.
In post-war locations, it is important to also undertake
conict analysis. Mapping factors, actors and scenarios
that contribute to conict and peace enables an
analysis of the context and an understanding of the role
community integrity building can play.
1.2. Community Engagement
As local communities are central to the community
integrity building approach, it is important to ensure local
ownership of the action and engage local communities in
the process.
There are many different ways of engaging local
communities. To do so, it is best to identify relevant
community groups or demographics early in the planning
process and approach key stakeholders from the outset.
Regardless of when the community is approached,
to improve the effectiveness of the outcomes make
sure to conduct your stakeholder analysis prior to any
community engagement.
1. Context Sensitivity
Participatory community meetings might be facilitated
to engage community members. Rather than being a
forum for top-down information and values transfer to
communities, these could be interactive meetings for
discussion about the development process, the impact of
the local development projects on the community and the
opinions of the local communities.
Interaction with all members of the local community is
encouraged, especially those most vulnerable in the
development or reconstruction process, such as women,
people with disabilities, ethnic minorities and youth.
Even if at rst silent, vulnerable community members
should actively be encouraged to contribute their
voices to the discussion.
1.3. Establishing a Baseline
Baseline data refers to information gathered before a
project or initiative begins. It is used later to provide a
comparison for assessing impact. In Community Integrity
Building, a baseline study enables community members
to analyse the context in which they are working and
establish reference points against which to measure
the progress and impact. A community baseline can
contain details of original projects and current levels
of transparency, accountability, participation and
effectiveness.
The baseline can include the following:
The number/nature of development programmes being
monitored at the start of the action;
The number/nature of local community groups already
participating in monitoring processes;
The number/nature of existing government/civil society
forums;
The degree to which donor, government and
implementing agency policies mainstream transparency
and accountability to citizens (for example whether
donors, governments and implementing agencies
proactively disclose key development programme
documents at the start of the action).
Read Tool 1
Conict Analysis
Read Tool 2
5
Larisa Kuznetsova and Sulaimanova Suimkan were
both trained as community monitors as part of Integrity
Actions work in Kyrgyzstan. They have since been
using their training to address inadequacies in the
provision of services for people with disabilities in Osh.
In 2012, along with other monitors they analysed the
way the city served people with disabilities.
Sulaimanova Suimkan said, We identied many cases
where people didnt know about their right to benets.
For instance the parents of a disabled child should
receive benets if their child has had a disability for over
a year, but many parents dont know about this.
They shared their ndings with the local Joint Working
Group (JWG) that was established under Integrity
Action in Kyrgyzstan to bring together local government
workers, elected members, government suppliers,
CBOs and active members of civil society including
youth committees.
The JWG held three meetings in the latter part of 2012
to agree an action plan to address the issues and hold
local government accountable for the lack of provision
for people with special needs.
The JWG created a booklet providing important
information about the different benets disabled
people were entitled to. The booklet also featured the
addresses of all organisations and institutions that offer
services in Osh.
Before this booklet was produced, people with
disabilities could not easily nd out their entitlements
and many were forced to pay bribes to receive benets.
Now they know where to access documentation and
which institutions to contact about services. As a result
the number of people who pay bribes for access to
services has reduced.
Larisa has also used what she learned to successfully
apply for a $25,000 grant to establish a health and
tness centre for people with disabilities. The centre
opened in July 2013 and provides users of the centre
access to specialist treatment. Staff at the centre also
provide advice on benets and services that people
with disabilities can access.
Case Study
Improving access to services for people with disabilities in Kyrgyzstan
6
2. Joint Learning
2.1 Identifying Community Monitors
Local volunteer monitors, also known as focal points,
are central to Community Integrity Building (CIB). The
selection process of the monitors should be credible
and the representatives should be reliable and interested
in addressing the needs of the community. There are
a number of steps to follow in selecting community
monitors. In some cases, where CIB is integrated in
existing systems monitors may come from established
groups. For example, in Palestine, the Teacher Creativity
Center works with the Ministry of Education to integrate
CIB in the education system and train teachers and
students in community monitoring tools.
Steps in Community Monitor Selection
1. Establish a set of criteria necessary for the role and
interview or choose monitors who meet the criteria.
When establishing criteria think about diversity in terms
of age, gender and minority groups. This ensures a
fair and transparent selection process. Please see the
criteria set by IWA in Afghanistan for an example.
2. Elections - Hold an election in which the local
community elects the community monitors. This
ensures that the community monitor has a majority
backing from the community.
3. Hold a public ceremony and/or sign a code of
conduct where monitors agree to voluntarily
conduct the monitoring. The code of conduct itself
may be quite symbolic, since the real pressure for
greater integrity comes from the mechanism of
peer-to-peer accountability.
2.2 Training Community Monitors and
Public Ofcials
Once selected, community monitors are trained in
monitoring skills such as analysing project documents,
comparing the actual project to the documents, taking
photos of the project, conducting beneciary surveys,
verifying their ndings as well as advocating for the
resolution of problems.
Well-trained community monitors can in turn provide
specialised knowledge and skills to other monitors,
such as when issues under discussion are technically
complex. Public ofcials often participate in this training as
highlighted in the example from Kyrgyzstan below.
Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA) developed a set of
characteristics necessary for a community monitor
listed below. These can be adapted to suit your own
context.
Honest
Literate*
Well respected in the community
Supports community monitoring
Previous experience of social work
Not a staff member
Lives close to projects to be monitored
Physically able to visit project sites
Has free time (3 visits per week/ 6-8 hours per
week)
Willing to volunteer (only receives travel costs and
modest communication expenses)
Although their criteria are important, IWA are also
exible in their approach, so as not to systematically
exclude committed community members. For
example, if they nd a committed and capable
illiterate candidate, they may still choose this person
as a monitor and allow him/ her to verbally report
ndings and prepare their written reports with the help
of friends or family. They also have two person teams
that include at least one literate person.
For more information, please see http://www.
communitymonitoring.org
Case Study
Choosing Community
Monitors in Afghanistan
7
2.3. Establishing or supporting Joint
Working Groups (JWGs)
Ultimately, the success of Community Integrity Building
(CIB) depends on some form of effective interaction
between the local communities, local authorities and
the service providers, including contractors. Meaningful
results are most likely to be achieved when communities
formalise interaction about the development process in a
Joint Working Group (JWG) or Monitoring Committee.
Depending on the context, these JWGs consist primarily
of local government, service providers or contractors, and
community members, such as the monitors, youth and
womens groups and the village chief. In some settings,
As the Executive Secretary of the Territorial
Council in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, Shirinbolsun Kulbaeva
is responsible for issuing important documentation
to citizens.
Despite the importance of valid documentation in
Kyrgyzstan, many citizens have difculties accessing
documents they need or have paperwork with
incorrect information. This is often due to negligence
and lack of accountability from Osh Territorial Council
public employees who are often poorly paid and
have limited legal knowledge.
Without the relevant documents, citizens face
a number of problems. For example, without
certication married women cannot claim their
husbands property if he dies, children are prevented
from going to school and families are unable to
receive benets and medical care.
According to Shirinbolsun, In one case, for twenty
years a person whose name was Dushon, had a
birth certicate stating his name was actually Ikram.
Even worse, in another case, there was a family
where the children were registered under different
surnames.
Between 2009-2013 Integrity Action ran ve training
workshops in Osh and trained twenty-seven local
government ofcials and council workers including
Shirinbolsum. The training focused on encouraging
integrity principles in the workplace, as well as
advocating for improved standards at work, and
emphasising the need for citizens to possess the
correct documentation. As a result of Integrity
Actions training local government ofcials and
council workers in Osh are now using their new
skills in Integrity principles to improve service
provision for citizens.
Since the training, ofcials spend time ensuring the
documents they issue are correct.
Shirinbolsun said, People requesting certicates
are often outraged when I refuse, on the grounds
that their documentation is not in order. However,
now we help people to obtain proper documents,
register marriages, and register their property. I am
enabling the citizens of Osh to have a greater stake
in controlling their own destiny.
Today citizens in Osh are receiving benets they
are entitled to, but which they could previously not
attain due to having invalid or out of date paperwork.
This is providing people with vital access to medical
care, legal aid, and social assistance from the local
government.
these committees are part of existing structures, such as
the County Development Steering Committees in Liberia,
which were established to track the implementation of the
Poverty Reduction Strategy Plan. In other cases, CSOs
have helped established these committees at the district
or provincial level, as in Timor Leste and Afghanistan.
Constructive engagement in these committees
where participants are committed to developing and
implementing practical solutions can be a way of
institutionalising CIB.
Case Study
Training Public Ofcials in Osh, Kyrgyzstan
8
2. Joint Learning continued
In Timor-Leste, Integrity Actions partner Luta Hamutuk
established District Infrastructure Monitoring Committees
in Liquica, Barzartete and Aileu/Dili Districts. Monitoring
committees are comprised of local government
authorities and other community members.
For example, the committee in Bazartete consists of
Luta Hamutuk representatives, community monitors,
youth representatives, four village chiefs, and a
health department chief at the sub-district level, the
police chief and the sub-district administrator of
Bazartete who has assumed role as Counsellor for
the committee.
In monthly meetings, community monitoring ndings
and project updates are presented by focal points.
The meetings are not open to the public, as the
committee determines what is made public and
when, so that expectations can be managed and no
hostilities arise.
The committees are also used as complaints
mechanisms, with community members bringing
forward any concerns for the village chief to take up
with other authorities. In Lospalos, for example, a
contractor was not paying local salaries because the
government had not paid the contracted company.
The committee members were able to discuss and
resolve the issue with all stakeholders.
2.4 Selecting Development
Projects to Monitor
The local communities themselves should, if possible,
select priority development projects that matter most to
them. Participatory community meetings could be used to
help identify and select priority projects to be monitored by
the community.
Projects should also be selected on the basis that the
monitoring may have a wider policy impact. Monitoring
a national programme, such as a national disarmament,
demobilisation and reintegration programme (e.g. road
building) enables comparison across localities and
potential inuence at the national level.
It is important to understand who is responsible for the
projects or services. For example, CSOs in Sierra Leone
chose primary health and education because local
authorities were responsible for these and therefore they
could more easily access documents and affect change.
Case Study
District Monitoring Committees - Working together to x problems in Timor Leste
In Palestine CSOs chose water and sanitation as
local authorities were responsible for service provision
and the CSO could therefore engage more effectively to
resolve issues.
It can be tempting to monitor complicated or controversial
projects as these often attract the most attention in the
media, however we suggest that this is not the rst priority
as at times it may be beyond the communities capacity or
interest to do so.
It is also important to think about the value of the project
and the number of project beneciaries in order to ensure
you use your time and resources to improve projects for
as many people as possible.
The number of projects monitored should be
proportional to the capacity of the CSO and the focal
points or monitors. Selecting too many projects, or raising
expectations too high, may inhibit the monitors ability to
gather credible data and advocate for change.
During an exchange trip to Timor Leste, Integrity
Watch Afghanistan (IWA) found this committee to
be an excellent forum for constructive collaboration
between the local government and the communities.
Following the exchange, IWA adapted and replicated
this approach in Afghanistan, which has resulted in
greater collaboration with donor organisations as
well as local government.
9
Selection of infrastructure projects to monitor in Afghanistan
Integrity Watch Afghanistan use the four factors below to determine the criteria for selecting projects in
Afghanistan to monitor. This method can be used and adapted to suit your organisation and situation.
Project Type
Decide on the type of development projects you wish to monitor, e.g. roads, irrigation, water supply
and sanitation.
Choose four or ve sectors to monitor - focusing on a few sectors allows you to develop your skills in
monitoring those sectors.
Project Status
At what stage do you want to start monitoring projects? Monitoring projects from the beginning of
construction until completion, rather than monitoring a project when it is almost complete is preferable
as this allows you to potentially identify and address issues as they arise rather than afterwards.
For Integrity Watch Afghanistan, the selection process is based on the number of projects that have been
only one-third completed or less, e.g. during the rst two months of a project that takes 6 months to
complete. The monitoring of an on-going project can lead to major quality changes. Bringing changes is
much more difcult if the project is more than 30% completed. For example, if monitoring the construction
of a school building and you notice inadequate materials have been purchased, it may be easier to get these
replaced before construction begins than when the building is nished.
Selecting a district in which to monitor projects is therefore dependent on the number of projects that are
in the early phases of construction or in the planning phase.
Project Construction Phases
Can monitor Should not monitor
Number of Projects
In order to allocate resources effectively and concentrate effort with a lot of construction activity, it is
recommended to choose districts with numerous ongoing projects. For example, IWA works in
districts where there are at least 10 ongoing projects. This number may be different in other countries, but
it is useful to choose locations with a number of projects because projects are often stopped or delayed
meaning focal points in those areas will have less projects to monitor which is not cost effective and may
not be motivating for a trained person.
Project Value
Choose projects valued at or above a certain amount. For example, Integrity Watch Afghanistan only
monitor projects valued at least $30,000.
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
10
3.1. Data Collection, Analysis
and Verication
Once community monitors have been trained, projects
to monitor selected and JWGs established, they data
gathering begins. Monitors gather data on three key areas:
Access to information - whether the communities
can access key project information, such as the budget,
contract or plans.
Community Engagement - whether communities
were involved in the project design and/or
implementation.
Project Effectiveness - whether the project is
effective, complies with established standards and
communities are satised.
There are numerous steps to follow in the data collection
and analysis phase, from pre-eldwork to eldwork and
data analysis outlined below.
3.1.1 Pre-Fieldwork: Accessing
Project Information
Before going onsite to collect the data about the projects,
monitors need to be informed and plan ahead. This pre-
eldwork often involves gathering as much appropriate
information about the development projects that you
intend to monitor. Solid preparation and research is the
foundation of all monitoring work.
Community monitors can engage responsible bodies,
including implementing agencies and government ofcials,
to explain their objectives. They can also access project
documents, such as plans and budgets, which should be
kept centrally e.g. recorded in a database or Excel le and
analysed. Collecting this data enables monitors to track
the funds and expected deliverables set out in the plans
and contracts and compare this information with
the reality on the ground.
3.1.2 Fieldwork: Gathering Evidence
Fieldwork is all about collecting data. The aim of a
eld visit is to gather evidence on projects being
monitored and feedback from the communities
affected, ensuring that a representative sample of the
population is heard. This information can be gathered
through interviews with stakeholders, surveys or
project site visits.
Interviews and surveys
Interviews are often central to collecting information
about the development projects that you are monitoring.
Being able to ask good questions is critical to gathering
evidence, whether you are engaging with citizens, service
providers, government ofcials, donors or community
members. In every case, the design and they way
you ask questions will often determine the quality of
the answers you receive.
In Nepal, 10% of the municipal budget is allocated
to womens projects. However this entitlement
often does not reach women as intended. Before
training and awareness raising activities provided by
CAHURAST, many local women in Dhading villages
were unaware of this entitlement.
Following training provided by CAHURAST, two
female monitors in Sankosh accessed local budget
documents in Dhading, analysed the budgets
discovered that 300,000NPR budget that should
have been allocated for womens projects was
never allocated.
The monitors met with the local authorities, which at
rst did not listen to them and told them there was
a budget freeze and no budget available for these
activities. The women persisted, returning to the local
authorities ofces again and again but the authorities
avoided them. Eventually the Local Development
Ofcer met with the women, discussed the situation
resulting in two thirds of the budget (200,000NPR)
being allocated to training for local women in the form
of sewing classes.
Before training by CAHURAST these monitors were
not aware of their rights in terms of accessing budget
information and holding the government accountable.
Without access to the budget documents the women
would not have known about their entitlements.
Now women are learning new skills which they can
use in their homes and potentially to earn money
in the future.
3. Evidence Base
Case Study
Improving womens lives through
Access to Information in Nepal
11
Tool Structured
Interviews
Unstructured
Interviews
Semi Structured
Interviews
Surveys Citizen Report
Cards
SMS & Social
Media
What is it? These are
question-
and-answer
sessions that
follow a carefully
planned order.
The interviewer
has a strict list
of questions to
pose to each
respondent
in exactly the
same order.
The answers
are strictly
recorded, often
using a survey
questionnaire
form.
These are
conversations
in which the
interviewer guides
the discussion,
while allowing
respondents
to tell their
own story.
Questions are
usually prepared
in advance but
will adjust these
as the interview
unfolds. An
important part
of unstructured
interviewing is
to probe: this
means asking
respondents
to explain or
expand on what
they have said
to gain more
understanding
and insight.
These are
somewhere
between
structured and
unstructured
interviews. The
interviewer is
likely to have a
pre-planned list
of questions,
but may adjust
the order and
emphasis to
probe deeper.
Surveys are
closely linked
to structured
interviews. On
a survey form,
you usually
see questions
followed by
spaces or blocks
for recording the
answers given by
respondents.
Also known as
citizen feedback
surveys, citizen
scorecards
and citizen
satisfaction
surveys. They
are participatory
surveys
that provide
quantitative
feedback on
user perceptions
on the quality,
adequacy and
efciency of
public services.
Several different
variations of
citizen report
cards have been
used by CSOs
in many African
countries, such
as Malawi, Ghana
and Uganda.
Using SMS and
social media for
feedback on
development
programmes.
Find out what
media your
audiences use
and for which
purposes and
think about
access, ease
(cost) of use and
culture of use
when choosing
the channel.
When is it
useful?
To gather
specic, accurate
details from
many individuals
in a consistent
way.
To gather
evidence that
can readily be
coded, counted
and categorised.
To gather
evidence on
complex or
sensitive topics.
To understand
the dynamics
& experiences
involved.
To gather
a variety of
perspectives.
To gain
understanding of
the respondents
different views,
but also want
some consistent,
comparable data
to tabulate.
To gather specic
information from
a large number
of people,
which can then
be translated
into statistical
evidence.
To gather
evidence on the
performance
of service
providers and/
or to compare
performance
across service
providers.
To collect
feedback from
service users
on the quantity
and/or quality
of specic
government
services they
have received.
When there is
good mobile &
internet access
and use/.
Facebook
is useful for
reaching
a younger
audience
with an urban
background,
whereas, radio
can be a better
option for rural
populations.
Disadvantages Possibly the
most time-
consuming
approach,
because it tries
to cover a pre-
determined set of
questions while
also allowing
space for further
discussion.
Expensive to
undertake on
a large scale.
Difcult to plan
a survey with
a sample large
enough to be
credible and
small enough to
be affordable and
manageable.
We recommend
a sample size
of at least 20 to
be credible and
representative.
SMS can be
costly depending
on service
provider.
Social media
may not always
be accessible in
areas with low
internet access.
Table 1. Various tools and some of their (dis)advantages
12
3.1.3 Validating monitoring data and
communicating results to communities
It is important to have a strategy in place to ensure that
data is correctly veried. If errors are found, the credibility
of the monitors and the organisations supporting them
will be called into question. Additionally, monitors should
be properly trained and supported during the monitoring
process. It is important that the data collected accurately
reects the views of the community. Community monitors
can validate the ndings by sharing their monitoring results
with communities. They can also take photos of the
project and compare these, and beneciary surveys, with
project documents. Comparing sources of information is
important for the credibility of the ndings. Communicating
with communities also increases their awareness and
understanding of the issues affecting them.
3. Evidence Base continued
Interviews can range from formal and pre-planned to more
open-ended and conversational. They are usually divided
into the following broad categories. Have a look at the
tools section of this guide for more details on conducting
interviews and surveys.
Project site visits and physical assessment
of the project
Monitors visit project sites, make a physical assessment
of the project, take photos and record the status of the
project. Monitors can assess projects without being
qualied engineers. They can easily detect, for example,
if bricks collapse upon contact, if wires are protruding
dangerously, if sanitary facilities are not available, if
projects have been abandoned or lack structures such
as a foundation or roof. To build their skills, monitors
are encouraged to work with engineers and contractors
in their physical assessments. Some CSOs have also
worked with university engineering students or engineers
who volunteer as community monitors as well.
Find out more about IWAs work on this and see
their tools here: www.communitymonitoring.org
DevelopmentCheck
DevelopmentCheck is an online reporting platform for
citizen feedback on development projects. Integrity
Action partners and community monitors collect data
on the transparency, participation and effectiveness
of development projects and share their ndings
on developmentcheck.org. All data is veried and
published by Integrity Action and we work with partners
to engage local, national and international authorities
to ensure the identied problems are resolved to the
communities satisfaction and a x can be achieved.
This means citizens have better services and are also
empowered to ensure that policies are appropriate,
information can be trusted and that money is spent on
projects benetting communities.
Read Tool 4
Designing Questionnaire
Read Tool 5
Beneciary Questionnaire
Read Tool 6
DevelopmentCheck Questionnaire
13
Once evidence is gathered, community monitors share
their ndings with key stakeholders in order to address
any issues they have found and also share good practices
they have seen. If problems with projects or services
have been uncovered they propose solutions or xes
to these problems. A x is the resolution of a problem to
the satisfaction of the main stakeholders, and a x-rate,
the percentage of identied problems that are resolved.
For example, if community monitors nd problems in ten
projects and resolve six of these, they have achieved
a 60% x rate. If they resolved only two out of the
ten problems, they would achieve a 20% x rate. It is
4. Constructive Engagement to resolve identied problems
important to understand the nature of the problem
and action taken to resolve the problem. Fixing
problems can take time.
Joint Working Groups, also known as monitoring
committees (see 2.3), are useful for collaboratively nding
solutions to problems. In order to prevent further problems
monitors are encouraged to work with contractors and
authorities to ensure projects are planned and maintained
effectively. Public hearings may sometimes help in this
process although they are often seen as confrontational so
context sensitivity is key to longer-term engagement.
14
5.1. Fixing Problems & Advocacy
If solutions to identied problems are not found or
implemented easily, then it may be useful to carry out an
advocacy campaign. Advocacy can be led and undertaken
by the local communities affected by the development
projects. These local communities have a critical and
legitimate voice, as they live with the effects - good or bad -
of the development projects, and are therefore important in
determining the changes that should be made.
There is more than one way to do advocacy. It all
depends on the issue being highlighted and the context
in which it happens.
Confrontation can be the preferred method in some
advocacy strategies. It seeks to obtain change via pressure
and seeks to point out problems rather than offer solutions.
However, high prole, confrontational strategies of naming
and shaming, might prove to be dangerous for the local
communities involved as well as alienate them. Therefore
instead of this confrontational approach, we encourage
collaboration between local communities and authorities.
Evidence-based advocacy offers a rational, rigorous and
systematic case for key decision-makers to improve
development programmes, projects and services, or
reform inappropriate policies.
An important element of communication and advocacy is
working with the media. The media can become important
allies of community integrity building turning investigative
journalism into integrity journalism by reporting on
problems as well as the efforts of citizens and public
ofcials to resolve them.
5. Closing the Loop
Because the effort is collaborative the success in
achieving a x should be shared with all stakeholders
including local citizens, public ofcials and contractors.
5.2. Learning and Assessing Impact
In order to know whether we have achieved the
community integrity building objectives we set out to
accomplish, and to assess the impact of our work, it is
important to measure against indicators. Therefore before
starting the project make sure to conduct a baseline study
and develop indicators that will help us to know when a
change has happened. From there, it becomes possible
to ask stakeholders questions about which changes have
happened, and how, in a variety of ways. These indicators
should be used to help us assess our own progress
throughout the community integrity building programme.
Organisations can develop their own set of indicators for
integrity building. The tools section of this guide provides
a list of suggested indicators and questions that can be
adapted and used by organisations to suit their specic
country context.
Read Tool 7
Advocacy
Read Tool 8
Learning & Assessing Impact
15
In Palestine, 1200 students conducted social audits
in their communities in 2013, with support from their
school faculty, the Teacher Creativity Centre (TCC) and
Integrity Action. They analysed policies and practice,
engaged experts in engineering, maintenance and
design, and conducted community interviews to monitor
the use of funds. The media publicised the work and
engaged in advocacy especially when it is found that
public ofcials are not cooperating.
The students uncovered nancial and administrative
malpractices in 72% of the 40 projects they have
monitored. They are now working with authorities
and contractors to address these issues. In the West
Bank, for example, students identied problems in the
construction of a road in Qabatiya and pressed the
mayor to ensure the contractor delivered properly and on
time. In the Nablus area, students stopped a contractor
from building a road on peoples land and made sure
it was delivered in the right place and to the correct
dimensions. The students work had resulted in better
roads for more than 200,000 people.
Presently, after signing a memorandum of understanding
with TCC, the Ministry of Education is ensuring that
every teacher trained on the action learning methodology
implements social audits with the subsequent class for
sustainability. Also the MOE just released a national plan,
opening the door for TCC to implement social audits in
elementary public schools across the West Bank.
Case Study
Closing the Loop in Palestine
16
Community Integrity Building offers a constructive,
sustainable approach to identify, monitor and improve
development projects and services. By mobilising citizens
and collaboratively engaging with local authorities and
services providers in learning, monitoring and problem
solving, we can overcome challenges in development,
close loops and effectively meet the needs and
expectations of communities.
The approach has also proven to be cost effective. In
Palestine in 2013, the Teacher Creativity (TCC) Centre
supported 1,280 monitors in 40 schools to gather data
on 40 projects with more than 200,000 beneciaries.
TCC is working with the Ministry of Education to integrate
social audits in the curriculum, thereby institutionalising
community integrity building. In Timor Leste, Luta
Hamutuk mobilised citizens across the country to monitor
11 projects valued at USD 1.1 million, achieving a x-rate
of 73%. Thats an investment of USD 370 in each monitor
to ensure the delivery of projects worth almost 3,000
times that amount. In general, if 1% of a large projects
costs are invested into our approach and that has the
result of reducing the loss rate by even 4% this would
represent a threefold net return on investment.
Such an approach does not come without challenges.
Civil society mobilisers or integrity builders require
resources to develop communities capacities, provide the
evidence base to inform and improve policy and practice,
and constructively engage to close the loop. As we strive
to institutionalise community integrity building, including in
aid and development projects, strengthening partnerships
across government, civil society and business can ensure
locally-driven evidence and viable solutions.
Conclusion, Strategic Challenges and Ways Forward
Connecting communities is key. This means connecting
affected communities with local, national and international
policy-making and practice, ensuring bottom-up
feedback and user-oriented solutions. It also means
connecting communities of practice so that technology
whizzes, grassroots activists and policy experts are jointly
identifying, analysing and addressing public priorities.
Integrity Builders welcome the opportunity to engage
with governments, donors and business, as well as high
level multi-stakeholder initiatives focused on aid, natural
resources, budgets, contracting and infrastructure, to
ultimately ensure that these precious public resources
deliver to the needs of citizens.
Changes to societies with a history of corruption
do not come easily. If they do occur, it is often
because the public is tired of being victimized by
those who are, in theory but not practice, supposed
to provide them with adequate goods and services.
The Community Integrity Building program is an
innovative and workable approach to community
involvement in public works projects which can be
used, not only to monitor specic projects to ensure
compliance, but also to foster an environment of
honesty and integrity.
Ronald Goldstock,
Commissioner, Waterfront Commission of NY
Harbor; Professor, NYU Law School; and creator of
the Independent Private Sector Inspectors General
program, former Director, New York State
Organized Crime Task Force
17
A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building A Practical Guide to Community Integrity Building
Tools
17
18
Mapping and analysing factors, actors and scenarios that
contribute to conict and peace enables an understanding
of the role CIB can play. Include the projects you plan
to monitor in this analysis to understand how levels
of transparency, accountability, participation and
effectiveness affect the community dynamics, with an aim
to have a positive impact on community relations.
Analysing Factors:
Start by dening key sources of tension and conict as
well as factors contributing to peace. Include factors
such as economic and social development, equity of
distribution and the political system. Make sure to also
examine the ability of institutions to address grievances,
prevent corruption and mismanagement as well as the
interests of confrontational actors or spoilers.
Questions to address:
What are the key sources of tension that could lead to
instability (e.g. economic inequality, poor governance,
scarcity of natural resources)?
What are the governments institutional capacities
to respond?
Analysing Actors:
Next, identify critical local, national, regional and
international factors and actors that inuence or are
inuenced by the conict in question.
All key actors attitudes and behaviour should be
analysed in relation to the conict, taking account of, for
example, short-term and long-term incentives towards
corruption or integrity, interests, needs, capacities and
cultures of violence and of peace.
Tools
When analysing the actors, focus on their incompatible
interests in terms of greed and grievances, and on how
these factors affect and are affected by on-going and
potential violent conicts.
Look at the different roles and interests of women, men,
boys and girls in order to nd suitable options for action
when it comes to addressing the needs, interests, rights
and opportunities of the whole population.
Consider factors that connect actors and how to
strengthen these connecting factors.
Identify integrity factors and activities that might promote
peace. These include those actors that can be identied
as non-confrontational, that may actually have decisive
inuence on whether or not the confrontational or corrupt
actors succeed in furthering their agendas.
Power Mapping:
Power mapping helps you to:
Identify structures & power relationships between
actors.
Build connections and coalitions among those who
support your goals
Identify uninvolved stakeholders that can be mobilised
for your cause
Neutralise or win over those who oppose your advocacy
objective and the change it seeks to trigger
Tool 1
Conict Analysis
In favor
Neutral/Unmobilized
Against
19
Notes:
The size of the stakeholder (i.e. their box or circle in the diagram) indicates their relative power to inuence the
objective, which is written in the centre of the diagram: Earmarked budget for HIV/AIDS in 2008. Thus, the bigger
the box or circle, the more powerful the stakeholder.
The distance of the stakeholder from the issue (in the centre) depicts the degree of support that the stakeholder has
for the issue (e.g., the farther away from the centre, the less support the stakeholder has).
Questions to address:
Who and what are the key actors?
Who is excluded from the process?
What are their interests?
What are their power bases and resources?
What are the roles of men and women in this conict situation?
What are their specic needs, interests, and potential strengths?
The example below is from a campaign in Mexico.
Earmarked
budget for
HIV/AIDS
in 2008
HEALTH
Ministry
HIV/AIDS
Program
Finance
Ministry
Health
Committee
Budget
Committee
Gender
Committee
Left-wing Party
HIV/AIDS CSOs
Womens
CSO
National Institute for
Respiratory Diseases
National Institute
for Nutrition
Access to
Information
Institute
Conservative
Party
20
Tools continued
Conducting a Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholder analysis determines how to engage in your
context. A stakeholder is a person who has something to
gain or lose through the outcomes of a planning process.
They can have a powerful bearing on the outcomes of
political processes. Therefore, it is necessary to identify and
analyse the needs and concerns of different stakeholders,
particularly when the aim is to inuence policy.
Step 1: Clarify the objective being discussed
Step 2: Identify all the stakeholders or interest group
representatives. This can be done through a group
discussion with a range of people from your organisation
with knowledge of or contact with different stakeholder
groups. The following grid shows examples of
stakeholders.
Examples of Private Sector
stakeholders
Examples of Public Sector
stakeholders
Examples of Civil Society
stakeholders
Corporation & business leaders
Professional body
representatives
Individual business owners
Financial institution contact
persons
Ministers & advisors
Civil servants
Elected representatives
Local government ofcials
Military ofcials
Journalists
Religious leaders
School & university administrators
Trade union leaders
National NGO leaders
International NGO country
programme staff
Step 3: Organise the stakeholders according to
their interest and power. Interest measures to what
degree they are likely to be affected by the project/
policy change in question, and what degree of interest,
investment or concern they have in or about it. Power
measures the inuence they have over the project or
policy, and to what degree they can help achieve, or
block, the desired change.
Where possible, it is important to fully engage
stakeholders with high power and interests aligned
with the project. If trying to create policy change, these
people are the targets of any campaign. At the very top
of the power list will be the decision-makers, usually
members of the government, who are inuenced by
opinion leaders.
Stakeholders with high interest but low power need to
be kept informed and, if organised, they may form the
basis of an interest group or coalition that can lobby for
change. Those with high power but low interest should
be kept satised and ideally brought around as patrons or
supporters for the proposed policy change.
Be sure to pay attention to spoilers. They are opponents
who actively harm or hinder the CIB work and other
constructive governance reforms. This is sometimes
because they have a personal stake in the status
quo and sometimes because they were not properly
consulted or given their due consideration in the process
of change. Context analysis and sensitivity are critical to
understanding spoilers and constructive engagement is
key to counteracting them. Engaging potential spoilers
such as local authorities and contractors early on,
including in training sessions and working groups, rather
than confronting them is critical to build trust, skills and
collective positive action.
1
Adapted from http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/details.asp?id=5257&title=stakeholder-analysis
Tool 2
1

Low High
Stakeholder analysis grid
Keep Satised Engage Closely and Inuence Actively
Monitor Keep Informed P
o
w
e
r
Interest
21
Step 4: Develop a strategy for how best to engage
different stakeholders in a project, how to frame or
present the message or information so it is useful to them,
and how to maintain a relationship with them. Identify
who will make each contact, how they will communicate
and how they will follow up. Keep in mind who can be
gate-keepers to those who shape policy and practice. For
example, it is useful to build a relationship with clerks at
ministries as they often have access to information and
can inuence public ofcials.
Please see the advocacy tool for help with this
22
Tools continued
How do you make a request?
Be clear and very specic about the information or
documents that you are looking for.
Keep your rst request relatively simple. That way you
have a better chance of getting a quick answer, and you
can always make follow-up requests if necessary.
You dont have to mention the right to information act
or freedom of information law, but this can be useful
because it shows that you know your legal rights.
State politely which format you prefer. If you want
information electronically, be sure to provide your email
address. The advantage of electronic information is
that it usually saves you from paying photocopying and
postage fees.
Use language and etiquette that is appropriate for any
other professional communication or correspondence in
your country.
Usually you need to provide your name, address, email
address and phone number.
File your request in written form (by email, post, fax,
in person) or make an oral request (by telephone, in
person). However, written requests are useful if you
need to make an appeal in cases where you did not
receive a response - just remember to make a copy of
the original request.
Remember: You dont have to explain why you want the
information nor what you will do with it.
April 1, 2012
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to request the following information under the Right to
Information Act, 2007:
Te total amount of money spent during each of 2006, 2007, and
2008 on vaccinations for children under the age of 10 years old. I
would like this information broken down by year, and if possible,
by month.
Te total number of children vaccinated in each of 2006,
2007, and 2008 under the governments new Vaccines for All
programme.
I would prefer to have this information sent to me electronically to
the e-mail address that is provided below.
If you have any questions or need further clarifcation about this
request, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Jane Smith
15 Main Street, Capital City
E-mail: jane@janesmith.com
Tel: 123-456-7890
Example Information Request Letter:
2
Excerpted and adapted from The Aid Transparency Toolkit: What You Always Wanted to Know about Aid and How to Get the Information A Guide for
Civil Society Organisations and Members of the Public, Access Info, www.access-info.org
Tool 3
How to Access Information - Guidelines for Making Information Requests
2
TIP: If you live near where the information is held (for example, if you live in the capital city where the
documents are kept), you can also ask to inspect original documents. This can be helpful when researching
information that might be held in a large number of documents, and youd like to have a look through them.
23
Do you have to pay a fee to ask for information?
Filing your request for information is usually free of
charge. In a few countries, including Nepal, this is not
the case and there is a small fee.
You can ask the public agency to send the information
either to your postal address or your email address. If
you ask for paper copies sent by post, then there may
be charges for photocopying and the postage costs.
Electronic delivery should be free.
In some cases you will be asked to pay a fee for
receiving information in other formats (for example,
photocopies, CDs, DVDs, etc.) and in most cases
the public agency is not allowed to charge more than
the actual cost of copying the information onto any
given format.
The fees charged for photocopying, postage, or for
materials such as a CD or DVD should be according to
already published rates. If you suspect you are being
charged too much, raise a concern with the public
body and/or with the ombudsman or information
commissioner.
When and how will you receive the information?
Format varies depending on your request and
availability: inspection of originals, photocopies, e-mails,
les attached to e-mails, DVDs, CDs, etc.
Countries have different time frames for answering
requests or providing information, as well as for
notications of extensions or issuing refusals.
Most countries permit public agencies to extend the
timeframes for a few days or up to a month if the
information request is particularly complex. In all cases,
the requestor should be notied of the delay and the
reasons for the delay should be explained.
What happens when you dont get the information
you ask for?
If you dont get the information you asked for, you
have the right to appeal. There are normally at least
two stages of appeal:
Stage 1: Appeal to the public agency that refused to give
you the information or that failed to answer you. Normally
the appeal letter should be sent to the head of the public
agency; however, you should check what your national
right to information law says. In countries that have good
right to information laws, there will be a simple and clear
system for ling appeals.
Stage 2: Appeal to the courts or, if your country has
one, the information commission. You can also appeal
to information rights advocates in your own country or
international organisations including Integrity Action and
Access Info, who can help follow up on your requests.
Donor countries with Access to Information Laws
In donor countries with access to information laws,
these laws cover all central government ministries,
including aid agencies. Information requests can be
made to the local ofce of the donors aid agency in your
country, or by email or letter to the head ofce of the
agency in the donor country.
For some example of successful information requests in Nepal
see Freedom Forums website www.freedomforum.org/
TIP: TIf youre not sure what to do for the rst stage of appeal, contact the ofce of your information
commission/commissioner for help. If you are still having problems, then contact Access Info (helpdesk@
access-info.org) and let them know about it. They will try to help you, for example, by giving you advice on
how to appeal or by nding an access to information expert or lawyer in your country.
24
Tools continued
Step 1: Always clarify the purpose and scope of the
survey, interview or group discussion.
Step 2: Draw on external skills and expertise if necessary.
Using surveys, interviewing people and facilitating group
discussions requires some special skills. You do not have
to be an expert yourself, but it will be necessary to draw in
people with experience in statistical research along the way.
Step 3: Identify who you will gather evidence from. The
evidence you gather with a survey will only be seen as
representative of a wider population if your sample has
been chosen very carefully. You may want to get help from
a statistics expert with experience in constructing reliable
samples. If you are planning to track public expenditure
with your survey, make a list of the ofcials, front-end
service providers and others you will interview. If you
are planning a group discussion ensure you do some
stakeholder analysis rst to engage the right people.
Step 4: Design a questionnaire. The way you formulate
the questions for your survey will determine what kind of
evidence you will gather. It is also useful to think about
the order of the questions. The answer to one question
could have a bearing on the way you ask the next
one. Remember that completing a survey can be time-
consuming; so keep it as short as possible. Have a look
at some surveys that have been used by other CSOs to
monitor policies and if possible, talk to them about what
they have learnt.
See page 25 for some options to think about when
planning an interview, designing a survey or planning the
agenda for group discussions:
Step 5: Coding Responses
To record evidence in a quantitative way, it needs to
be counted or coded in numbers. This can be built into
the design of your questions and answers (which is
called pre-coding).
When information is coded, it means that number values
have been assigned to different categories of data. For
example, wherever people have chosen the same answer
to a closed question in a survey, their responses are given
the same number value. In principle, you can assign
number values to any evidence you have gathered, even
from focus group discussions or other less structured
methods (though this may call for assistance from
someone with expertise in data analysis).
Closed questions tend to be pre-coded. For example,
in relation to a policy on security, you may ask the
following question:
What do you think about the performance of the
police in this city?
Very good 1
Good 2
Fair 3
Poor 4
Very poor 5
Pre-coding is also possible when you are using
observation to gather evidence. For example, in order to
track an education policy, monitors could be asked to sit
in on a number of primary school classes. They could then
use the following system to encode what they observe:
How much time (hours/minutes) did the teacher spend on
each of the following in class?
1. Listening to pupils
2. Presenting to the class
3. Talking to the pupils
4. Answering pupils questions
5. Giving instructions
6. Correcting pupils work
7. Observing small group/pair work
8. Doing nothing
Open questions are answered in respondents own
words. These answers can be coded afterwards (which
is called post-coding). This involves assigning number
values to different responses or themes so that they can
be counted and compared.
In the example on educational policy above you could give
a certain numerical value to each response.
Tool 4
Designing Questionnaires for Interviews, Surveys & Group Discussions
25
Type of Question Example Questions
Open questions:
Allow the respondent to answer in his or her own words.
(S)he is not prompted to answer in any particular format.
What do you think about the services being provided
at this facility?
Why are many children in this community not
attending school
Closed questions
Provide the respondent with a limited range of responses
to choose from. This is often called a multiple-choice
question.
Do you think the services provided at this facility are:
a) Very good
b) Good
c) Fair
d) Poor
e) Very poor
50/50 questions
The respondent is given a statement or range of
statements and is asked to decide whether s/he agrees
or disagrees with each, or whether each is true or false.
There are only two possible responses to each question.
The services you received today were delivered in a
friendly, professional manner.
True or false?
Tick all that apply
This closed question format asks the respondent
to choose more than one response from a range of
possibilities. Unlike the multiple-choice example above,
the respondent is invited to mark all the responses that
are true of his or her situation.
When monitoring the development project, which of the
following documents could you access?
Please tick all that apply
Ranking and scoring
Questions could ask respondents to rank their
responses or give them a score. These types of
questions are useful for learning more about the relative
importance people attach to different things. They can
also reveal respondents preferences and how they
make choices. Scoring provides slightly more information
than ranking, because it asks the respondent to give a
precise weighting to each factor.
Please give each reason a score between 1 and 10,
(with 1 being not at all important and 10 being extremely
important), that reects how important it is as an
obstacle.
Your child is not currently attending school because:
The distance to school is too far
You cannot afford the school fees
You cannot afford transport costs
He or she has no school uniform
He or she is needed at home
He or she is ill
Project Plans Contract
Budget Bill of quantity
Annual Report Evaluation Report
Other (please specify
26
Tools continued
Step 6: Get feedback and/or test your questionnaire.
Ask different stakeholders to have a look at your
draft questionnaire and have it checked by someone
experienced in drafting surveys. Pre-test your
questionnaire with a few people from your target sample
to make sure all the questions are understood and ow
well in order. Check that the survey makes adequate
provision for recording answers and other information.
Step 7: Choose & train interviewers.
Depending on the scale of your survey, you may need
to identify and train people to help you conduct the
survey, interview or group discussion. If your survey is
part of development monitoring project then monitors
could conduct the surveys. You will need to ensure they
have skills in communication, interviewing and recording
information. They should understand how essential it is
to ensure accurate and reliable data and know how to
act ethically in interview situations. It may be necessary to
provide training in these areas.
Step 8: Carry out the activity.
This part of the survey process usually involves sending
monitors or interviewers out into the eld to gather
information from the targeted respondents individually
or in focus groups. The monitors follow the question
schedule on the questionnaire and record the responses.
Step 9: Compile, analyse and validate the data.
Once the surveys, interviews or group discussions have
been conducted, the responses have to be tabulated.
This means recording all the responses in tables, so that
you can group them together in a way that will help you
to analyse them later. This is ideally done with the aid of
a computer, but it can also be managed on paper. Either
way, it is essential for the data to be recorded accurately
and this can be a meticulous, painstaking task. It is best
tackled by people within or outside your network who
have some experience in working with large sets of data.
The analysis and validation of the data needs to be
accurate so as to avoid incorrect ndings. When
evidence is expressed in the form of numbers,
(i.e. it has been coded) it makes it easier to work with
large volumes of information. It also allows you to
use the data in useful ways:
Summarise and present the information in several
ways. Coding responses in numbers helps you to
count up and portray your ndings in a concise and
straightforward way.
Highlight some of the features of a particular category of
information. For example, you can calculate the average
across a range of responses, (the median), or the most
popular responses (the mode).
Compare the relationship between different sets of
information. For instance, the coding of the information
can help you to work out if there are any overlaps
between peoples responses to two (or more) questions.
Step 10: Reporting and Communication
After validating the eld data, you need to determine
what questions are the most important to answer in order
improve the integrity of development projects, and what
can be done to make policies more appropriate? What are
the facts? What do the facts tell us? And what actions and
changes are needed as a result of those facts? Does the
data tell us that something should be done to improve the
planned and current development projects, programmes
and services and which are the policies that need to
change?
When analysing data you may nd that changes need
to be made to a development project, programme or
services, you need to communicate this to the appropriate
audiences. You should identify those audiences with
whom you need to communicate to achieve your
objectives.
It is useful to start by asking yourself the
following questions:
How can I communicate this data, so it is used to
inform future policy and practice?
Who are the appropriate target audiences?
How can it be communicated clearly?
How can the data be made accessible?
There is no single, best, generic solution to these
questions. The best answers will vary by the project,
programme or service being monitored and from situation
to situation.
Look at the tools on developing an advocacy strategy and
conducting a stakeholder analysis to help.
27
The questionnaire below can be used to gather feedback from beneciaries on projects you are monitoring.
Before conducting the interview, remember to introduce yourself to the beneciary (interviewee) and explain
why you are conducting this interview.
Example introduction of the interviewer to the beneciary
Hello, I am [interviewer name] from a non-governmental organisation called [interviewers organisation]. We are
currently trying to understand peoples experience with [name of the project being monitored]. Your views and
experience will be kept condential.
Tool 5
Beneciary Questionnaire
Project Details Responses (to be completed for each project)
Project ID/Reference
Name of monitor/
beneciary interviewer
Name of monitoring
organisation
Project name & location
Project Start Date
Project End Date
Current status of project
Date
Questions Responses (to be completed for each project)
1 General information Name of beneciary interviewee
Gender
Age
Occupation (e.g. farmer, teacher)
Date of interview
Female Male
28
Tools continued
2 Do you know about
the project?
If yes, when did you learn about the project
3 How did you learn
about the project
4 Are you one of the
direct beneciaries/users
of the project?
5 What is the following
information about the
project? [to be checked
against actual project
documents]
Budget of the project
Name of donor
Name of implementing agency
Project start and end date
Number of beneciaries
Other (specify)
6 How is this information
available to you?
Yes No (Please go to question 4).
During the design At the implementation stage
Other (specify)
Local media

Posters at the project site
or public building
Public meeting Relatives and friends
Other (specify)
Yes No
Public meeting Other (specify)
On a website, in English

On a website, in English and
local languages

Posters at the project site or
public building
Directly through talking with
the implementing agency
29
7 Did you participate in
the design of the project
If yes, how?
8 Does the project
respond to your
priorities?
9 Did you participate in
the implementation of
the project?
10 Does the project
deliver to your needs?
11 Are you aware of the
existence of a complaint
mechanism?
12 Have you used the
complaint mechanism?
13 Did you receive
a response to your
complaint?
14 Are you satised with
the response to your
complaint?
15. Are you satised with
the project?
Yes No (Please go to question 8).
Through being surveyed I belong to a committee
Other (specify)
Yes No
Yes No
Yes No
Yes No
Yes No
Yes No
Yes No
Yes (specify)
No (specify)
Thank you!
30
Tool 6
DevelopmentCheck Questionnaire
The questionnaire is available in other languages online here:
developmentcheck.org/about-developmentcheck
Details Responses (to be completed for each project)
Project
Details
Name of the Project
Project Reference
Project Status
(at time of monitoring)
Please choose one of the following:
Brief description
of the project
Project Sector Choose one of the following:
Project planning/identication
Project implementation
Project complete
Project evaluation
Project cancelled

Agricultural inputs
(e.g. seeds, machinery)

Agricultural water resources
(e.g. irrigation)

Basic drinking water supply
and basic sanitation
Conict Prevention

Culture & recreation (e.g.
libraries)
Education
Elections

Employment policy & admin
management
Energy generation & supply
Health

Legal and judicial
development (e.g. courts)
Low cost housing
Roads

Security systems & reform
(e.g. police stations)
Waste management/disposal
Tools continued
31
Project
Details
Project Start Date
(yyyy/mm/dd)
Project End Date
(yyyy/mm/dd)
Date Project was
monitored
Project Value/Budget Amount: Currency:
Budget Disbursement
Date
Contractor
Implementing Agency
Project Donor
Government
Department responsible
Project Beneciaries Total number: Male: Female:
Project Location Country
District
Sub District
Village
32
Tools continued
Access to
Information
Which of the documents listed below could you access?
Accessibility Keywords
Proactive - Document was publicly available online or at the project site
Reactive - Document was available on request
Not Needed - Document was not needed at the time of monitoring
Not Available - Document was not available
Feasibility Study How was the accessibility?
Proactive
Reactive
Not Needed
Not Available
How did you try to access information?
Please tick or highlight all that apply
Contact with Contractor
Contact with Donor
Contact with Implementing Agency
Contact with Local authorities
Website
Other
Project Plans How was the accessibility?
Proactive
Reactive
Not Needed
Not Available
Contact with Donor
Website
Other
Contract How was the accessibility?
Proactive
Reactive
Not Needed
Not Available
Contact with Donor
Website
Other
Budget How was the accessibility?
Proactive
Reactive
Not Needed
Not Available
Contact with Donor
Website
Other
33
Access to
Information
Bill of Quantity How was the accessibility?
Proactive
Reactive
Not Needed
Not Available
Contact with Donor
Website
Other
Annual Report How was the accessibility?
Proactive
Reactive
Not Needed
Not Available
Contact with Donor
Website
Other
Evaluation Report How was the accessibility?
Proactive
Reactive
Not Needed
Not Available
Contact with Donor
Website
Other
Contract
Variations
How was the accessibility?
Proactive
Reactive
Not Needed
Not Available
Contact with Donor
Website
Other
34
Tools continued
Community
Engagement
Was the community consulted in
the project design?
Yes No (please give details)
Please give details
How many were consulted?
How was this measured? (Tick all that apply)
Please give details
Was the community involved in the
project implementation?
Yes No (please give details)
Please give details
How many were consulted?
How was this measured? (Tick all that apply)
Please give details
Surveys
Focus group discussions
Interviews
Other (give details)
Surveys
Focus group discussions
Interviews
35
Project
Effectiveness
Did you nd a problem with the
project (Excluding problems
with access to information and
community engagement)
Yes No
If there was a problem, what was
it? Please tick that apply below
Was the problem resolved?
Please tick that apply below

Did not comply with contract
accessed
Yes No Dont Know

Insufcient materials/
equipment
Yes No Dont Know

Substandard materials/
equipment
Yes No Dont Know
Lack of maintenance Yes No Dont Know
Project was abandoned Yes No Dont Know
Other Yes No Dont Know
Please Specify
Please give details about the problem (For example, the contractor used old materials)
How did you raise awareness of
the problem(s)?
Please tick that apply below
Please give details
Apart from resolving the specic
problem(s) with this project, was
there a change in policy or practice
to prevent this problem from
occurring again?
Yes No Dont Know In progress
Please give details if possible
Was the community satised with
the project delivery?
Yes No
Please give details

Closed meeting with
government ofcial
Community meeting
Ofcial public hearing
Public radio
Press release
Monitoring committee

Letter to government
ofcials
Other (Please Specify)
36
Tools continued
Project
Effectiveness
How was this measured? Please tick that apply below
Please give details
Number of respondents Number
Satised
Number
Unsatised
Total
Additional
Information
Please use this space to provide any additional information you would like to share on this project
Please attach any relevant monitoring reports, photos and videos
Please label all documents and photos clearly
Community Monitor Name: (this will not be public)
Surveys
Focus group
discussions
Interviews
This can be completed after gathering evidence through accessing information, visiting project sites and collecting
feedback from stakeholders
37
The ve components of an advocacy strategy are:
1. Objectives
2. Audiences
3. Message
4. Message Delivery
5. Schedule/Action Plan
1. OBJECTIVES
An advocacy objective should set out very clearly and
specically what civil society wants government to do,
how it should be done, where, and when.
The more information and evidence that you have about
your issue, the environment/context, opportunities, and
the actors/decision-makers involved, the clearer your
objective is likely to be.
Your advocacy objectives should be SMART. That is,
each objective should be:
S Specic
M Measurable
A Achievable
R Relevant
T Time bound
SPECIFIC
Specify an action that you want government to take.
Be as clear and specic as you can. For example, it is
too general to set as a goal: to provide safe drinking
water for all. Rather, set a specic goal to prioritize the
provision of safe drinking water to those who currently
have no access to safe drinking water.
Dont just state what the problem is (e.g. many people do
not have access to safe drinking water). For the objective
to be specic, you must state the solution that you
would like to see and the specic ministry, department,
or agency within government that needs to implement
the solution. You also need to be specic about which
beneciaries should be targeted. For example, a more
specic objective would be: The Department of Water
and Supply & Sewerage must provide access to safe
drinking water to those who do not have a safe water
source within 2 km of their homes.
MEASURABLE
Be as exact as possible. If you cant measure it, you
cant manage it.
Provide the numbers so that you can evaluate your
achievements at the end of your campaign.
It is not sufcient to state that the government must
increase in the number of safe drinking water sources,
because the increase could be very small and not what
you are advocating for. The government could provide 10
additional safe drinking water sources and still meet such
an objective.
Keep in mind that not all problems, such as discrimination
against girls, can be solved simply by increasing service
delivery
ACHIEVABLE, RELEVANT, AND TIMEBOUND
Making your advocacy objective achievable, relevant,
and time bound means linking it directly to the stages
in the governments planning, budgeting, and service
delivery cycles:
Consider what is possible in the current context and
what can be realistically achieved in the time.
Always set a timeframe for the objective, e.g. this
nancial year, over the next three years, by 2015.
State how the government can achieve the increases or
improvements in service delivery that you are proposing.
Keep in mind that not everything can be changed
immediately. Existing programmes and budgets are
often rigid due to political compromises and legal
obligations.
For big and long-term goals, think in terms of
progressive realisation. Progressive means that if the
government cannot immediately attain what you are
asking for, it should at least have a medium to long-term
plan for attaining it. This makes it possible to hold the
government to account for following a plan on a year-
by-year basis.
For example, if your advocacy objective is - The DWSS
must construct 10,000 new taps that provide safe
drinking water to those who do not have a safe water
source within 2 km of their homes by 2015 - think
about how this could be done over the period 2013-
2015. (3,300 new taps by the end of 2013; 6,600 new
taps by the end of 2014; and 10,000 new taps by the
end of 2015.)
Partners in a coalition will probably not commit to
objectives that are too far out of reach.
3
Adapted from Development Initiatives, Integrity Action, International Budget Partnership and Publish What You Fund Aid & Budget Monitoring Training Manual
Tool 7
How to develop an Advocacy Strategy
3
38
2. AUDIENCE
There are two kinds of audiences: primary and
secondary. The primary audience is essentially an
individual or institution that can give you what you want
in your objective, i.e., the decision maker. This is the
person or institution that has the power to make the
change that needs to happen. The secondary
audiences are individuals, institutions, and/or other
organisations that are able to put pressure on and
inuence the primary audience.
3. MESSAGE
An effective advocacy message does the following:
Presents a possible solution and action;
Draws on evidence;
Uses facts and numbers accessibly and creatively;
Takes its secondary audiences into account;
Knows the political environment and opportunities;
Is simple and brief;
Uses real life stories and quotes;
Adapts the message to the medium; and
Encourages the audience to take action.
4. MESSAGE DELIVERY/MESSENGER
The messenger should be familiar with the advocacy
objectives and the message.
Even when there are different messengers, there should
always be one unied message.
Groups conducting advocacy have used legal,
economic, and media experts as messengers in their
campaigns. In many countries, economists carry weight
on the issue of the public budget, and some groups
have used them as messengers for their campaigns.
The campaign can create and build the messengers;
the more public exposure they receive, the more they
will be recognised as experts and public gures.
THE MEDIUM/MEDIA
Conducting advocacy demands reaching a diverse
audience. This requires strategic thinking about how the
message will be delivered. Some ways to reach a wide
range of people include: print, electronic, and social
media; grassroots media, such as community theatre,
puppetry, visual arts, and songs; public meetings;
workshops; public hearings; rallies; protests; boycotts;
strikes; etc.
The choice of media should take into consideration the
experience of staff members within the organisation,
the audience, the political environment, and the
opportunities presented.
Organisations conducting advocacy also need to think
about public messaging versus private messaging,
i.e., what you state publicly and the way that you
state it may differ from what you state privately to your
advocacy target. Both public and private messaging
can be done at the same time and with success. For
example, a civil society organisation may criticise a
donor harshly in public and to the media, while at the
same time they are holding more specic, constructive
meetings in private with the donor to address the issue.
5. SCHEDULE/ACTION PLAN
Advocacy action plans must not only include your
communications strategy for delivering your advocacy
message, but also the research & analysis and review of
research that produces the evidence that supports your
advocacy message. Monitoring and evaluation should
also be incorporated into schedules and action plans.
Convincing government ofcials and donors of the
seriousness of your work demands that research and
information are produced in a credible, accessible, and
timely manner.
Use every opportunity you have to highlight your
advocacy objective - this means your evidence must
be credible, your message must be clear, and you
must be ready to jump at opportunities!
Tools continued
39
Below is a set of questions you should answer before starting your project
Developing a Project Plan
1. Describe the world in which you are working in terms of the local or wider need that your project is addressing.
2. What are you planning to do as part of this project?
3. What effects do you expect to see straight away? Dene short-term objectives or changes.
4. What effects and changes do you expect to see in the future? Dene medium-term objectives or changes.
5. Where possible, describe the long-term changes for people that:
Your initiative will contribute to.
Your initiative will be wholly responsible for.
6. For every immediate effect you identied above, ask So what? or Why is that important? (Try and describe
precisely how each of the immediate effects will lead to the changes in the future.)
7. For every effect and change you identied above, ask So what? or Why is that important? (Try and describe
how the changes will lead to the long-term changes for people, the environment or the economy.)
8. What barriers do you foresee that could prevent any of this happening
Impact mapping can be used to look forward and plan for the outcomes and impact. Using the impact column, the big
picture can be described, and working backwards from these, changes (outcomes) and the outputs that lead to these
outcomes as a result of activities can be mapped
Inputs
What resources you
need to manage
the initiative. For
example, time,
money, staff, other
assets (such as a
building), a clear
vision and shared
direction etc.
Activities
The things that you
do to affect some
sort of change
for the people
the community
and in relation
to programmes,
projects and
services.
Outputs
The direct results
and beneciaries.
Usually outputs
show that certain
people receive
something, learn
something, or take
part in something as
a result of what you
do or how you do it.
For example, easily
countable things,
such as the number
of projects monitored
Outcomes
Longer-term change.
Describe why that
output is important,
in terms of the
implications for, and
the effect it has on
your local community
Impact
When thinking
about planning,
impacts are the big-
picture change you
are trying to create
or the changes in
the wider world
that the work
you are doing is
contributing to. For
example, this could
be in terms of your
vision for change in
peoples lives
Tool 8
How to Assess Impact Developing Success Indicators and Evaluating your Work
40
Tools continued
Developing indicators
Indicators are a quantitative and qualitative measure of
change. As an example, measuring increases in access
to infrastructure programmes, projects and services may
be useful for demonstrating the impact of CIB. Another
example might include looking at changes in waiting lists
or access to health services. These types of indicators can
help to measure changes in meeting community needs.
Some things are more difcult to measure via indicators
than others. It can be a challenge to nd indicators to
reect, for example, community members experiences
of social exclusion. In this instance, it is often useful to
consider what behaviour most closely manifests the trend
that we are trying to measure and try to nd an indicator
linked to that behaviour.
Remember that the indicators we choose should be
SMART - Specic, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and
Time-bound. Indicators should produce evidence that is
accurate and veriable. This means that when different
people use the same indicator to measure the same thing,
we end up with the same evidence.
Shared success indicators can be established even if in
very different settings, as the community integrity building
initiatives most often share the same long-term goals.
The table below shows some examples of indicators and
means of verication
Types of Indicators Means of Verication
Accountability
Involvement and participation of inuential decision-
makers in forum discussions
Resolutions and actions resulting from multi-
stakeholder meetings
Signed Code of Conduct document
(in place by x date)
Increased community representation on project
committees (at least 1 member of x community sits
on project committee by end year 1)
Meeting minutes
Forum membership
Minutes of forum meeting; agreed resolutions
Signed Code of Conduct
Project committee membership list & meeting minutes
Community Engagement
X number of community representatives trained on
monitoring issues by end year 1
% increase participation of youth in training and
community monitoring
% increase participation of women in training and
community monitoring
Increased citizen participation at local and national
level in multi-stakeholder forums
List of community monitors
(with breakdown m/f, age, background info)
Training manuals, training attendance, evaluations
List of members of joint committees
Community meeting minutes, reports
Effectiveness
Project compliance with contract
Community satisfaction with project (e.g. at least 25%
increase in satisfaction with project by end year 1)
Improvements to problems identied with projects
(E.G. Plans in place to address project problems
within 3 months of identifying problem)
Fix Rate (number of problems xed)
Project documents, photos, surveys, reports
from site visits
Surveys, focus groups, public meetings
Photos, community feedback, monitoring reports
DevelopmentCheck data
41
Useful Resources
Booth, D. & Lucas, H. (2002)
Good practice in the development of PRSP indicators
and monitoring systems.
Overseas Development Institute Working Paper 172.
London.
Cohen, D., Watson G,. & De La Vega, R. (2001)
Advocacy for Social justice: a Global Action and
Reection Guide.
Oxford: OXFAM/Advocacy Institute.
Datta, A. (2011)
Strengthening World Vision Policy Advocacy: a Guide to
Developing Advocacy Strategies
(online) Overseas Development Institute.
De Toma, C. (2012)
Advocacy Toolkit: Guidance on how to advocate for a
more enabling environment for civil society in your context.
Open Forum for CSO Development Effectiveness.
Brussels. 60-61.
Galtung, F. (2013)
The Fix Rate: A Key Metric for Transparency and
Accountability.
Integrity Action Working Paper 2.
Gordon, G. (2002)
Advocacy Toolkit: Understanding Advocacy and
Practical Action in Advocacy.
Teddington: Tearfund. ISBN 1 904364 00 4.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) & Asian
Development Bank Institute (ADBI) (2007)
Improving Local Governance and Service Delivery: Citizen
Report Card Learning Toolkit.
Khadka, K. & Bhattarai, C. (2012)
Sourcebook for 21 Social Accountability Tools.
Program for Accountability in Nepal (PRAN).
Membe, S. (2004)
Budget monitoring and expenditure tracking training
manual, domesticated for the CSPR, Zambia.
Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR).
Miller, K. L. (2011)
Seven Ways Social Media Improves Accountability.
(online) 11th November 2011.
Olivier, D. & Cesar, B. (1998)
Managing Sensitive Projects.
Macmillan.
Open Contracting Partnership (2013)
Open Contracting: A Guide for Practitioners by
Practitioners.
Pollard, A. & Court, J. (2005)
How civil society organisations use evidence to
inuence policy processes: a literature review.
London. Overseas Development Institute (ODI).
The World Bank (2006)
The Good and the Bad of Village Infrastructure:
a Pictorial Guide
Integrity Watch Afghanistan/Community Monitoring
Toolkit,
www.communitymonitoring.org
Contact
T +44 (0) 20 3119 1187
E info@integrityaction.org
W www.integrityaction.org
A First Floor, 364 City Road, London, EC1V 2PY, UK

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A Practical Guide to

Community Integrity Building

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