Monitoring and Evaluation:
A Key to Sustainability of Coastal Resource Management Programs

Program implementation must be regularly monitored and evaluated to ensure optimum results that can be sustained and progress over time. The Coastal Resource Management Project has developed an annual monitoring and evaluation and certification system designed to allow local governments in the Philippines to assess coastal management plan implementation, and to be certified through an independent review process. This article describes the system and what it entails.

By Catherine A. Courtney, Chief of Party;
Evelyn T. Deguit,  Community Development Advisor, and Alexis C. Yambao,  Coastal Resource Management Planning Specialist, Coastal Resource Management Project

ow do we know if our coastal resource management (CRM) plans and programs are working? Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is the fourth and very critical phase of the CRM process as adapted for Philippine local government units (LGUs) (Figure 1). It provides the information and data required to assess the success of municipal and city efforts to effectively manage coastal resources. Having completed Phases 1 to 3 (Figure 1), coastal municipalities and cities need to monitor the implementation of their CRM plans and programs as a basis for evaluating performance, monitoring progress, budgeting, and identifying possible refinements to plans and programs. During the M&E phase, the effectiveness of municipal CRM plans and programs are reviewed and assessed against benchmarks of performance and best practices and can be certified through an independent review process. Annual M&E helps to answer questions such as:

• How far have we come in implementing the plan? 
• Are the strategies addressing the issues and plan objectives?
• Is the plan working?
• Is the capacity of the municipal staff, Municipal Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Councils, and coastal law enforcement units adequate to implement the plan?
• Is the legal and institutional framework adequate for CRM plan implementation?
• What issues have arisen since the plan was implemented?
• What is the level of community support for the actions being implemented?
• Have the fish catch and coastal habitat quality improved?
• What refinements to the plan are needed to improve implementation?

Municipal CRM plans prepared and adopted in Phase 2 of the process should serve as a basis for M&E. Evaluation of the plan and plan implementation (Phase 3) should be conducted annually (Table 1). CRM plans are not static documents and CRM programs should be flexible and adaptive. Goals and strategies often have to be refined or adapted to meet changing circumstances or when better information or a new understanding of the coastal issues has been gained. Insights into the viability or utility of management strategies or better knowledge about the agencies or individuals responsible for implementation can also lead to program changes. The plan may require refinements and adaptations to incorporate community feedback and improve its support and credibility within the community. The results of annual M&E are used as a basis for updating the Municipal Coastal Database (MCD) and as input to education and outreach campaigns (Phase 5). In addition, revisions or adjustments to the municipal CRM plan and implementation strategies should be based on the results of annual M&E as shown by a feedback loop returning to Phase 2 in Figure 1. Annual programming should reflect these refinements for budgeting purposes.

Figure 1. Five-phase CRM planning process adapted for Philippine local government.

Table 1. Illustrative questions for monitoring and evaluation of a typical CRM plan and implementation.

A CRM plan identifies various management interventions or best practices (Table 2) that need to be implemented to address priority issues. M&E of these CRM best practices is essential in determining the success of plan implementation.  For example, establishing marine sanctuary user fees for tourists may have been identified as a revenue-generating strategy for the community and municipality; however, implementing this one seemingly simple intervention may uncover a number of problem areas that require refinement. A review of the implementation of this strategy may reveal, for example, that the mechanism for fee collection is cumbersome or inadequate, or revenues generated may not be accruing toward community benefits, or the fee established is too high or too low. M&E of CRM plan implementation is the only way to identify issues that have arisen since the plan was formulated, and to make necessary refinements or adjustments.

Table 2. Illustrative list of CRM best practices.

Monitoring programs should be developed to track both processes and results. Process indicators are used to monitor the governance aspects of CRM plan implementation, including how and when planned activities are progressing, how social processes (such as community organization) are proceeding, and whether there was adequate participation by all stakeholders in CRM planning. Results indicators are used to monitor the outcome or impacts of these processes on behavior change and socioeconomic and biophysical conditions.  

Benchmarking LGU performance

The concept of certifying municipal CRM plans and programs to benchmark LGU performance is new. CRM Certification (CRMC) is being developed and tested by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) through its Coastal Resource Management Project (CRMP) in response to the interest and commitment expressed by over 700 coastal mayors to plan, implement, and monitor CRM plans and programs articulated in the League of Municipalities of the Philippines Resolution No. 01, Series of 1999, a resolution calling for the enactment/implementation of measures empowering government LGUs for integrated coastal management. 

Patterned after international standards for organizational and environmental management systems (ISO 9000 and ISO 14000), certification is a voluntary process in which an independent third party provides a written certification that a product, method, or service satisfies certain predetermined requirements or criteria. Certification has been used largely by various industries (e.g. manufacturing, processing, tourism) to improve efficiency in operations and to achieve voluntary compliance with environmental laws through the establishment of environmental management systems. Firms that have been ISO-certified enjoy competitive advantages and improved public image over non-certified firms. International certification standards and procedures for establishing environmental management systems have been adopted in the Philippines under Philippine National Standard 1701 (PNS 1701), Environmental management systems Specification with guidance for use. The benefits of CRMC are listed in Table 3.

Table 3. Benefits of CRM certification.

CRMC provides a framework for benchmarking LGU performance in the delivery of CRM as a basic service, as well as a roadmap for planning future directions and initiatives. Certification criteria have been developed based on the LGU’s CRM mandate and internationally recognized best practices in CRM. These criteria are used to benchmark LGU performance at three levels of certification—Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced (Table 4).

Table 4. Summary benchmarks for local government performance in CRM.

The results of annual M&E of municipal CRM plans and programs are reviewed against criteria established for each level and  certified by an independent multisectoral committee. CRMC is voluntary and should be initiated by the municipality. It must be maintained annually through M&E with the goal of achieving higher levels of certification over time. 

CRMC is being piloted in Regions 4, 7, and 11 with technical assistance from CRMP. M&E has been conducted by coastal municipalities in the provinces of Palawan, Negros Oriental, Bohol, Davao del Sur, and Sarangani (Figure 2). Provincial CRMC Technical Working Groups (TWGs) validate M&E results, and evaluate the municipal M&E report. A provincial CRMC M&E report is then submitted to the Regional CRMC Committee for review and certification. CRM-certified municipalities will be recognized for their efforts and given priority status for funding and the receipt of other programs of the provincial and national government.

Figure 2. Monitoring and evaluation and the CRM Certification review process.

Regional CRMC Committees are chaired by DENR and composed of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, National Economic and Development Authority, other national government agencies, nongovernment organizations (NGOs), and academic institutions. The regional CRMC Committee serves as the catalyst for CRMC by establishing close communication links with the provincial CRMC TWG, sending out a schedule with deadlines, and ensuring M&E guidelines are distributed in a timely manner to all coastal cities and municipalities within the region.  

The CRMC process is timed to coincide with the budget cycle. It is conducted yearly based on the annual M&E reports prepared by coastal municipalities and cities. The guidelines for annual M&E of municipal CRM plans and programs provide the format and benchmarks for municipal reporting and Regional CRMC review.

Building a common vision

Under the recently defined goals and objectives of its National Medium Term Development Plan for 1999-2004, the Government of the Philippines has highlighted the role of local government in improving the management of coastal resources in the Philippines. The targets for coastal and marine resources include integrated coastal management adopted by 250 local governments covering 6,000 km of shoreline (30 percent of all coastal municipalities and shoreline) for the improved management of municipal waters by the year 2004 (Figure 3). Annual M&E and CRMC provide a process for evaluating goals and objectives against national targets and aligning local and national resources towards achieving a common vision of sustainable CRM.

Figure 3. Coastal municipalities achieving beginning level benchmarks in CRM (see Table 4) and National Medium-Term Development Plan targets.

This article also appears in Tambuli No. 7, which may be downloaded in its entirety from this web site.

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