In a comprehensive discussion held during the gLOCAL Evaluation Week on June 7, 2024, GRAAM (Grassroots Research And Advocacy Movement) and ISDM (Indian School of Development Management) co-hosted a panel focusing on “Communitizing Evaluation – Enabling Community Participation in Monitoring and Evaluation.” This event aimed to address the important role of local communities in development initiatives, emphasizing the need for their involvement to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of such programs.

The discussion brought together a distinguished panel, including Dr. Rajesh Tandon, Founder President of PRIA, Lajana Manandhar, Executive Director of LUMANTI Support Group for Shelter, and Saiju Chacko, a seasoned trainer and evaluator. Dr. Basavaraju R Shreshta, Executive Director of GRAAM, delivered the opening address, and Trisha Varma, Director of the Global Knowledge Hub at ISDM, moderated the session .

The panel explored the diversified benefits of participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), such as fostering accountability, transparency, and empowerment within communities. Strengthening the importance of community engagement, the experts discussed barriers to inclusive M&E and highlighted best practices for integrating community voices. Key themes included the necessity of redefining accountability by making communities stakeholders, the importance of clear and shared purposes, and the benefits of leveraging technology and local youth for mobilization .

Dr. Basavaraju R Shreshta presented GRAAM’s experiences with projects like “Community Monitoring and Social Accountability through Jan Arogya Samitis (PROJECT JAS)” and “ICAN – Information, Care And Network” during the COVID-19 pandemic. These initiatives demonstrated the effectiveness of participatory approaches, where community involvement led to greater ownership and motivated efforts toward improving indicators. The success of these projects underscored the importance of facilitation, simplification of content, and the recognition of community contributions through tangible benefits .

The panel also delved into historical and constitutional contexts of community participation in India, pointing out that while the devolution of decision-making to local governance bodies exists constitutionally, actual practice often remains centralized. Successful implementation of national programs requires contextual adjustments facilitated by government officials operating in a more decentralized, bottom-up manner .

Examples from the ground, such as the sanitation and hygiene master plan in Nepal and community-managed forestry programs, highlighted successful community engagement. These cases demonstrated the importance of involving communities in decision-making from the onset and recognizing their roles in development processes. Key enablers of community engagement included leveraging technology, supporting local leadership, and providing relevant training and resources .

In conclusion, the panel at the gLOCAL Evaluation Week underscored the urgent need to incorporate community participation into M&E processes. By building a shared understanding, fostering long-term systemic shifts, and creating valuable knowledge assets, the initiative aims to pave the way for more effective and sustainable development interventions. The discussion reiterated that true community engagement is not only a statement or term but a feasible and necessary practice for achieving meaningful progress in governance and development.