Flourishing Community indexCapturing the voiCes of loCal Community members about their needs and perCeptions

introduCtion

Cordaid developed an innovative new methodology for the objective and inclusive assessment of the development priorities of local communities. The Flourishing Community Index (FCI):▪ Captures the needs and aspirations of communities independently of specific projects, development actors or donors. ▪ Technologies make it possible to collect, aggregate and share

information at a large scale; local communities get a global voice.

▪ Cordaid uses the FCI for Programming, Lobby & Advocacy, and as a tool for Impact Monitoring.

objeCtive

The objective of the Flourishing Community Index (FCI) is to assess the needs and perspectives of local community members, as input for community plans, service delivery and other programs, as well as for impact measurement by measuring changes over time. Since the FCI is not related to specific interventions or actors, it provides independent and authentic insights in to how people perceive their living conditions and social relations.

results oF the pilot phase

The FCI has been tested in two communities in Burundi.

Findings▪ People are very willing to share their stories, and find it easy to signify their

stories, also with the triads (see below).▪ Surveyors can be trained in half a day, since it is very easy for them to apply

the FCI Sensemaker ® app.▪ The quantitative data are instantly available.▪ The stories are audiofiles of 3 minutes on average and need to be translated.

This can be done within one or two weeks.▪ The combination of the stories and the quantitative data gives detailed and

insightful information on the most important negative issues, but also about positive changes.

▪ The operational costs are between 3-5k per community (200 stories).

some examples oF the data generated with the FCi

These data are based on stories collected from 138 respondents (65 men; 73 women) from a community in Burundi.

lessons learned and next steps

Lessons learned▪ Based on the pilot some of the questions will be deleted or reformulated.▪ The process of analyzing the data is important. Different approaches have to

be developed for the sensemaking by different users of the data.▪ We also learned that it is important to include all relevant stakeholders from

an early phase to enhance ownership and use of the data.

Next steps▪ Cordaid aims to use the FCI together with relevant stakeholders to assess the

most important issues and priorities for programs and Lobby and Advocacy work. ▪ At the same time we want to expand this approach to as many local

communities as possible, supported by donors or other stakeholders. ▪ This will make it possible to generate data about needs and perspectives of

local communities, and about the changes over time.

Context

The FCI has been developed by Cordaid (NGO) to fill the gap between more rigorous impact measurements (such as Randomized Control Trials) that do not provide information on the ‘why’ question, and the qualitative methods like storytelling and focus groups that provide anecdotal, qualitative information that cannot be generalized. The methods in use for impact measurement generally focus on specific interventions or specific actors, and do not measure changes outside of the scope of the intervention, unexpected changes, or changes that are more difficult to measure, such as trust and perception of safety.

positive

most important issues in the Community

Stories told by the community members

reflect the most important issues and themes

experienced in the community (in positive

and negative sense). Based on multiple choice

questions, with predetermined themes.

other important issues

People also have the option to indicate ‘others’

for the theme of their story, with an open field to

fill in the subject of their story. This graph

reflects the issues mentioned here, both for the

positive and the negative stories.method

▪ Information is gathered among a representative selection of community members (at least 200 per community), by surveyors, making use of an app (Sensemaker®).

▪ People are asked to share a story of an experience or event that is an illustration of how it is to live in their community, followed by questions, so that people can signify their own story.

▪ Qualitative information (stories) and quantitative information are integrated, and the data is instantly available.

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ContaCt Rens Rutten Manager FCI | Rens.rutten@cordaid.nl | + 31(0)70 3136297

FaCtors that aFFeCt the issue

So called ‘triads’ are used, whereby people

position their story on a field between three

possible answers. Each dot on the triad

represents a story. This triad presents the

answers to the question: what are the factors

that affect safety in your community?

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